Cit-j outfit Allvoices to invite professional contributions, with compensation

Posted by Emma Heald on November 18, 2009 at 4:26 PM

Allvoices, a citizen journalism network that uses a combination of algorithms and user feedback to assess the reliability of contributions, is to start a Provoices network for professional journalists, aiming to cover beats and cities around the world.

Allvoices is promising to pay up to $250 per story to qualified journalists who are selected for the program, and the company may pay "much more" for certain high traffic stories, according to a press release. "We recognize that these are tough times for many journalists as news organizations downsize," Allvoices CEO Amra Tareen said. "We're providing a platform for the best of these journalists to continue to cover their beats, communicate with a global audience and earn money doing it." She specified to the EW that "payment will be determined by what is original breaking news, quality and traffic."

"We're looking for journalists to cover important beats in key cities around the world and to supplement our growing base of citizen contributors," she continued. The total number to be recruited is flexible: Allvoices will select journalist participants with an eye toward building a worldwide network of correspondents in key cities and on important beats. The idea is that these journalists become regular contributors to the site, adding high-quality work to Allvoices' citizen content.

As it does for mainstream media stories, Allvoices will enhance each story by building a package of contextual and related information around it through its proprietary software. Each story will be at the center of a package surrounded by other relevant news, blogs, videos and images and optimized for a worldwide audience through search and social media, said the release.

Lynda Gorov will oversee the Provoices program as Chief of Correspondents. She has been a correspondent for The Boston Globe and a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Interested journalists must apply to join the paid program by sending a resume and clips to journalist@allvoices.com.

Hence, Allvoices seems to be taking a step towards becoming a professional news outlet, as well as a citizen journalism portal. Tareen said the the company plans to syndicate its professional content along with that produced by amateurs. As newspapers are forced to cut back on staff, professional-amateur collaboration efforts are becoming more and more common. Will such outfits become an important element in the world of news gathering?

Source: Allvoices