A group of youngsters have launched a global citizen journalism initiative on the Internet, complete with a daily half-hour bulletin that gets posted on their websiteIt’s about six in the evening and a 20-something news anchor is practicing her script. One quick glance at the clock and then at the copyeditor (also in his twenties) and she stiffens—time for the cameras to roll. The studio lights come on and it’s time to record the “world’s only internet-based bulletin of video reports by citizen journalists”. At 8 p.m. everyday, this bulletin is posted on Instablogs, a blogging network. Instablogs network, with instablogs.com as their flagship brand, is being run and managed by a young team of 30 people (90 per cent of them are from Shimla), all in their twenties. It is this team that manages the global citizen journalism initiative that today has over 25,000 global members who are also citizen journalists (CJ), a large number of them housewives and students spread over 35 countries across seven continents. The Instablog team tracks news happenings and breaking news all over the world, mail story ideas to citizen journalists and freelancers and ask for detailed reports. And soon, the CJs start responding.Though citizen journalists are not paid for their contributions, this hasn’t been a deterrent, says CEO Ankit Maheshwari. “Today everyone wants to share news and we give them a platform where they can discuss and narrate,” the 28-year-old said.In September 2005, Maheshwari, who ran a blogging network in Delhi, decided to shift base to Shimla because of the tax holiday that Himachal Pradesh offered all industrial ventures. Two years later, Maheshwari and his wife Nandini, who is the president of Instablogs, launched a citizen journalism e-paper. And a month ago, they added the half-hour news bulletin to it, which has proved a success with 30 lakh page views already. CEO Maheshwari says the success of the bulletin and news posts depends on Instablogs community readers, writers and editors, who decide which news item gets priority. “As CEO, I have no right to drop a story or carry it on the front page. Each of our citizen members can vote for stories. Our brand ambassador is our reader,” he says, while claiming that the company has so far spent not more than 100 dollars on advertising. “Each CJ has own view point and this is where we differ from the traditional media,” says Vice President Vikas Shekhawat, who was part of the initial team of four that set up Instablog. Maheshwari and his team have scored another hit by promoting bloggers from Himachal, a community not too recognised on the global internet scene till now. The network has almost 3,000 bloggers from Himachal.
