Comments on: Training citizen journalists http://www.newslab.org/2009/10/27/training-citizen-journalists/ Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:34:14 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Deborah Potter http://www.newslab.org/2009/10/27/training-citizen-journalists/comment-page-1/#comment-618 Deborah Potter Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:28:38 +0000 http://www.newslab.org/?p=1490#comment-618 I was hoping someone would weigh in in favor of training citizens to be journalists. Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Chris. I think the folks who've decided it's a waste of time are running different kinds of sites. They don't really want citizens to provide them with news stories, but rather "to capture the conversation [they're already having] and stay out of the way," as Mark Potts puts it. If you're trying to get community members to cover stories the way a journalist would, then training could make sense. I'm a journalism trainer myself, of course, so I'd like to believe it's worthwhile. But the folks I quoted say that even though people are happy to get training, they don't stay committed to the sites that train them for very long. Have you had a different experience in terms of retention at DigitalJournal.com? I was hoping someone would weigh in in favor of training citizens to be journalists. Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Chris. I think the folks who’ve decided it’s a waste of time are running different kinds of sites. They don’t really want citizens to provide them with news stories, but rather “to capture the conversation [they're already having] and stay out of the way,” as Mark Potts puts it. If you’re trying to get community members to cover stories the way a journalist would, then training could make sense. I’m a journalism trainer myself, of course, so I’d like to believe it’s worthwhile. But the folks I quoted say that even though people are happy to get training, they don’t stay committed to the sites that train them for very long. Have you had a different experience in terms of retention at DigitalJournal.com?

]]> By: Chris Hogg http://www.newslab.org/2009/10/27/training-citizen-journalists/comment-page-1/#comment-613 Chris Hogg Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:16:37 +0000 http://www.newslab.org/?p=1490#comment-613 I work with DigitalJournal.com, a global news network made up of citizen journalists all over the world. We think teaching and training is incredibly important in the world of citizen journalism because not everyone knows the ins and outs or even the basics. In fact, our news site is built on that premise; we edit work, fact check, call sources to confirm quotes and speak one-on-one with all of our reporters. When you train someone, you answer a lot of basic and complicated questions that then make that citizen reporter far more capable and skilled. You get better interviews, more information and better stories. We run regular online classes that are entirely free, teaching subjects like libel and defamation; removing bias from news articles; how to interview effectively; and how to write a profile. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I agree that providing general tips is helpful for those who don't want to go neck-deep into reporting, but for the thousands of people we work with every day it has been a very big plus. I work with DigitalJournal.com, a global news network made up of citizen journalists all over the world. We think teaching and training is incredibly important in the world of citizen journalism because not everyone knows the ins and outs or even the basics. In fact, our news site is built on that premise; we edit work, fact check, call sources to confirm quotes and speak one-on-one with all of our reporters.

When you train someone, you answer a lot of basic and complicated questions that then make that citizen reporter far more capable and skilled. You get better interviews, more information and better stories.

We run regular online classes that are entirely free, teaching subjects like libel and defamation; removing bias from news articles; how to interview effectively; and how to write a profile. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

I agree that providing general tips is helpful for those who don’t want to go neck-deep into reporting, but for the thousands of people we work with every day it has been a very big plus.

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