Journalists bemoan the death of the industry and scapegoat bloggers as dilettantes. Newspapermen say blogs undermine original reporting that only professionals can do. This is, if nothing else, self effacing. Bloggers represent the same crop that reporters did before media consolidation: the engaged citizen who doggedly follows important events to their conclusion.

The best of both breeds are those who go the extra mile to provide insight into events that require investigation. Reporters need to remember their true calling—public service—and not lash out at their brethren when a little industry competition disrupts their news gathering routine. Reporters should ally with bloggers, because they are one and the same.

Creating a social coalition and a file sharing network can address this disconnect directly by teaming bloggers who have the most experience collectively in getting information across the Internet to people globally, and reporters who have the experience of gathering news in civil arenas.

WHAT WE NEED:

This project is very low resource. Because it uses Open Source software that is also free (gratis and libre) it does not require much overhead or maintenance. Much of the work of maintaining the website and network can be done by one employee, and the social project will scale well according to the popularity and the grants that we receive. Publicity is the base element of how much support we will receive as a donations supported organization.