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| Scoop: Grew Up With the Lebanese War |
| Fed up with stressful news, Israelis post their own articles on daily life |
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Lee Kang-geun (internews)  |
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Published 2007-06-26 14:56 (KST) |
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In June 2005, Michael Weiss, a journalist from Israel, attended the International Citizen Reporters' Forum hosted by OhmyNews in Korea. His participation was rather dramatic because he learned about the forum just three days before the opening and immediately registered for admission through the Internet.
Having learned about OhmyNews in the forum, Michael quickly decided to create an Israeli version of OhmyNews. After returning to Israel, he prepared for the launch for half a year and finally founded Scoop, the OhmyNews of Israel.
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FROM THE SECTION |
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| In the summer of 2005, Scoop was promoted as a national news network because of the war between Israel and Lebanon, which occurred just six months after its creation. Confronting thousands of rockets fired everyday into their own yards citizen reporters sent their news articles to Scoop before professional reporters could reach the sites.
At present, Scoop, created only one and a half years ago, has become one of the three major Web sites in Israel. Jerusalem is the place generating many hot issues of the world. The number of foreign correspondents in this tiny city is approximately the same as that in Washington, D.C. Also, Jerusalem hosts international conferences as often as other major cities in the world. Hot news on the conflicts in the Middle East is local news for Israelis and this local news is released throughout the world. Scoop, having started with a few computers in this city of news, now attracts Israelis who had been controlled by the conventional media.
Israelis fed up with stressful news such as national defense, diplomacy and security started posting their own articles based on daily life. Scoop has become one of the major players among Israeli Web sites in a very short time and, moreover, possesses great potential for the future. Although it releases news in Hebrew in a small country with seven million inhabitants, and therefore faces some limits in developing wider readers' groups, its experiment in citizen journalism is very valuable.
OhmyNews interviewed Michael, the founder of Scoop. His office is located in King George 21st Street, a business center in Jerusalem. One can see the old castle of Jerusalem from the viewpoint in the penthouse of the building.
Please tell us about your site. How did the site get started, and what are its goals?
We launched Scoop based on the OhmyNews model in February 2006. We were impressed by the fact that citizens participated in news reporting. I attended the OhmyNews Forum two years ago and immediately decided to create a citizen journalism Web site. Indeed, we confronted many dilemmas in working for citizen journalism in Israel where news prepared by professional reporters was so common. However, we wanted to vocalize individuals' opinions in the field of professional news.
Today, about 1,300 citizen reporters work with Scoop. This number is not small, given the fact that the entire population of Israel is only seven million. The range of reporters varies from an eight-year-old boy writing about computer games to a 75-year-old senior citizen interested in health issues. Furthermore, some Arabs participate in our newspaper and we are very proud of it. Although we never advertised Scoop, many people got to know about us and joined.
We heard that Scoop grew up so quickly because of the Lebanese war. Please tell us about it in more detail.
The [June 2006] Lebanese war, which occurred just six months after Scoop was founded, was a big issue in the world. Many citizen reporters sent us their articles and photos. They took photos in their neighborhoods and, as a result, Scoop received many interesting, fresh news materials, which even major newspapers were not able to obtain. This was a striking experience. No one could predict when and where rocket missiles would be fired. Citizen reporters living nearby sent their news articles even before professional reporters reached the sties. The 32 days of the Lebanese war brought us a great opportunity.
Before the War, we received around 15 articles a day but the number has increased to 25 on average now. Particularly, the number of visitors notably increased: about 200,000 visitors a month before the war and 500,000 afterward. Scoop, having launched just one and a half years ago, became one of the big three Web sites in Israel.
What sets your site apart from traditional media outlets such as The New York Times?
We deliver news of ordinary people. The conventional news is bound to capitalists or managing boards of media companies and has to get through hierarchical editing processes. But, we release news which we think of and want to present. The conventional media cover news and edit articles based on the orientation of founders or mother companies. We do not have a personal intention in our coverage. For instance, when our reporters interview news sources, they ask what they want to know and write articles based on their own questions. The characteristic of Scoop is probably that we deliver news which the conventional media cannot deal with or discover.
How has citizen journalism matured and gained mainstream acceptance since your site launched?
Since we launched our Web site, we have received a good deal of recognition from the established media. For instance, [Benjamin] Netanyahu, a former prime minister and the most influential politician in Israel, is a contributor of our Web site. The most popular article up to now is one about an increase in water price and 20,000 people have read it. Some articles about the corruption of politicians received more than 550 comments.
We have to deal with three different groups in the media arena. First, there are some groups stealing our news. They plagiarize or alter our content through complementary research. Fortunately, because our articles are written by citizen reporters and therefore have unique characteristics, it is not difficult to figure out if an article was borrowed from ours. Recently, our citizen reporters protested in front of Maariv, one of the largest newspapers in Israel, for this reason. Indeed, Scoop is preparing to deal with the plagiarism problems.
Secondly, we have our supporters' group. They recognize us and actively utilize our news. Channel 2, a TV channel, is a good example. It broadcasts a program summarizing our citizen reporters' news every weekend. Several radio channels introduce our news, as well.
The third group is our partners. They actively work with us. A mobile phone company collaborates with Scoop and uses our news for its cell phone services. This is a profitable business.
Please explain how the editorial process at your site works. How can citizen journalists post articles on the site? Does your editorial staff work with citizen reporters in the field who pitch story ideas and then get paid if they are accepted?
Once citizen reporters send their articles, we review them and contact the reporters for further discussions. If necessary, we conduct fact checking with relevant organizations or people in order to ensure the credibility of the articles. We do not pay reporters for each article, but give points instead. Once the points reach certain amounts, citizen reporters receive gifts from Scoop. Our gifts are various from a T-shirt with the logo of Scoop or a digital camera. Citizen reporters do not intend to make money by their reporting. They are genuinely proud of the fact that their names and articles appear in Scoop.
We manage our citizen reporters by making phone calls. Also, we visit regions and cities every three to four weeks to meet citizen reporters there -- we held the first meeting with citizen reporters last February -- and continuously communicate with them. Citizen reporters throughout the country gathered together in the first citizen reporters' forum last April. A well-known journalist from Channel 10, a news channel, participated in the discussion as a panelist there. This forum promoted an opportunity for citizen reporters to develop the identity of citizen journalism.
How does your newsroom ensure and maintain a high degree of fairness, balance and accuracy from your citizen reporters?
This is easy -- 10-20 percent of articles sent to us are not accepted. We do not select articles without accuracy and balance. The chief editor is a professional journalist with experience with the conventional media. He selects articles after conducting fact checking. We have not faced any legal case in spite of the fact that we have posted more than 1,000 articles in our Web site. We are quite successful. We have insurance and it takes a large part in our budget. Because the insurance company evaluated that our citizen reporters might confront many dangers, the insurance is quite expensive.
What do you consider some of the main principles, or tenets, that form the basis of citizen journalism?
I think it is accuracy. Articles of citizen reporters must be accurate and truthful. Moreover, the content of articles written by citizen reporters should have their own characteristics. This is our essence and motive for further development in the future. Scoop covers news about people who cannot be involved in the mainstream or about issues which the mainstream society is not interested in.
Do you consider independence (from capitalists, political power and managing boards) an important hallmark of citizen journalism? If so, what does independence entail?
Our main funding is generated by advertisements. Thus, there is a danger that we might depend on our sponsors. However, we try to overcome this issue. Some time ago, one of our sponsors did not agree on an article written by a citizen reporter because it included some negative views of the company. The sponsor complained about the article to us but we refused to delete the article. Fortunately, we still do business with this sponsor.
What is the business model of your site?
Banner advertisements are the main sources for fund raising. Also, we sell our content. News produced by citizen reporters is authentic and different from that of the conventional media. We provide content for TV and mobile [phone] companies.
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©2007 OhmyNews
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