Comments on: Fake grassroots don't grow…

By: Robert Niles

Robert Niles — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:02:36 +0000

You are correct, Jeff — that definition is what I’m building up to. But I’m gonna take the scenic route, if y’all don’t mind.

To clarify, having press releases on a community website is no journalistic sin. Nor is having a slew of event listings or write-ups of interest to only a handful of readers. But such content does not engage a large percentage of a site’s potential readers the way that smart, informed reporting and analysis can.

Eventually, the community can provide that on a regular basis. But to attract such thoughtful correspondents, a CitJ website needs to “prime the pump” with some solid “staff” reporting. (It can be from a solo blogger.) And even then, it can takes months of work before a vibrant community forms.

Without a leading voice, though, others will step into the forum and try to assume leadership. In most cases, these folks tend to be either cranks, politicians or PR agents — folks with an agenda to be heard. And that will discourage more responsible, objective voices from sticking around, much less contributing themselves.

By: Jeff Wilson

Jeff Wilson — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:33:59 +0000

Travis, I’m sorry I should have been more specific. The YourHub.com for my community is (ab)used by small businesses and those seeking free advertising. Here’s two sample headlines: “Osteopathic Physician Opens New Practice,” and “There is Hope for Acne Scarring. We can Help.”

Granted, articles like that probably just don’t get read…but articles like that also turn readers off to YourHub.com in general (at least for my community). How many people visit a website where 65% of the content is advertising?

I get ‘news’ submissions like this all the time, and I reject them. I may not get very many good news submissions, but I think my readers appreciate the fact that we put a lot of effort into our featured articles and daily posts.

By: Travis Henry

Travis Henry — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:08:16 +0000

Jeff, I’m not sure where you received your information, but I can tell you that press releases, birthdays and advertisements are certainly not all the contributions YourHub.com (in Denver) receives. In fact, I would say they make up a very small part of the contributions we get on the site.

I’m very happy with the quality of contributions we have on our site. We put out 15 print sections weekly chock full of them. The key is to have a staff engaged with the community and to give users ownership.

One of our biggest problems at YourHub.com in Denver is we have 44 local Web sites and thousands of submissions a week, so sometimes it is hard to highlight all of the best stuff in one place. We are working to improve that all of the time, while still staying super local.

Saying that, do we discourage press releases and birthdays? Certainly not. We are trying to open up the online conversation to people, not close it down.

How many newspapers rewrite press releases, slap a byline on it and call it a story? If we let a press release run, at least readers can see where it came from and judge it by knowing the source.

By: Jeff Wilson

Jeff Wilson — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 01:46:59 +0000

I’m eager to read your article about what you think the definition of journalism is in an online world, since that seems to be a peripheral subject in many of your articles.

YourHub.com and BackFence seem happy to accept press releases, birthday parties, and advertisements as news from citizen journalists. Maybe they dislike the fact that that’s all the contributions they get, but one thing I’ve learned running my website is that it’s hard to get quality submissions from readers.

The point is that even when you plant real seeds with good intentions, lovingly care for those seeds, you still don’t know what you’ll get. Reporting isn’t exactly an easy task; hoping readers will submit unbiased news or even well-written personal journals seems to be pointless at times.

By: Nancy Peckenham

Nancy Peckenham — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 22:04:54 +0000

We’re new to the online grassroots world, but after five months, http://www.cornwall-on-hudson.com is getting noticed in our community of 3,000 people. I once looked at Backfence.com and felt little — now I can see how being in the middle of the action, going to village board meetings and work sessions and reporting on them, brings people information they never had before, builds a sense of community and readership — and the advertisers follow.

By: K.Paul Mallasch

K.Paul Mallasch — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 11:41:18 +0000

Robert, that’s exactly what I’m seeing at the Gannett owned The Star Press in my neck of the woods. They launched a ‘Get Published!’ section this week. Seems to be mostly press releases and a few reader photos so far. The person in charge of it, Phil Beebe, doesn’t have a blog even and isn’t sure if he will have one. This isn’t going to help Gannett and others break-into the citizen journalism that already abounds in their communities.

I agree with everything you wrote, Robert. Great piece.

-kpaul

By: Robert Niles

Robert Niles — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:25:59 +0000

News organizations can be ideal platforms from which to launch grassroots journalism projects, if they devote the editorial resources to lead these communities. But that means taking on additional editorial responsibilities. Too often, news companies see grassroots journalism simply as a way to offload reporting costs onto readers, with no initial additional investment in online community development. That approach is destined to fail.

By: Travis Henry

Travis Henry — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 15:57:58 +0000

I am the editor of the Denver YourHub.com sites. When I speak to newspaper publishers or clients interested in syndicating our platform I always stress that it is not simply something you can just turn on. We hired 25 people when we launched YourHub.com in Denver and have maintained that staff.
We are trained journalists who help the community tell its stories. The stories the community has to tell may not be the stories that we initially envisioned would be on our site. But we love them just the same.
We invite users to staff meetings and talk with them on a daily basis. Bells and whistles are much less important than being in touch with users.
Robert, I loved your article on the silliest debate in journalism.
Here’s my response to being lumped into the Potemkin Village argument : Due west of Potemkin Village