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Mon - 20.05.2013

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Archant brings reader involvement into local coverage with Citizenside

UK regional publisher Archant and citizen journalism photo news agency Citizenside have teamed up to launch iwitness24, a community news platform which will help "to bring the locals back to local news", a press release announced today.

Archant readers, divided into 7 regional sub-communities, can contribute content through the website - accessible through a one-click sign in with Facebook Connect - or the iPhone and the Android applications. This allows them to share geotagged photos, videos, and text articles directly with their local newsrooms.

The initiative, which uses Citizenside's Reporter Kit technology, aims to allow Archant to more effectively engage with its readers and foster the power of its local communities.
Using the "Calls for Witnesses" tool, Archant can send geotargetted news alerts to members within 1 km of breaking news events to ask for their help in coverage, the press release explains.

"The technology actually associates a geolocation - provided when users sign up - with every member. With this tool, Archant's local journalists can then contact their readers they know to be in the area of a news event", Garrett Goodman, International Coordinator for Citizenside, told the Editors Weblog.

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Author

Federica Cherubini's picture

Federica Cherubini

Date

2012-01-17 16:57

The Winnipeg Free Press's new news café

Who doesn't like to read the morning paper over a cup of coffee? Well, in Winnipeg, Canada, you can do just that whilst sitting in the newspaper's very own café.

The Winnipeg Free Press, which has a Monday- Friday circulation of 115,827, has set up a café in downtown Winnipeg where members of the public can drop in to grab a sandwich and maybe a quick chat with the paper's multimedia reporter and multimedia editor.

The two journalists, Tania Kohut and Tyler Walsh, have permanent desks in the café, positioned in amongst the TV monitors on the wall and plates of what is, by all accounts, delicious food. Though the working environment is unusual, it is all done in the name of community engagement.

So much is done via social media to encourage feedback and interaction with readers, but for local publications, having an established, physical presence within the community can be a huge asset. You only have to look at the community feedback to see how much the people of Winnipeg seem to love the project.

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Author

Katherine Travers

Date

2011-09-02 13:12

Social media and transparency at Swedish local paper Norran

Anette Novak, Editor-In-Chief of local Swedish paper Norran believes that newspapers should be harnessing the power of social media. In 2009 she introduced a live chat function to her paper's website so that readers can talk to journalists in the newsroom, as long as it is manned. She says the change has not only proved popular, it's also "good for democracy."


Novak is scheduled to speak at the 18th World Editors Forum in Vienna (12-15 October) about how to build a community around your newspaper.

WAN-IFRA: Today lots of people read the news in a different context: online, on their phones, on tablets. What does this mean for newspaper editors who want to build a community around their papers?

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Hannah Vinter's picture

Hannah Vinter

Date

2011-08-18 19:32

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Editors Weblog

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