Networked Journalism: The Future of News?

Just as I reported the other day, journalism is mixing it up. Don't give up the ghost on the news yet — there are a lot more exciting things to try before we declare our press doomed.

J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism at American University, for example, just announced a new one-year pilot initiative, the Networked Journalism Project, which will pair five newspapers with “hyperlocal” news producers. The idea, according to J-Lab's press release, is “to gather ideas and lessons for future content collaborations.” J-Lab will compile relevant lessons into a report at the end of the project.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is making it happen; the foundation will fund a liaison at each newspaper and stipends for the local news wranglers. The newspapers involved in the project are The Seattle Times, The Miami Herald, The Charlotte Observer, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times and TucsonCitizen.com, an online citizen-journalism outlet.

Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab, wants the initiative to spark further innovative thinking. “We hope this project will help traditional news organizations and new media makers begin to figure out how to amplify good content coming from their communities,” she is quoted in the release, “sharing it, even monetizing it for all participants.”

Monetizing? Could that be where the future of journalism lies?

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