July 13, 2007
Citizen journalism site to shut down
The news site that has allowed its users to write and submit their own articles is shutting down, citing unspecified "business issues." The Associated Press reports.
"Backfence Inc. had "hyperlocal" sites serving 13 communities in the Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago areas. Residents were allowed to write on any topic, including event announcements and neighborhood traffic congestion, without the meddling of editors.
The idea was to get readers and viewers more involved in news production with the help of the Internet, camera phones and other technologies.
... Backfence never drew much traffic. Its 13 operations collectively haven't received enough visitors in a month to reach the threshold needed for comScore Media Metrix to properly measure. Normally, comScore needs at least 50,000 to 100,000 visitors.
Jay Rosen, a New York University journalism professor, said others can now learn from Backfence's failure.
"The first attempt, if it has some good ideas in it and some dubious ones are exposed, will make future projects easier and raise our chances for success," Rosen said. "Backfence may have succeeded brilliantly in evolutionary terms.
Last year, Backfence acquired another pioneer in citizen journalism, the San Francisco area's Bayosphere, which was created by former newspaper columnist Dan Gillmor."
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