OhmyNews International

A perfect example of the importance of journalists presented itself in my hometown of Elbert County, Colo., this week.

A water district was seeking approval of an expansion plan that would allow it to export hundreds of millions of gallons of water out of Elbert County.

The proposal was expected to be voted upon by the county commissioners on Wednesday, Aug. 24. About a 1,000 concerned citizens reportedly showed up at that meeting to voice their opposition. Instead, however, they received the news that the request had been withdrawn – at least temporarily.

According to a news report in The Denver Post on Aug. 25, Elbert County residents for weeks had been questioning “the speed with which the proposal was being considered and the secrecy surrounding it. Little, if anything, was posted on the county website. Some residents said the only information they could find was in newspaper reports.”

Did you catch that last point? Residents didn’t learn about the water district’s plans by looking on the county website. They had to rely on newspaper reports for their information.

This situation reinforces what I’ve always believed. Journalists – whether professionals or citizens – are crucial to keeping our society informed and our government in check.

Susan Cormier is the co-author of the “Handbook for Citizen Journalists” (http://www.citizenjournalistnow.com/om).

I’ve been wondering a lot recently about why it is so difficult for individuals to find a way to make citizen journalism websites profitable.

There is an obvious answer – at least from my perspective as a former newspaper editor and reporter.

Most of those who have a desire to start or run a citizen journalism website have a journalism background. Journalists aren’t trained in sales. But they are trained to be unbiased in their reporting.

So, how can you be unbiased in your reporting when you are writing a news article about one of the major advertisers on your website?

In the “professional” news business, there usually are two different departments – one that handles the news and one that handles the sales.

In a perfect world, individuals in these two departments should not come into contact with one another. So the news writer never takes into account how much advertising one business buys. And the advertising salesman has no idea if a business is in the news.

But with a citizen journalism website, often one person handles both the writing and sales. And that person usually has a news background. It’s not an easy transition to wear both hats – reporting and writing, and sales.

My solution is as old as the advertising department in most newspaper offices around the world: Commission sales. Find someone equally passionate about your cause and hire them on a commission basis.

Surely in these days of record unemployment, someone will step up to the plate to serve as the advertising department so the original owner/operator of the website can focus on reporting and writing the news, sports and features in his/her community.

If you’d like to read about someone who actually did marketing and is making money from his website, read the recent blog written by Ron Ross, co-founder of the National Association of Citizen Journalists, at http://ronrosstoday.com/?p=374.

Susan Cormier is the head coach in charge of training at the National Association of Citizen Journalists (http://nacj.us/) and co-author of the “Handbook for Citizen Journalists” (http://www.citizenjournalistnow.com/).