Local Government TV

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Calling All Citizen Journalists!

In the wake of tragic layoffs at The Morning Call, it's time to consider citizen journalism. Blogs are inexpensive and powerful publishing tools - the poor man's press. I've set up an experimental blog, Northampton County Spotlight, to cover the eastern end of the Lehigh Valley. It includes links to every municipal and school district web page. In addition, every news-oriented Northampton County blog is linked.

Now all I need are people willing to post brief reports.

In Williams Township, citizens are battling the Chrin landfill expansion. Hellertown pedestrians worry about getting killed while crossing the street. Pen Argyl cops hand out tickets to old homeless ladies who are talking to benches. Upper Mount Bethel residents are always fighting over something - that's their entertainment.

People are interested in these hot, local stories. They want to know what's going on, even if they don't read a paper.

Who is going to tell these stories? Many of you could inform us about your community. If you'd like to try, please drop me a line at BOHare5948@aol.com. I'll send you an invitation so you can start blogging at Northampton County Spotlight. Your politics are irrelevant to me.

Here's a link to a few online journalism tips. One of these days, I'm going to read them, too.

4 comments:

  1. What a terrific idea! I'll be following this...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Spiffy site. Obviously a fair amount of work. Question: who gets the adds by google money?
    nlv

    ReplyDelete
  3. NLVLogic, If any income is generated, and that is a big IF, it will be used for some tools like a recorder, a program for audio. That will probably take about 3 years.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maybe we should start a support fund for needy laid off Mcall workers and their soon to be starving families;-) nlv

    ReplyDelete

You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.