Citizen journalists get $11m for TV venture

In a vote of confidence for 'citizen journalists', Japan's SoftBank Corp will invest $11m in an international news organisation that publishes reports written by ordinary people, not professional journalists. 

SoftBank's partnership with South Korea-based OhmyNews was announced at the weekend. 

Although OhmyNews employs some trained journalists to ensure full coverage of major stories, the bulk of its content comes from an army of around 40,000 ordinary people from all walks of life.

Contributors submit stories to the site which are checked and edited by professional news editors. If a story is among the hundreds accepted for publication every day, the site pays the reporter a fee of a few US dollars. Non-reporting readers also contribute by commenting and voting on stories.

SoftBank's $11m investment will be split almost equally between the OhmyNews parent company in Korea, and OhmyNews International which currently publishes in English and will begin to publish Japanese news next month.

SoftBank Corp, a holding company which has built an $11bn market capitalisation on early investments in companies like Yahoo, will have a minority shareholding in both OhmyNews companies. 

"OhmyNews will spend the invested funds on the expansion of OhmyTV, an internet television arm of OhmyNews, to advance citizen participation in video journalism and the development of OhmyNews' English language edition," the company said in a statement.

Accountability means that the stories posted by OhmyNews are a cut above typical internet forum postings and popular community sites like Digg and Slashdot, according to SoftBank founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son.

"Much information posted on online bulletin boards lacks credibility because it is anonymous," said Son. "OhmyNews stories carry a by-line which provides the reporter's real identity." 

OhmyNews was founded in Seoul five years ago by 41 year-old Korean journalist Oh Yeon Ho, who claimed that his creation heralds "the end of 20th century journalism".
The English-language version, OhmyNews International, was set up last year. But with only 700 contributors, according to a press report, it has not yet matched the organisation's strength or influence in Korea. 

To date, OhmyNews has been funded by private investors and advertising revenues.