CNN’s IReport To Let Users Tell Own Stories

CNN's new iReport.com will embraces citizen journalism by letting anyone post news...and letting anyone access it.

Back in 2006, CNN took a tenatitive step into citizen journalism with iReport, a service that enabled users to upload their own photos and video of news events for possible use on CNN sites and broadcast channels. Even though participating in iReport essentially meant signing away all rights to your content forever, news junkies apparently embrace the service, because from time to time items submitted via iReport would turn up on CNN properties, or even on CNN broadcasts. CNN says more than 100,000 stories have been submitted via iReport.

The problem with iReport was that it comes across like a big black hole: users would submit content, but fewer than 10 percent of the items submitted would be selected for use by CNN editors. So the new version of iReport.com (due to launch next week) will feature nothing but user-produced news. And CNN editors won’t get to pick and choose what’s featured: like YouTube, the new site will enable users to post whatever content they choose and have it be available to the world.

Visitors to iReport.com will be able to browse categories of user-submitted information, rate stories and videos, and embed the content elsewhere on the Web. CNN says it will moderate uploaded content to weed out inappropriate content and outright bogus items. The site will also feature ways for users to report items as potentially inappropriate or inaccurate.

The new iReport.com is due to launch next week.