Reuters taking citizen journalism seriously

Reuters is giving NewAssignment.Net a $100,000 grant to hire an editor. NewAssignment.Net is the brainchild of NYU journalism prof Jay Rosen, who wants to experiment with making news through a pro-am collaborative process (it'll involve regular folks and professionals).

Says Rosen:

The idea is to draw “smart crowds”—groups of people configured to share intelligence—into collaboration at NewAssignment.Net and get stories done that way that aren’t getting done now. By pooling their intelligence and dividing up the work, a network of volunteer users can find things out that the larger public needs to know. I think that’s most likely to happen in collaboration with editors and reporters who are paid to meet deadines, and to set a consistent standard. Which is the “pro-am” part.

NewAssignment.Net is a not a plan for a company; in fact, it’s closer to a charity, an editorial engine anchored in civil society itself, rather than the media industry or journalism profession. As today’s announcement shows, New Assignment can be on friendly terms with Big Media, which it is is not trying to destroy or supplant.

Wish I had something clever to say about this, but all I can come up with is, "interesting."