All the news that's fit to open-source

An experiment in citizen journalism has just gotten a big boost from the pros.

Reuters has given $100,000 to NewAssignment.net, a new site that hopes to have amateur and professional journalists work together on investigative reports. The site was created by Jay Rosen, who teaches journalism at New York University and runs the PressThink blog, and is also backed by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark.

"The site uses open-source methods to develop good assignments and help bring them to completion. It pays professional journalists to carry the project home and set high standards; they work closely with users who have something to contribute," Rosen explained on his blog. "The betting is that (some) people will donate to stories they can see are going to be great because the open methods allow for that glimpse ahead."

The Reuters funds will help pay for the site's first editor; the site is expected to officially launch next spring.

Blog community response:

"I also expect that by giving this project a decent start, Reuters will probably learn a lot about what might be possible from trying a different approach to journalism. I think, however it turns out, the entire field of journalism and the news business organization will benefit from this experiment."
--E-Media Tidbits

"It's exciting stuff, and it's heartening to see one of the old-line news organizations put up some funding for this thing. Believe me, all but the most head-in-sand among us journalist types know our industry's got to change. A lot of us are looking forward to it -- it's an exciting time to be telling the news and the possibilities are invigorating, if you're not scared to death (and sometimes even if you are)."
--TechSpace

"Reuters realizes the answer is not as simple as getting some of their journalists to blog. In fact that may not be the answer at all. What's more important is to help journalists figure out how to interact with the blogosphere--that big global, interactive, viral conversation about the things that matter to people."
--Rconversation