Grassroots reporting forum

Since 9/11, the Asian tsunami and the London terror attacks in 2005, individuals have brought the world great reporting and pictures via private mobile phones and digital cameras. Now Johnnic Communications, publisher of the Sunday Times, Sowetan, Sunday World, The Herald and Daily Dispatch, is providing South Africans with a vehicle to showcase next-wave grassroots journalism.

Introducing reporter.co.za, an initiative enables anyone to become a reporter and to publish work for a global audience.

reporter.co.za will be looking for fresh news, reviews, columns, features and community-orientated articles from members of the public in the form of stories, audio, images or video. Contributors will have access to reporter.co.za's virtual newsroom, where they will learn valuable tricks of the trade.

reporter.co.za will pay contributors a nominal fee for their efforts and, if it's a breaking news item, will negotiate publication of the story or photo in the group print publications.

reporter.co.za is managed by Johncom Digital Media, the electronic arm of Johnnic Communications. Its virtual newsroom will be led by a team of experienced journalists, including Content Editor Peter Malherbe, former Managing Editor of the Sunday Times and Manu Padayachee, known for his work at M-Net and Carte Blanche.

The newsroom consists of 20 skilled multimedia journalists, who will guide contributors through the process of creating news.

Registration for reporter.co.za opened on 21 December 2005 and goes live on 9 January 2006.

Let's do Biz