Blottr wants to reinvent news ( collaborative reporting by journalists and readers )

The Inquirer ^ | Thu May 17 2012, 11:45 | Wendy M. Grossman

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Interview CEO Adam Baker talks up collaborative reporting by journalists and readers

NEWS REPORTING might never be the same. "I think we've tapped into the fact that millions of people on the street have the technology to be able to capture and record news instantly," says Adam Baker, founder and CEO of Blottr.

"And that level of scale... when you do that it becomes very disruptive and could put us into pole position as the breaking news service."

Blottr is an attempt to reinvent news as true "citizen journalism". The user-generated news service publishes stories, whether written, photographed, or videorecorded by anyone on the spot who's willing to contribute. What makes Blottr different from the average social network filled with user-generated content is the effort the web site puts into ensuring that the stories it publishes are true. A lot of this effort has to do with assessing the reputation of the poster - identity and authentication are of key importance to the web site's operation.

Like so many web sites and technologies, Blottr was the result of its creator's frustration. Throughout his 12 years online Baker, a serial entrepreneur, has been a heavy consumer of news - but an increasingly discontented one.

"I got very disillusioned with lots of editorial teams being laid off," he says. Besides that, "A newspaper now - the main headline is late, not exclusive, I heard it yesterday - or it's repeated across every broadsheet." And there are paywalls, which, "I fundamentally disagree with and they're frustrating".

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Guess it is a UK operation...but they have this :

Allegations of police brutality after thousands protested NATO summit in Chicago

Hell it is Chicago.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

[sirchtruth]

Citizens can report news now. What’s so different about this?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well this Brit has some angles on it....and is tying to make money ...and they say they try to virify what is reported.

Read the interview.

[Little Ray]

Oh? You mean he wants to emulate the Breitbart “BIG” sites?

[abb]

So said Matt Drudge fourteen years ago.

http://www.angelfire.com/tn/constcoal/Drudge.html

Anyone With A Modem Can Report On The World

Address Before the National Press Club
Matt Drudge | June 2, 1998

[UCANSEE2]

[UCANSEE2]

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Getting ugly!

[A'elian' nation]

Isn’t this what the original intent of Al Gore’s Current TV was supposed to be? They ditched that idea and got Olberman. Then they ditched Olberman. Nothing works in liberalville.