The Newspaper's Future Community Reporter is You!
Posted by Pat Kitano at 3/5/2009 9:24 PM 
Categories: New Business Models, Blogging, Social Media
Tags: community journalism
Categories: New Business Models, Blogging, Social Media
Tags: community journalism
Journalism Iconoclast notes the Washington Post is advertising a community reporter position for... $34,000/ year. But then Pat Thompson goes on to say:
I also believe there will be a new wave of citizen community reporting, and real estate bloggers would be positioned as among the more authoritative for chronicling the community. Having this kind of second job would also vastly expand their business network and local presence. Just one more future opportunity for real estate professionals who embed themselves in the local social media.But here is the real kicker. $34,000 is too much for this position. Let’s slash the pay to $25,000-30,000. Let’s get rid of those expensive benefits.
Instead, make this position 20 hours a week or so. Yes, this will be a part-time job, and it doesn’t come with benefits. It’s also a telecommuting position, because I want community reporters to be out in the communities they cover, not stuck in a newsroom.
Encourage these community journalists to have other jobs. Maybe they’ll be local baristas or office workers or shop owners.
I need to move to Cody, WY right now! Let me cover the horses and cowboys... with a little bit of RE thrown in.
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You're hilarious at 4am East Coast time Susie! Hey, i just figured out when you sleep! It seems to be 7pm-2am EST every evening (note the graph is on Pacific time)... or maybe you have long dinners. And you peak between 3-5am. I've never met anybody that does this..,
From http://tweetstats.com/graphs/susieblackmon
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Pat,
You're one of the few RE 2.0 pundits that really gets it. Keep up the good work.
btw, in about a month I'll be launching my new site which is designed to do just as you say: "...real estate bloggers would be positioned as among the more authoritative for chronicling the community."
Realtor as community reporter...it's just so obvious.
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This type of position makes sense even if the newspaper was not cutting costs
Good content should have a blend of "professional" and non professional contributions
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Good point Louis, an example of good professional content that a typical blogger couldn't or wouldn't publish is the work of Matt Carter @ Inman News, i.e. http://www.inman.com/news/2009/03/6/why-did-move-spurn-activerain.
And Tim, thanks, look forward to seeing the next iteration of http://rehubbub.com.
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One of my blog authors just set up a free blog on his local newspaper's web site. With everyone offering free WP blogs attached to a social network, it seems like a perfect strategy for a newspaper to integrate as well.
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I think the newspapers are pretty much dead. I have no problem getting rid of the community reporters. At some point though we are probably going to get rid of political reporters. Thats a little wierd. With no investigators I wonder if politicians will be able to get away with more.
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I think the newspapers are pretty much dead. I have no problem getting rid of the community reporters. At some point though we are probably going to get rid of political reporters. Thats a little wierd. With no investigators I wonder if politicians will be able to get away with more.
boediger
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Citizen journalism's demand for more transparency in political and economic dealings should help monitor these spaces. On a national scale, political sites ranging from HuffPost to Politico to FoxNews will ensure citizen journalist reports maintain profile.
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