Teens are citizens too: An experiment in online citizen journalism

Washingtonpost.com reports that graduate students at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism came up with the idea for the teen Web site Your Mom while brainstorming for a new media product.

The students presented their idea to Davenport, Iowa's Quad-City Times, which invested $80,000 in the project in the spring of 2004. The site lost money its first year but predicts a profit in the next fiscal year.

Hillary Rhodes, 25, edits the site and is the only professional journalist on staff. She is also the only adult among the 40 or so teens who work for free on the site. Only the two interns get paid.

Articles come from a variety of sources: the local newspaper or national news services, unsolicited submissions and assignments from editor Rhodes. The staff generates possible topics in brainstorming sessions.

The site also has a free 16-page companion newspaper that is distributed throughout the area.

"'The most interesting thing is diversity of voices because everyone gets a chance to say what they believe in. You don't have to be hired. You can just write. And it'll get published -- as long as it's grammatically correct,'" said regular contributor Zach Sapato, 18.