Citizen Journalism Thrives on Newsvine

Not long ago, I wrote an article about obtaining Press Passes. My goal was to spark an interest in original reporting from some of our more prolific authors, or those who would like to be more prolific.

While I cannot take credit for her success, Viki Gonia was awarded a backstage all-access press pass for this Summer's Lollapalooza. (Her decision to apply for the pass happens to have been the inspiration for my article.)

Read more about it here.

Viki's good fortune is all the proof you should need that Newsvine is "big enough" to warrant attention, and that we are taken seriously as a credible news source: Lollapalooza is a huge concert event and in a few weeks, Viki may be sitting down to talk with Pearl Jam, Iggy Pop, Muse, Modest Mouse and/or The Roots. (Amongst others.)

If you're not jealous, you probably should be. If you are jealous -- stop moping around and start applying for press passes.

Another option:

Corey Spring hasn't been around much lately, which has been a loss for all of us -- and for Newsvine in general.

The good news: He's back.

The even better news: He's ready to contribute.

Two stories, aggregated:

The College Student Who 'Knew' About the Benoit Murder-Suicide Before Police

iPhone Not Quite the Cash Cow eBay Sellers Were Hoping

One of the biggest misconceptions about Citizen Journalism is that it requires us to be out on the street, breaking news stories as they happen.

On the contrary, it's often unrealistic to try and compete with the MSM in that regard: They will often have better sources, they will almost always have better resources -- and in many cases, they work under a different methodology.

For our purposes, we need to look at one exception, and one different methodology.

The exception:

We can often do local news better than the MSM: Every one of us has the unique ability to walk out our door, drive to an event -- and provide a unique perspective.

If you happen to live in a smaller city, so much the better: You're likely to monopolize the coverage of your town, at least on Newsvine.

I can hear the grumbling already: "Nothing ever happens in my town."

I grew up in Marion, Indiana -- not as small as some cities, but nowhere near as big as others.

• One night, Lyle Lovett and Julia Roberts secretly swept into town, drove to a small church, and got hitched.
• My parents still live a short drive away from James Dean's grave.

Point being: There's always a story to tell, if you're not too lazy or cynical to tell it.

(The nice thing about operating at the local level: Less initial exposure means you'll have time to refine your writing as your mistakes will be made out of the spotlight.)

The most important thing you can do is keep your eyes and ears open. (It might even be a good idea to purchase a recording device.)

A different methodology:

Corey Spring's two stories have one thing in common:

Both were produced by culling readily available information; Corey just needed to connect the dots in order to reveal the full picture.

(I've asked Corey to write a bit of a "how-to" regarding his Benoit article, hopefully we'll hear from him on that soon.)

I don't mean to make light of Corey's achievements -- part of the "skill" of being a good Citizen Journalist is the ability to recognize a good story and then tell it well. Corey happens to have timed both of his recent posts perfectly.

Aggregating news is a bit like hunting: The information is out there -- you just have to find it. Of course, you've got to find it first, and while it's relevant.

(In a sense, you're a detective, hunting for clues.)

Corey's efforts have paid off spectacularly:

He's been cited by The New York Times, Daring Fireball and C|Net, CBS and Forbes -- to name but a few high profile outlets.

Not only is that a major personal achievement for Corey -- his name is tied to Newsvine in all of those instances, and this means that his success becomes our opportunity.

Which leaves us with two options:

We can complain about how no one takes Newsvine seriously and we can talk about how it's not worth the effort because of all the crap that "other people" are publishing.

or

We can counter some of that crap by writing to the best of our abilities and encouraging quality content (without worrying about what we don't like) -- free of antagonistic rhetoric. Step out your door -- do some research -- write it up.

As always: Newsvine is what we make of it.

What are you doing to encourage or produce quality content?

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