UK Newspaper Puts Editorial Power in the Hands of the Crowd

The Guardian, one of the UK's top broadsheet newspapers has on many occasions benefited from crowdsourcing. Whether it involved investigating the financial affairs of Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Blair Rich Project, getting readers involved in uncovering the scandal of MP's expeneses, and more recently taking the pulse of the country following the UK riots in August, the Guardian has turned to the wisdom of the crowd for that all important lead. In a bold step the Guardian now is considering the use of crowdsourcing to help determine certain aspects of editorial policy.

The initial plan is to launch an experimental scheme in which carefully selected portions of the the news lists featuring stories from all over the world to be posted on a daily blog. Readers can browse through the lists and then convey their ideas to the paper's reporters and editors via Twitter. There are a number of concerns, most notably stories of a sensitive nature and embargoed sources possibly being made available for public perusal. 

Obviously, we're not planning to list all our exclusives or embargoed content and we'll also have to be careful not to say anything legally sensitive or unsubstantiated - Dan Roberts, Guardian National News Editor

Inviting the crowd to help shape editorial content is a bold move by the Guardian yet one of the most frequent comments made in conversation relates to the content of news feed. Numerous times people have uttered or heard how the newspapers are either riddled bad news or sensationalist trash. Now the crowd has the opportunity to put their convictions into practice and to shape the news. The blog is due to launch on Monday 17th October 2011 and no doubt other news outlets will be monitoring the Guardian's efforts with interest.

Source Article; The Drum
Image Credit;   Michael Bruntonspall