About “Spot Us”
“Spot Us” is a project of the nonprofit Center for Media Change that allows an individual or group to take control of news in their community by sharing the cost (crowdfunding) to commission freelance journalists to write important, or uncovered news stories.
You can find out more at our HOME PAGE
Spot.Us was founded by David Cohn and is made possible by the Knight News Challenge grant. The project is informed by many people including you!!!!
How Spot.Us Works
- Anyone can create a “story tip.” Example: “I would like to see somebody do an investigation into the quality of our water in San Jose.”
- Journalists create pitches that can be inspired by your ideas. An example pitch.
- We get pledge donations – but nobody’s credit cards are charged until we reach our goal. This way you know your pledge will play a meaningful role and won’t be squandered.
- The finished content is licensed under a Creative Commons license and Spot Us will try and get it published in as many places as possible.
- If any news organization wants exclusive rights to the story, they will have to refund a percentage of the original donations – so you will get your money back to invest in a new story.
- Democracy flourishes, you feel good.
Who is Helping Us
Advisors
- Jeff Jarvis
- Dan Gillmor
- Jay Rosen
- Brant Houston
- Leonard Witt
- Susan Mernit
- Jeremy Toeman
- Fabrice Florin
- Neil Vineberg
Partners and informal Advisors
- Alexis Madrigal
- Public Press
- J.D. Lasica
- Marc Smolowitz
- ReelChanges.org
- YOU! Especially if you live in the Bay Area!!! (info at spot dot us)
- Kara Andrade
- Chris Amico
- Public-Press
- NewsDesk.org
- KALW
- SO MUCH MORE!!!!
[...] me to put a pitch up on Spot.us, his new project to crowdfund local investigative reporting (more info here). Here’s what I want to write about: California has committed to reducing greenhouse [...]
If an article becomes big breaking news and an exclusive is sold, is it possible that the pledge made will return a profit on the success of the article? If that were to be the case would the funds be returned to the pledger, or would they be retained by spot.us to be invested in future articles as determined by the pledger?
We intend to use any money sold for rights to articles for reimbursing the original users on spot.us. Essentially – you might get the original $20 that you loaned back – and could re-invest it in a different news article.
[...] About “Spot Us” « Spot.Us – Community Funded Reporting August 26th, 2008 – 5:30 pm How Spot Us Works 1. Anyone can create a “story idea.” Example: “I would like to see somebody do an investigation into the quality of our water in San Jose.” 2. Journalists create pitches that can be inspired by your ideas. 3. We get pledge donations – but nobody’s credit cards are charged until we reach our goal. This way you know your pledge will play a meaningful role and won’t be squandered. 4. The finished content is licensed under a Creative Commons license and Spot Us will try and get it published in as many places as possible. 5. If any news organization wants exclusive rights to the story, they will have to refund a percentage of the original donations – so you will get your money back to invest in a new story. 6. Democracy flourishes, you feel good. About “Spot Us” « Spot.Us – Community Funded Reporting [...]
[...] About “Spot Us” « “Community Funded Reporting” Spot.Us [...]
[...] “Spot Us daría un nuevo sentido de poder editorial al público”, dice David Cohn, su creador, que recibió 340.000$, durante dos años de subvención de la Knight Foundation para poner a prueba su idea. [...]
Spot us is a great idea.
Who’s the genius who came up with this?
[...] Us past dat principe toe op onderzoeksjournalistiek. Iedereen kan op hun website een idee voor een onderzoek plaatsen. [...]