Letter on Palin Launches Wasilla Resident into the Spotlight
Kilkenny on Palin: Citizen Journalism Success
Poynter, Sept. 15, 2008
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=150587/
One week after Wasilla resident Anne Kilkenny sent out an e-mail about newly appointed Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, there were over 3,000 Google results for Kilkenny and her email. Jon Greenberg’s blog on Poynter outlines in detail how and why Kilkenny became so popular so fast. He said, “This is another moment that proves the Internet’s power to carry a message from a very small town to the entire world.”
Greenberg points out that newsrooms can learn a lot from Kilkenny’s example and that citizen reporting offer a huge opportunity if journalists can seize upon it. “If newsrooms pull this off, they will establish a new social contract between themselves and the public—a new social contract that can breathe new life into the news we all rely on,” said Greenberg.
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