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PANEL HIGHLIGHTS
Click names of panelists to jump, or scroll down for all highlights.

Travis Henry, YourHub.com
Catherine Shen, BlountCountyVoice.com
Steve Safran, New England Cable News
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OVERVIEW

While many citizen media ventures are launched by individuals, mainstream news organizations, from newspapers to cable television stations, are increasingly getting involved in citizen-contributed content.

Some, such as YourHub.com in the Denver area, were aimed at competing with suburban weekly newspapers using zoned Web sites that cover specific geographic communities. The best of the Web content is then published in weekly print editions.

Others, such as BlountCountyVoice.com, are being closely watched by their parent company as a future content model for undercovered communities.

New England Cable News is also experimenting with citizen video contributions to supplement its news.

All the panelists agreed that promotion was critical. And the newspaper-affiliated sites said that their print editions helped boost advertising revenue.


Travis Henry, managing editor of YourHub.com said the Denver News Agency, publisher of the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, created the Web site to produce local news and compete with suburban weekly newspapers. In April, the papers hired him and 11 citizen journalists. They now produce 42 Web sites and 15 weekly print editions that are zoned and distributed with both daily newspapers. The print editions have become so popular, Henry said, that people do not even realize that YourHub.com is a Web site.

YourHub.com now has a paid staff of 26, divided into "teams" with each team responsible for about four zones.

Ninety percent of the content comes from readers. To help users post on the site, YourHub.com hired a tech support person who will walk people through the posting process over the phone. Henry said that he receives a lot of positive feedback on the tech support.

"[Newsapers] were always telling people 'no.' At YourHub.com, we don’t ever tell people 'no,' we tell people 'yes.'"
--Henry
YourHub.com uses aggressive marketing, even teaming up with the Denver Broncos and the Colorado Avalanche to advertise. It also sold itself on cable television and by giving out Frisbees and dog chains bearing its name. Area Wal-Mart stores also have screens by the cash registers that scroll through the popular calendars provided by YourHub.com. "We don't pay for that; they don't pay for that," he said.

The site launched in April and will be profitable by December, Henry said.

He also said that 10 newspapers around the country have signed up to use YourHub's content management system. Two of those are expected to launch by the end of the year.

The site:

  • Uses "reverse publishing." Everything goes on the Web first, then some of it makes the print editions.
  • Links to all kinds of news sources, including the two newspapers that sponsor it, local TV and other Web sites.
  • Allows citizens to post what they want free of editing.
  • Is easy to use.
  • Gets content from citizens, non-profits and public relations firms.
  • Updates throughout the day.

"I don't think YourHub.com replaces the Rocky Mountain News or replaces CNN. It adds to it," Henry said. While the traditional news outlets focus on hard news, "YourHub.com is kind of a feel-good newspaper and a feel-good Web site," he added.

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Catherine Shen, vice president for strategic development for Horvitz Newspapers, recently helped create BlountCountyVoice.com, a citizens media project of The Daily Times in Marysville, Tenn. The site, which delivers community news about schools, seniors and sports teams, launched in April 2004 with a staff of two.

To promote the site before its launch, Shen said the staff "went to everybody in town." This included soccer and little league sign-ups, community groups and rotary clubs. "The problem is you have to keep that promotion going," Shen said. "The launch will only get you so far. After that it is continual promotion on a grassroots level. That takes time and it takes energy, and there's no substitute for it."

She said it has helped that they have a supportive newsroom, and some writers have even used contributed content for story tips.

Blount County Voice offers a weekly print edition that showcases the best of the Web content. While there are ads posted on the site, the revenue model is based on ads sold in the print edition, which is sent free to 10,000 households weekly. Ads are sold based on the newspaper's circulation, not the number of Web viewers.

"You can never do enough promotion. ... The problem is you have to keep that promotion going. That takes time and it takes energy."
--Shen
The site was turning a profit after just six months, and as of October, was making about $1,200 a month.

Shen praised the work of the contributors, saying that the postings about events that would normally be handed to beginning reporters are being handled just as professionally by citizen reporters.

Lessons:

  • Choose the target community very carefully – there has to be a cohesiveness among the people.
  • You can never, never promote too much.
  • Make sure you can sustain the site over time.
  • Staff carefully and not entirely with traditional journalists.
  • "It's very difficult to create a trusted brand."

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Steve Safran, director of digital media for New England Cable News, said NECN.com differs from other sites in that it edits and reviews every piece of video submitted by contributors. Safran bristles at the notion that citizens could replace journalists, explaining that while he values audience participation, there still is a place for people who know how to gather and distill news and present it in an unbiased fashion. "There isn't a citizens medicine. There isn't a citizens law," he said. "I am a little concerned."

"When we're talking about citizens media, I just want to make sure we don't forget the capital 'J' media," he said. "I still think that the role of a journalist is to gather a lot of information; distill it down so that people can understand it and put it out there."

NECN.com began soliciting citizen videos in July 2005 and it didn't receive much of a response for the first two months. But then a flood in New England threatened a dam and viewers contributed video from washed-out streets and other places that NECN couldn't have accessed. NECN uses this kind of citizen content to enhance its storytelling rather than to tell the story itself.

"People tell us a lot that we don't cover the stories that interest them. We say, 'OK, show us.'"
--Safran
Instead of having user-submitted videos posted directly to the Web site, all videos are sent to Safran, who reviews everything to see what is worthy of posting and to make sure there is nothing obscene in the videos. However, this means that NECN can only post video as fast as their staff can watch it.

The site, which also is available through and shares revenue with Boston.com:

  • Makes it easy for the audience to contribute – people need simple ways to upload video clips.
  • Rebuilds trust with readers/viewers.
  • Reviews and edits every submission to make sure it helps tell a story, is not pornographic, libelous or defamatory.
  • Includes daily updates.

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