I think that a Website such as the one being planned for citizen reporting is great, just so long as things are kept in perspective. I mean, I’d have to see witch hunts and the like.

Among most of the U.S. and European citizen-journalism ventures that I’m acquainted with, the idea of paying citizen reporters is not on the table. South Korea’s Ohmynews.com pays a modest fee to its citizen reporters based on quality of the submissions. But for the most part, the thinking is that reporting by members of the public is something they do for the satisfaction alone.

Now comes word of some innovation from South Africa. The website reporter.co.za from Johnnic Media solicits citizen reporting and pays for good stuff — grading news contributions into gold, silver, and bronze, and paying up to R35 (about US$5.50) per gold story. [Read the rest]