Awhile back, Alex linked to OhMyNews, a South Korean online newspaper mixing reports by professional journalists with material from volunteer "citizen reporters." Quite possibly the most influential news source in South Korea, it was innovative, insightful... and only available in Korean. Fortunately for those of us who are Korean-deficient, OhMyNews has just started a "beta test" of OhMyNews International, in English.
The site includes an article entitled "The Revolt of 727 News Guerillas" which trumpets the history and goals of OhMyNews in an energetic (and inspiring) way:
Every citizen's a reporter. Journalists aren't some exotic species, they're everyone who seeks to take new developments, put them into writing, and share them with others.This common truth has been trampled on in a culture where being a reporter is seen as something of a privilege to be enjoyed. Privileged reporters come together to form massive news media wielded power over the whole process of news production, distribution, and consumption.
[...]
We therefore stand up to them raising high the flag of guerrilla warfare. Our weapon is the proposition that "every citizen is a reporter." We intend to achieve a "news alliance of news guerillas." We will be unfolding a second NGO (news guerilla organization) movement.
We have three main tactics.
-Abolish the threshold to being a reporter.
-Break down the set formula for news articles.
-Demolish all walls that separate media.[...]
Dearest readers, and dearest news guerillas! We are not just reforming the culture of the Korean media, we are drawing a new line in the history of the world press. We're changing the world pressÂ’ basic understanding of how the news is done.