Citizen journalism site Helium has struck a partnership with the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) in order to bring together the two aspects of media in this day and age. With the partnership, Helium members are invited to become among the ranks of professional journalists on SPJ. On the flip side, SPJ members are able to sell their work through Helium’s community and platform.
Helium is a marketplace of sorts, granting writers and citizen journalists a place to showcase their talent and gain recognition. From Helium, writers can also earn revenue from the content they create, while networking with others in their industry. So teaming up with a professional journalism network is not entirely surprising given the overall acceptance of citizen journalism we’ve experience in the past few years.
A partnership between traditional and new media is reflective of the changing attitudes towards citizen journalism these days, and while some feel such partnerships take away from the very essence of citizen journalism, others often try to leverage new media outlets to merely gain entry into traditional media sectors.
And Helium, which has been around for a while, is actually looking to revolutionize citizen journalism, in part by creating the marketplace that empowers the longtail of contributors out there. Does teaming up with traditional media enable Helium to achieve these goals?
For the time being, yes. And as with most other trends relating to traditional and new media, the two aspects of media are actually combining instead of overtaking one another. At this point, especially when it comes to journalism, the traditional and new media sectors need each other. SPJ needs channels such as Helium’s marketplace to reach more outlets and provide outlets to its members, and Helium needs the credibility and recources that a partnership with SPJ will allow.