CNN is taking its approach to citizen journalism one step further by setting up iReport.com as a dedicated citizen media site.
Like many other mainstream media outlets, CNN has had to cope with far more submissions from the audience than it could process and publish. Only around 10% of the 100,000 photos and videos sent to CNN have been posted since the launch its citizen journalism project in August 2006
By creating a separate web property, CNN solves this problem. On iReport.com, anyone will be able to post whatever they want, whereas editors handpicked any material appearing on CNN’s own sites. The off-shot will be labelled as a “post-moderated site” and CNN plans to make it clear that the views on the site don’t necessarily reflect those of the company.
The site was still under construction at the time of this post. But iReport.com sounds similar in approach to new media outlets such as NowPublic.com that rely entirely on contributions from the public.
The question is whether the brand power of something like CNN will squeeze out the new kids on the block. Whatever happens, the citizen journalism arena is shaping up to be one of fierce competition between established media brands and newcomers.
UPDATE: February 13: CNN’s iReport.com has launched as a beta site. It has a clean look with a heavy emphasis on video.
PDF
Interesting development, indeed! But I am not sure if that is the best strategy for CNN: isn’t it the easier thing to do, to separate citizen contributions even more from the journalists’ work? Will the content in the new site make a difference or be a worthy addition to CNN’s professional reporting? I’m skeptical.