I, Reporter

Secret Hold Senator Found (Already!)

SPJ.org

US Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) turned out to be the anti-FOIA culprit.

Well, that was fast! And I'm not a bit surprised.

Today, AP reports that U.S. Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) admitted that he placed the "secret hold" that prevented a bill to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act from moving forward in the Senate.

As I mentioned earlier this week, the Society of Professional Journalists and others (including, no doubt, at least some citizen journalists) were systematically checking with all U.S. Senators' offices to learn which one was anonymously blocking the Open Government Act (S849).

Kyl plans to continue to oppose the Open Government Act.  According to AP, Kyl "says the Justice Department is concerned that it could force them to reveal sensitive information."

Kyl had more to say, too...

Help Uncover the FOIA Secret-Hold Senator

U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (on left) and John Cornyn (on right) sponsored the Open Government Act -- but which of their colleagues secretly stalled it?

(UPDATE MAY 31: The Secret Hold Senator has been found!...)

Here's a classic case where citizen journalists can join forces with professional journalists to collaborate on an important national investigation.

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) has learned that an as-yet-unknown US Senator has placed a "secret hold" on the Open Government Act -- a bill that would strengthen the federal Freedom of Information Act. (S849, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT; and Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX. More commentary on this bill from SPJ. More about secret holds.)

Why should citizen journalists care about this, and get involved?...

Ka-Ching! I, Reporter Wins News Challenge

I, Reporter co-founders Adam Glenn and Amy Gahran explain how they felt when they heard they'd won a Knight News Challenge grant. (Watch video)

We've got great news to share – an I, Reporter project last week was awarded one of the prestigious new Knight News Challenge Grants!

The whole citJ community has been abuzz since last year about this unusual news contest, in which the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promised a pot of gold (up to $5 million) to anyone who could come up with the big ideas to use digital news and information to transform real communities. 

Not to miss out on the fun, my I, Reporter partner Amy Gahran and I decided to put our already frequent brainstorming to work by pitching a series of proposals for the contest. We figured at least one would have a chance to stick – and it turned out we were right.

links for 2007-05-27

• Center for Citizen Media: Blog » Blog Archive » We're not dead yet, they're not journalists yet, says Lucasiewicz
  "it’s not about the net: it’s about news people’s concerns about the future of their own industry, their own careers. You can’t really learn anything about the net at these presentations, really, because they’re not about the net."
  (tags: media+evolution journalism citizen+journalism business news+biz)

Searching for CitMedia – Start Here!

So where are all these citizen journalists? We can help you find them.

One of I,Reporter’s biggest and most exciting projects in recent months has been our ongoing work for the newly launched Knight Citizen News Network website, KCNN.org. The task set for us by Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab at the University of Maryland, was to build a searchable database of hundreds of sites around the country that offer citizen journalism. 

What Is Citizen Journalism?

NOTE: At I, Reporter, we get asked this question quite often. So I thought I'd take a stab at providing a definition. This represents my view only -- feel free to disagree, question, or elaborate in the comments. I intend this to be the starting point of a discussion, not the last word.

"Citizen Journalism" is a clunky term that manages to be as open to interpretation as it is controversial. I tend to think of it this way:

Any effort by people who are not trained or employed as professional journalists to publish news or information based on original observation, research, inquiry, analysis or investigation.

Here's what that can mean, more specifically...

Key CitJ Resources

Adam Glenn and I often get asked for good starting points to get plugged into the world of citizen journalism. Here's my short list of my favorites:

• The Center for Citizen Media is a good first stop to learn what's happening in citizen journalism -- especially the blog by pioneer citizen journalist Dan Gillmor.
  
  
• The Knight Citizen News Network is another great place to start to learn about citizen journalism, and to find relevant citizen journalism venues (at least in the US). If you find yourself working with citizen journalists, recommend this site to them as a resource to enhance their efforts. (Full disclosure: Adam and I developed parts of this site, including the citizen media sites database.)
  
  
• NewAssignment.net is an ambitious pro/am (professional / amateur) "crowdsourcing" journalism effort. It's just getting started, but this is an important project to watch.
• Placeblogger is a resource site by Lisa Williams where you can find blogs and other sites that provide a sense of the "lived experience" of a place (town, city, state, region, country). Most of these sites are not specifically intended as citizen journalism, but many of them offer citizen journalism from time to time.
• OhMyNews: Perhaps the most famous global citizen journalism venue, based in S. Korea. It's a for-profit operation with a paid editorial staff. Eclectic and intriguing.
• Global Voices Online: A popular and high-quality aggregator of weblogs from most countries around the world. Much, but not all, of the content is citizen journalism.
• iBrattleboro.com is a vibrant, well-run independent community news and discussion site. I think it sets a good example for community-focused citizen journalism.

...What are your favorite citJ resources or example sites? Please comment below.

links for 2007-05-08

• Rocky Mountain News - Denver and Colorado's reliable source for breaking news, sports and entertainment: Opinion Columnists
  "for the first time you'll find YourHub sections in stores, coffee shops and other outlets in your community." -- COOL! So where can I get mine? I want a map. And I want to cancel my Denver Post subscription, I don't need all that paper.
  (tags: Colorado citizen+journalism newspapers distribution)