Citizen Journalism Arrives in Grand Rapids-The Rapidian

As Grand Rapids Community Foundation and the Community Media Center guide the launch of The Rapidian we offer these web pages to help further define and explain what the project is about and the vision. The Rapidian Beta launched on September 15, 2009.

Citizen Journalism: What’s That all About?

Check out this video interview with Alberto Ibarguen, Knight Foundation President.

Alberto Ibarguen chats with Roberta King from GRCommFound on Vimeo.

This question is more complicated than it might first appear. Professional journalists are likely to define it one way and people who are citizen journalists it may be another. For the purposes of the Neighborhood News Bureau project, it is simply giving the people of Grand Rapids a voice and outlet for reporting hyper-local news.

Think of the concept this way: Traditional journalism has a group of well-trained professional reporters who either cover a beat or do general reporting. They go out into the community from the inside of a newsroom and are directed in their work by editors.

Citizen journalism is outside in. It involves limitless numbers of people, some with expertise or deep interest in a subject, others with no expertise and only a reporter’s curiosity. Citizen journalists are everywhere in a community and their interests determine what stories they’ll cover.

Others who have studied the subject have more sophisticated and deeper views, which are worth considering.

Who Are Citizen Journalists?

Anyone can be a citizen journalist and many people have been working toward this – maybe even unknowingly. People who blog, people who post event images on Flickr, or videos on You Tube, those who Twitter, people who take a photograph of a weather event and send it to their local TV station and people who take time to comment on news stories are all potential citizen journalists. We envision people from throughout Grand Rapids volunteering as citizen journalists. The inclusion of ordinary citizens in news reporting isn’t unusual. Citizens have been telling reporters what they’ve been seeing since the advent of news reporting itself. Classic “man on the street” interviews; along with stories about criminal and celebratory events often involve the observations of non-professional journalists. What’s different with citizen journalism is that the professional journalist is absent and the citizen reporter becomes the questioner and puts the story together. Through The Rapidian, people can write stories, take photos or make videos, or produce an audio (radio) story.

Finding a place for hyper-local news

For people with the urge to report news and tell stories, finding an outlet and an audience can present a challenge. While traditional media welcomes interaction in the form of comments, first-person interviews and spot new photography or video, it isn’t open to full-blown stories or news from non-staff members. As local newspapers, TV and radio stations are experiencing staff reductions, citizen news outlets are gathering momentum and helping fill in the gaps regarding local news reporting. Many progressive communities (800 and growing) across the U.S. have citizen journalism outlets. Most are web-based. The Rapidian is unique in that it is multi-media: web, radio, tv and printcasting will all be part of the project.

This Knight Foundation website shows many of the sites across the U.S.

Why Grand Rapids Community Foundation is in Citizen Journalism

What happens in Grand Rapids is important to the Community Foundation.

Activities, events and the overall well-being of people here influences grantmaking and helps us guide donors in their philanthropy. Over its 86 year history the Community Foundation has addressed a wide variety of social issues: race and diversity, child abuse prevention, AIDS prevention and care, access for people with disabilities and affordable housing. The need for information in a vibrant community is just as critical as any other social issue. We believe that information sharing and community knowledge is vital to people in a democratic society.

How Grand Rapids Community Foundation entered into citizen journalism

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation approached community foundations nationally and offered a special pool of funding for community foundations support creative ways to use new media and technology to keep communities informed. Grand Rapids Community Foundation in partnership with Grand Rapids Community Media Center wrote a proposal to establish four neighborhood news bureaus in the city, the hub or website is called The Rapidian. The Community Foundation was one of 21 community foundations to receive a grant. Knight Foundation’s $128,000 grant was matched by the Community Foundation and Slemons Foundation. The funding will last for three years. After the launch of the project (summer 2009), models and funds for sustainability will be investigated. Click here to read the press release and watch a video annoucing this grant.

Vision for The Rapidian

Grand Rapids Community Foundation and the Community Media Center (CMC) envision its role as facilitators and builders of The Rapidian.

With the original Knight Foundation grant language as a guide, the community will drive what each of The Rapidian's four news bureaus looks like, the content on the websites and eventually the leadership of each bureau. With the grant funding, the news bureaus will give citizen reporters the tools, structure and mediums by which to gather, write and report on local news and events. When the four Rapidian news bureaus are fully established, reporters will be able to produce news for the web, radio or TV via the CMC’s resources. Each site will be outfitted with video and still cameras, computers, audio recorders and templates required to “file” stories to the web.

Each bureau will be initially “staffed” with a volunteer news team comprised of citizens and college journalism/communication students. To ensure high quality and fairness in the program, regular training will be offered to (and required of) participants. Technical training will be augmented with workshops on specialized topics in journalism which could include business and government reporting, ethics, children’s issues, environmental reporting and the legal aspects of reporting news. Training workshops will utilize CMC staff, along with current and retired experts in the field as trainers. On line journalism training is also available. CMC’s production staff and the project coordinator will provide technical and operational support with assistance from host site personnel.

Learning More, Getting Involved.

This is a project the needs the involvement of many citizens from throughout Grand Rapids. If you see yourself as a citizen reporter here's how to get involved:

Join our Facebook group Grand Rapids Neighborhood News Bureaus.

Further questions: contact Roberta F. King at or Laurie Cirivello at .

Twitter Widget status updatesgreat free widgetsWidgetbox