Maybe some of you already know about OhmyNews: a Korean liberal online newspaper launched in February 2000 by journalist Oh Yeon Ho with the slogan �every citizen is a reporter�. In 2003 it had a network of 23.000 citizen-writers who send in news reports on just about anything and determine OhmyNews� editorial policy. That number is now 35.000, with 40 staff reporters. OhmyNews has become the paradigm of collaborative and participatory journalism (if like me you are not proficient in Korean you can check here the international version which opened last June). I find the idea extremely appealing.

OhmyNews was developed as a way to challenge a market long dominated by the traditionalist and official press. It has rapidly become one of the most influential media in South Korea credited with playing a big role in the election of president Roh Moo Hyun (OhmyNews was also the first medium getting an interview with the newly elected president). Citizens� output constitute 70% of OhmyNews content (the rest is elaborated by professional reporters in charge of straight news, international affairs and investigation). And they�re paid! Citizen-reporters can get 3, 5, 10 or even 20 dollars for each story, depending on relevance and quality.

OhmyNews has put a strong emphasis on credibility. It filters and contrasts the truth and rigour of the information sent by the readers, with professional staff dedicated to check the sources and edit articles. Yet, to what extent the system is manageable and guarantees objectivity and impartiality of newsreporting is a different matter. It might simply not be possible to maintain objectivity in peer produced news. On this, Jay Rosen has commented that within the blogosphere and participatory journalism �readers are writers, consumers are producers, but everyone is aware of the need for a filter�. He thinks that �the filter itself has to be able to learn and be in conversation with the people you are filtering for� so the strength can be in combining professional edits with citizens which will yield a very strong conversation if the filters are also listeners�.

The idea of the reader-reporter is indeed revolutionary and the first of its kind. It proved highly successful in South Korea for specific reasons, such as the country�s political history of repressed information and its superior internet infrastructure. This does not mean, however, that this citizen-journalism model cannot be applied in other countries just as well.

For those who are interested OhmyNews has just started to develop a global network of citizen reporters writing in English�.