Gannett to crowdsource news [Wired News]

“The publisher of ‘America’s newspaper’ is turning to America to get its news,” writes Jeff Howe, who coined the term ‘crowdsourcing‘, in an article on Wired News.

“According to internal documents provided to Wired News and interviews with key executives, Gannett, the publisher of USA Today as well as 90 other American daily newspapers, will begin crowdsourcing many of its newsgathering functions. Starting Friday, Gannett newsrooms were rechristened ‘information centers’, and instead of being organized into separate metro, state or sports departments, staff will now work within one of seven desks with names like ‘data’, ‘digital’ and ‘community conversation’.”

The initiative emphasizes four goals: Prioritize local news over national news; publish more user-generated content; become 24-7 news operations, in which the newspapers do less and the websites do much more; and finally, use crowdsourcing methods to put readers to work as watchdogs, whistle-blowers and researchers in large, investigative features.

– Read full story
– Post on Crowdsourcing blog with reprint of Gannett article
– Post on Crowdsourcing blog with reprint of memo by CEO Craig Dubow to Gannett staffers