Citizen journalism | Update

Nearly three years after we first featured OhmyNews, the South Korean online newspaper co-written by ordinary citizens, a similar venture has popped up in South-Africa. “For the people, by the people,” Reporter.co.za is a news website written entirely by its readers, and publishes articles, images, audio and video they send in. Riding the wave of user-generated content, Reporter.co.za gives its readers the opportunity to determine what they regard as news, and to raise issues that might not make it into mainstream media. Payment for a published story is around ZAR 25 (USD 4.15 / EUR 3.25), or more if it also makes it into print via Reporter.co.za’s parent company. OhmyNews, meanwhile, hasn’t done badly. They now have 41,000 citizen reporters, and a USD 11 million investment in February 2006 will fund plans to go international. Opportunities? Every country has room for a few good citizen papers! For more on co-creating with consumers, check out trendwatching.com’s customer-made briefing.