Center for Citizen Media

Wired News: Gannett to Crowdsource News. Other large publishers are already experimenting with bringing readers into a more participatory role, and a host of citizen-journalism projects like NowPublic and NewAssignment.Net have sprung up in the last few years. But because of its reach, Gannett’s move could bring these issues into the mainstream.

This is truly remarkable, and it puts Gannett squarely into the lead in the newspaper business.

No doubt, a major part of this initiative is to save money. Gannett is famously careful with its spending, to put it mildly.

But the company’s move is pathbreaking. It will just possibly change the newspaper industry, in a good way, forever.

The Sunlight Foundation asks, “Is Congress A Family Business, Round Two:

Once again we’re looking at the House of Representatives, this time investigating what I like to call the Sierra Dominion phenomenon—that of congressional spouses who work for a firm that in turn works for the member’s campaign. Sierra Dominion Financial Resources is the name of the firm whose sole employee is the wife of Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., Julie Doolittle. Sierra Dominion Financial Services, has been paid more than $60,000 for “fundraising commissions” by Doolittle’s campaign since January 1, 2005. (That’s not all Sierra Dominion did, of course—it also took money from one of the lobbying firms Jack Abramoff worked for, Greenberg, Traurig, as well as fundraising commissions from a PAC associated with Doolittle—for more information, visit the authoritative Congresspedia entry here.)

The first round of this effort produced some remarkable citizen reporting. Now it’s time to take it deeper.

(Note: The Sunlight Foundation has given this Center a grant for its VoteGuide.org project.)

Jay Rosen has put up a test site at NewAssignment.Net, and it’s looking good. This is a vital experiment for our digitial news future.

(Note: Jay and I are on each others’ advisory boards.)

MediaPost: HP’s Bermel ‘Scared To Death’ Of User-Generated Content. User-generated content brings “huge additional pressure,” (Hewlett-Packard interactive director Mary) Bermel said. “We want our brand in the marketplace presented in a certain way. Our advertising teams are used to push marketing–now we’re asking them to create pull marketing, things that will attract people to our brand.”

Amazing.

The company that once believed in, and for the most part lived, the HP Way — in part, the notion that the community was part of the company and vice versa — would have instinctively adapted to the world where conversations are no longer in the control of the marketing team.

The newer HP is clueless, if this person’s comments are even a remote indication of corporate understanding of the phenomenon.

And can’t we find a better expression than “user-generated content” to describe what’s happening?

With newspaper circulation continuing its near free-fall, Alan Mutter suggests that

a significant portion of the decline results directly from the industry’s long-term, and arguably long-overdue, initiative to eliminate inefficient vanity and promotional circulation.

Interesting take on the situation. We’ll see if the predicted flattening of the numbers does occur before too much longer.

Many thanks to Dan Kennedy for his long and kind article in the current Commonwealth Magazine, in which he accurately captures my main goal: “to help the nascent citizen-journalism movement raise its standards and boost its influence, while also helping mainstream media organizations use technology to reach out to what he likes to call the ‘former audience.’”

Winston-Salem (North Carolina) Journal: Radio station may build public media center. Preliminary plans call for the center to have and develop forums, Web sites, conferences and other training sessions for public-radio and television journalists, students of Wake Forest University and members of the community. The preliminary plan also calls for it to teach ethics, mechanics and responsibilities of digital media.

An excellent idea. Traditional media organizations have a special role in the evolving media world — to help citizens use, create and understand it.

AP: Daily Circulation Falls at U.S. Papers. Circulation declines accelerated at major U.S. newspapers for the six-month period ending in September, according to figures released Monday, in the latest sign of struggle for an industry that is continually grappling with changing reader habits.

This news is not just bad. It’s the grimmest yet.

We’re seeing a not-so-slow-motion undermining of a business that has been central to the functioning of our republic in recent decades. Newspapers are flawed, sometimes terrible and venal. But when they do their jobs they are essential.

What will replace them if — when? — they go down entirely?

Daniel Glover (National Journal): A Guide To Enterprise Blogging.

The great thing about FOIA is that it’s not just for journalists. Any citizen can use it, and that includes bloggers.

Greg Verdino reports that the Nielsen BuzzMetrics Consumer Generated Media Summit is a no blog zone:

“Off The Record: the CGM Summit is off the record, so please no blogging, reporting, recording or broadcasting.”

If this was television, it would deserve a laugh track. Good grief.