Across The Media Universe: "Yes, We're Still Occasionally Doing These" Edition
The Wisdom Of Crowds: Wired magazine and NYU professor Jay Rosen wants to bring the open-source model driving Wikipedia and Linux to journalism. "Assignment Zero will use custom software to create a virtual newsroom that allows collaboration on a discrete, but open-ended, topic from the very start," reports David Carr. Regular citizens will do the lion's share of the work, but experienced journalists will oversee and edit it. "This is a new approach to watchdog journalism. Crowdsourcing is engaging the wisdom and expertise in our communities early on in the reporting process," Jennifer Carroll, vice president of new media content for Gannett, told Carr.
Johnston Still Missing: A week ago, BBC correspondent Alan Johnston was abducted in the Gaza Strip. "We are growing increasingly concerned about Alan's safety," says the BBC. "Over the past week, we have worked intensively with the authorities in Gaza and elsewhere to try to locate Alan and we continue to receive assurances that everything possible is being done. However, it is disappointing that after seven days there has still been no firm word either about his whereabouts or his condition." As the Guardian notes, a number of foreign correspondents and aid workers have been kidnapped in the region in the past year, but all have been released, usually within days.