Citizen journalism is a high-churn, high-touch enterprise

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Citizen journalism math is working out this way: Fewer than one in 10 of those you train will stick around to be regular contributors. And even then, they may be “regular” for only a short period of time. 

Very few of the 150 citizen journalists that Madison Commons trained are still writing for the site. “Although the workshops filled, we’ve found it challenging to retain writers once they complete the training,” said site founder Lew Friedland. “This has been a flaw in our original design: We believed that it would be most difficult to recruit people, but that once they attended the workshops, they would continue writing for the Commons.”

To adapt, the Commons reached out to more neighborhood associations to include newsletter stories, and it sought to cultivate writers who wanted to focus on particular citywide issues, such as transportation or housing.

Still, that was not good enough. Now, five years later, the site has just finished a redesign and is re-launching with a significant shift from its original citizen-driven model. It is moving to more of a university/nonprofit model with media and community partnerships and a focus on transportation, education and local food, Friedland said. Five students will serve as area editors, doing a combination of reporting, editing and recruiting community journalists and bloggers.

Likewise, of the 12 citizen journalists in the first class of Appalshop’s Community Correspondent Corps, only three have stuck around to report. CCC, under new leadership, will soon resume training. The Austin Bulldog has invited prospective writers to meet-ups and some are now contributing to the site.

Chicago Talks “really pulled back from” training citizen journalists, said co-founder Barbara Iverson. Content now mostly comes from students and partnerships with LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corp.) groups to tell untold stories.

Lexington Commons found very few people willing to come to training sessions and its planned monthly workshops ended.

Twin Cities Daily Planet has done a notable job of recruiting, refreshing and mentoring its stable of writers. Still, said editor Mary Turck, “Relying on training citizen journalists and then getting content from them has not been an effective model.”  (See Twin Cities Daily Planet: Sustaining Citizen Journalists.)

“Instead, the methods that work begin with the citizen journalists where they are and where their passions lie,” she said. “If someone wants to write, that’s great - we try to start them with articles that they can handle and offer them all the training that they are willing to absorb. That means different things for different people.”

For instance, if a person wants to write about her neighborhood, she starts out by writing promotional articles. TC Daily Planet then guides her to finding multiple sources and to understanding the difference between reporting and promoting, between journalism and press releases, Turck said. 

It helps to engage a site’s most vocal and prolific commenters. It’s good to seek out partnerships with neighborhood activists, power posters, issues experts, and prep sports participants. New Castle NOW’s Susie Pender said she cajoles parents to file reports of youth athletic games with a simple reassurance:  “I will not make you look like you are bragging about your kid.”

We’ve concluded that it’s best to start with content from a core of writers - usually the founders, community volunteers or students - who can spearhead reliable, fresh content. Once up and running, sites should work to tease out, rather than train in advance, a corps of contributors.

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