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 enhance newspaper profits. Today, they're struggling themselves under the direction of the newspapers that control them. With a focus on profit, they emphasize coverage of disasters and celebrities.
The Solution: Newswire21.org is a 21st century new media model that will blend the work of credentialed citizen reporters in local communities with the high standards of professional journalists. It’s designed to produce high-quality local, national and world news that is more relevant to the daily lives of average citizens. 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 only two years. 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.
