Make Some News!

Newswire21.org is reinventing the wire service by blending the passion of community reporters with the best practices of professional journalists.

The Problem: Rapid cutbacks in US newsrooms
have left them more dependent on wire services. However, wire
services were built on a 19th century business model designed by
newspaper publishers to cut expenses. Today, they're struggling
themselves under the direction of the newspapers that control
them. They emphasize coverage of disasters and celebrities and
minimize community news.

The Solution: Newswire21.org is a new media
model for the 21st century that will blend the work of
credentialed citizen reporters in local communities with the high
standards of professional journalists to produce high-quality
local, national and world news. Its primary focus will be on
health, education, culture, consumer affairs, civic affairs and
underserved communities.

Operating as a “wikipedia for news,” it will provide
publishers with a reliable, professionally supervised news report
for a small fraction of the cost of subscribing to traditional
wire services. Its news judgments will be guided by working
journalists rather than CEOs of giant media companies, assuring
that coverage decisions are based on sound editorial reasoning
rather than profits or commercial value.

The pioneering project, selected as a finalist for the 2009
Knight News Challenge, aims to become a self-supporting news
cooperative after two years of seed funding. Then it will finance
its own growth, supporting an ever-widening web of local, national
and world news. For now, it is seeking dedicated volunteers and
funders to help get it going.

You Can Be Part of This
Newswire21 is assembling a startup team of journalists, academics,
citizens, technologists and business managers. We welcome
part-time or full-time efforts, and we extend a special invitation
to journalists who've recently been laid off.

On the community front, we've already started  a pilot
project in San Francisco through a collaboration with San
Francisco State's Journalism Department, the Center for the
Integration and Improvement of Journalism, the San Francisco
Neighborhood Empowerment Network, Spot.Us and others. You can read
some of these stories in a special section called Stories
from the Ingleside (and Beyond)

On the national and international fronts, we've currently developing a bureau in Washington and San Francisco, led by journalists who together have more than 60 years at major news organizations like The AP, UPI, CNN and others.

We need your financial help to get started
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support the
project. For more information, please contact Executive Director
Tom Murphy by email at: Info(AT)Newswire21.org.
Click Here To:
Donate
or
Volunteer
Read More About
Citizen Reporting
Writing Stories
Ethical Standards
The Newswire21 Staff
Our Policies
We want to hear from you! Please send your comments to:
Info(at)Newswire21.org
Thank you!
Newswire21.org is a sponsored project of MarinLink.org, a
nonprofit corporation operating under section 501(c)3 of the IRS
Code. Donations to Newswire21 are tax deductible. Newswire21 also
receives support from RedwoodAge, Inc., and mThink, LLC. All
Content is Copyright 2010 by Newswire21.org, which reserves all
rights.