The Seattle Times has begun a recurring series on how new technology is affecting the media landscape. Kim Peterson's first piece in this project talks about how the citizens of the 'Emerald City' and other places across the U.S. have taken to citizen journalism. While innovations such as camera phones, blogs, podcasts and digital cameras have helped regular people break major stories (ex. the London bombings of July 7, 2005), the movement is still decidedly in its genesis stages. News sites that pull stories from other publications and allow users to throw in their two cents are doing well according to the article, but as for more ambitious projects, like doing original journalism with the feel of a local paper...well...we'll let Nick Hanauer of Seattle venture firm Second Avenue Partners handle that one.

"I can't think of a reason to invest in a company that wanted to be a local, sort of traditionally structured news organization, but with online content," Hanauer says in the article. "There's almost no way to build enough revenue to cover the expenses. The economics just won't work."

I feel that will probably be the case for some time. To start up a paper is an absolutely massive job and requires oodles of cash. On top of that, why would you try to emulate the newspaper, even if your focus would be local? The online journalism world is one in which the traditional rules are blown to bits, rebuilt, and then promptly blown to bits again. A local, online job such as what Hanauer is talking about has to think outside the box in order to gain attention. It cannot be held to traditional rules in an online content, lest it be put down within six months of its birth.

Of course, citizen journalism's growth can be accelerated if it can become integrated with the traditional media itself. An example of this can be found at YourHub, a service operated by the Denver Newspaper Agency, which is comprised of the city's two major papers, the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News. YourHub allows members to share stories and photos, add events to their community's calendar and start their own localized blogs. While this is primarily a Denver-based project, YourHub has still spread to six states and communities as diverse as Ventura County, Calif. to Wichita Falls, Tex. Checking the most recent stories section in the Denver section brings up stories about what one Allison Reedy thinks about the city's bar scene. Wichita Falls' Callie Worley has become one of her hub's top 'reporters,' with several stories on local organizations and happenings at nearby Sheppard Air Force Base.

I have to thank Ms. Peterson for the tipoff on this site. From what I've seen, YourHub creates a harmony between the public element and the journalism element. And as the citizen journalism movement evolves, so will the writers' style, which will make for better contributions that will rival a normal paper's beat guys/gals. Perhaps someone can tip off Boston.com and see what kind of thing they can cook up in terms of giving the public a voice beyond the typical message boards?