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.

Occupy Wall Street: the American protest movement that seemed to have sprung from nowhere and may have been going nowhere - or so many people thought until Saturday October 1, when protesters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and 700 people were arrested.

Simply look at the events calendar on the movement's website and you will see that its members have a broad range of political goals and, consequently, the actions backed by Occupy Wall Street range from everything including 'slut walks' to anti-nuclear demonstrations. What their members all have in common is that they are "the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%" Inspired by uprisings in the Arab World, this "leaderless resistance movement" has provided another example of how social media can create mass mobilization.

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?

As people increasingly turn to the internet as their main source of news, TV new stations are grappling with many of the same problems as newspapers. Jacques Natz, director of digital media content at Hearst Television, shared a few tips at WAN-IFRA's Summer University 2011 to help media stay relevant and financially solvent.

Natz explained that the best way to adapt is to deliver news immediately and interact with viewers. Consumers are no longer turning to morning papers or late night news shows to stay informed. 61% of Americans obtain their news online, and the traditional model of reporting a news story received at 10 AM on the news at 6 PM (and posting the story online a half hour after that) makes no sense today.

Natz noted that web usage is highest during work hours. If stories are not immediately posted, the work viewership is lost. Beyond timing, breaking news should always be accompanied with video and photo content as soon as possible in order to monetize the story. Video content is an important component because it makes more advertising money than text, even if it receives less views. Another technique Hearst Media employs to up page views is to add photo slide shows. Natz claims that readers will look at as many pictures as are contained in the slide show, regardless of length.