“Crowdsourcing” the news

More on the Gannett restructuring from Wired: Gannett to crowdsource news

Of all the pilot projects the company has conducted over the last few months, the most promising would seem to be the crowdsourcing of in-depth investigations into government malfeasance. Crowdsourcing involves taking functions traditionally performed by employees and using the internet to outsource them to an undefined, generally large group of people. The compensation is usually far less than what an employee might make for performing the same service. Well-known examples include Wikipedia and iStockphoto.

“We’ve already had some really amazing results with the crowdsourcing element of this,” said Jennifer Carroll, Gannett’s VP for new media content. “Most of us got into this business because we were passionate about watchdog journalism and public service, and we’ve just watched those erode. We’ve learned that no one wants to read a 400-column-inch investigative feature online. But when you make them a part of the process they get incredibly engaged.”

Crowdsourcing sounds a lot like what Jay Rosen has been working on with NewAssignment.net.

But college media advisers should also take notice of the cross-training that is already occurring among Gannett staffers:

Carroll and Maness have promised that no layoffs will occur as a result of the reorganization. “We’re retraining our people, and many will take on new duties,” said Maness, noting that photographers are being trained to take videos, and that library staffers may be called upon to man the “data desk,” which manages the influx of information Gannett hopes readers will be submitting. “But no one’s going to lose their job because of this.”

This is a new world for journalism, and some are going to be uncomfortable with the new roles they’ll have to adopt (”Shoot video, you’ve got to be crazy!”). But adaptation is the key to survival in this universe. As one of my doctoral advisers used to say, the worst thing you can say as a staffer is “that’s not my job.”

Update (10:10 p.m. 11-02-06): Doug Fisher points to a blog called Crowdsourcing.com, which is written by the author of the Wired story I linked to earlier today. He has more details on the Gannett restructuring: Gannett: the seven desks.

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