Citizen Journalism coming to GR
February 4th, 2009 at 4:17 pm by Eva Aguirre Cooper under News
I was just at a meeting with other local media outlets, nonprofits, academics, local bloggers and the Community Media Center at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. This “Think Tank” of individuals was brought together to discuss the coming of neighborhood news bureaus in Grand Rapids as part of a grant from the Knight Foundation. The possibilities are exciting as we brainstormed how to create these neighborhood hubs and give them a voice for local news. This is still in the formation stage, but the benefits seemed to outweigh the concerns.
The whole idea of citizen journalism can take on many views and perspectives that we can not always get from our traditional media outlets. The internet has exploded with social networking, bloggers, twitter, multitude of news sources that one can not help but sometimes be daunted by it all. I like this local angle and the idea of giving it a local voice.
We’ll see how it takes shape in the coming months and I’ll share with you its progression….more to come.
This is a good idea, the media typically covers national/state news with only a small amount of local coverage. This may be an outlet for local issues/news to make mainstream news. Personally I think some of the “small town” goverments should be looked at a little closer.
May be the citizens can get it right and relevant. It seems that any story where I have personal knowledge, the news media has significant facts wrong, and miss many other facts. I’m not sure why I waste time looking at what the editors allow as news!
This is exactly the vision that was created by Dirk Koning in the early formative years of GRTV and GRCMC.
Best of luck in making this the true “new media” and a role model for the rest of the county.
What local bloggers and blogs were represented at this meeting?
@ 2nd Amendment – They are hoping this venture will enhance and add to mainstream media.
@ Tom – This is definitely one of the concerns they hope to address.
@ Long Live – The enthusiasm and support for this “new media” is evident and I’m sure Dirk would be smiling.
@ fb – I don’t have the names of those present at the meeting but you can contact the Community Media Center and I’m sure they can tell you.
Adding this to my bookmarks. Thank You