Intermediated

Wired and Dan Gillmor just did stories on OhmyNews, which sounds pretty revolutionary. It’s an online newspaper (with a print component, but that’s a fish of a different color) that’s 90% written by volunteer reporters. Ah, you say, it’s Metafilter. Yes, except that the “citizen-reporters” file stories which are then checked and approved by professional editors. Really good stories earn the authors a smallish fee.

In other words, it’s news blogging with professional editors. Compare this to Dave Winer’s optimism about bloggers; note that OhmyNews is in fact having a real effect on Presidential elections in South Korea. In fact, Jon Bonne nailed it. “Professional journalism continues to exist because the public has demonstrated its need for two things: truth and convenience.” OhmyNews is a way to satisfy those two needs while still opening up a door for the amateur reporter.