Top 10 Rules for
Limiting Legal Risk
As participatory and citizen journalism explode, lawsuits with sometimes scary damages claims are sparking anxiety.
Learn how to avoid legal pitfalls.
"Whether you're a hyperlocal citizen journalist or someone practicing journalism of any sort, or a blogger of any sort or a publisher of any sort ... you need to know how to stay safe."
Journalism Professor, CUNY
Journalism 2.0:
How to Survive and Thrive
"Can you send an attachment with an e-mail? Then you have what it takes to publish a blog with pictures."
This 128-page book is a guide to jumpstart digital media skills for newsrooms and classrooms. Learn how to use RSS feeds, transfer files with FTP, store data on spreadsheets, create and maintain a blog, report news for the Web, shoot and edit photos and video and record audio.
Tools for Citizen Journalists
So you've decided to start a community news site, but going it alone can be daunting. These tips and tools will help you cope with the challenges you're likely facing.
"Citizen volunteers have to understand that the heart of journalism is accuracy. You can't take shortcuts."
Executive Editor
Skip Hidlay
Twelve Tips for Growing Positive Communities Online
So you've gotten your community news, information, or discussion site off the ground. People are showing up, reading what you've posted, posting their own content, and joining in discussions. It's all going great. That is, until someone gets nasty in a comment or post. Someone else takes offense and lashes back, then more people join the fray, flaming each other brutally. How do you handle this situation and avoid similar problems in the future? I, Reporter's Amy Gahran offers some tips.
Training Citizen Journalists
In these seven case studies from around the United States, get a birds-eye view of citizen journalism today.
"We're willing to take the risk of letting people go out in the field and do some reporting. I think there is a motivation to just get the facts to people."
ABOUT KCNN The Knight Citizen News Network is a self-help portal that guides both ordinary citizens and traditional journalists in launching and responsibly operating community news and information sites and that assembles news innovations and research on citizen media projects.
things we like
Musings on Birmingham: This Alabama blog features short bios on Birmingham residents in its "One in a Million feature, one://B'HAM.
Rethink College Park: This site uses several interactive maps to cover development around University of Maryland's campus.
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iBrattleboro Wins!
| On March 20, a Vermont judge dismissed a libel lawsuit filed against iBrattleboro founders Chris Grotke and Lise LePage stemming from a user comment on the site. | |
| • | Read David Ardia's CitMediaLaw.org article |
| • | See iBrattlboro's statement |
| Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive. A digital literacy guide for the information age. | |
| • | Download PDF |
| • | Order Hard Copies |
| J-Lab research: CitMedia Sites are Here to Stay | |
- May. 5: No Business Model, No Site
- Apr. 1: Cit Journalists on the Scene
- Feb. 29: Cit Media Speaks Spanish
