CitJ in Larryville

I read an interesting sidebar in today's Journal-World. It was about an online chat session with representatives from the Journal-World and 6News, discussing the Citizen Journalism Academy. I'd never heard of this before and dig some digging on the LJW site. The Journal-World and 6News have created essentially a crashcourse j-school for regular people who want to learn about the news process (VIDEO). This is the third third time the pair has run this academy, which also draws on experts from KU's j-school.

Says KU Dean Ann Brill, "With all the media outlets, it’s difficult to know what to pay attention to as well as the credibility of the people reporting and writing. Our hope with the CJA is to help citizens become better media consumers as well as help those passing along information to be responsible and accurate.”

6News director Cody Howard added, “People want to be a part of the community conversation — to know their voice is being heard. This class provides an opportunity for that, while training citizens on the basics of journalism and news gathering."

Very interesting stuff indeed, and further proof on the innovations happening here in Larryville. While it is rare for news organizations to give the milk away for free like this, I wonder what they expect citizens to do with their newfound skills.

Unlike the Chicago Tribune, which is turning CitJ content into its own edition, the Journal-World doesn't give a suggestion for these reporters' next steps. There are numerous outlets here in Lawrence, including Lawrence.com and Larryville.com, which has potential; somewhere, somehow these cub reporters can practice their craft. It would be cool to see a page or a weekly section on what the town's citizen journalists could provide.

Just don't give the milk away for free.

UPDATE: A little more research has learned me good. Here are stories about previous academies. Last session's graduates created content for the Journal-World's really cool multimedia project "24 Hours in Lawrence."