Calling all amateur journalists

I don't know if you are like me, educated, opinionated, articulate and a passion for writing. My day job, however, took me in another direction. I found I had more valuable skills in a completely different line of employment. I never gave up my passion for writing, I just ended up using it elsewhere, less creatively and always in topics that required little or no analysis.

Over the years I have contributed to various social news sites and independent media. The problem, at least for me, was the focus of these sites. It was either social bookmarking, drowned out by syndicated news feeds or the site had an alternative focus that was somewhat incompatible with my views.

I suppose what I was really seeking was a, crowd-sourced, broadsheet publication that eliminated syndicated news and focused on user-generated stories. After years of searching, I finally came across such a site.

theLoneAnalyst.com is an online publication that allows its users to create articles, embed videos and images, then submit them for peer review for front-page publication. Each user gets their own news column where they get to provide the world with their view or report live from the scene. In effect, the site will operate just like a regular 24 hour news agency.

Avoiding the tabloid and rolling news genres, theLoneAnalyst.com strives to provide detailed analysis of events, as well real-time events, from the perspective of the general public rather than corporate interests.

Having chatted with the webmasters, the site aims to hand moderation, content control and the daily running of the agency over to a crowd-sourced network of amateur journalists. The CEO will be responsible for the business side of things and will produce regular reports on team performance, as well as guiding editors and journalists towards hard-hitting popular news. So, not only do members gain the experience of operating in a 24 hour news environment but they get exposed to the commercial realities, just like any regular staff member in any news agency globally.

The site has integration into both Facebook and Twitter, as well as over 300 other social networking sites. So, there is plenty of potential exposure for authors. The backbone of the news agency appears to be its forums and each section of the site has its own independent forum. This will allow users to collaborate as a team and to drive a user-oriented vision for each of the section publications. In fact, it is possible to earn a position as Editor in any one of the 6 current sections.

The site itself is very new and I have been informed that the hardware will be upgraded as time passes and the viewing figures rise. The recommended approach is to sign up with a Facebook account. This provides users with a secure login, added functionality (such as adding images), the ability to share stories and network with other authors. Apart from all that, its also the quickest signup method and you don't need to remember another username and password.

If this sounds good, I would recommend signing up sooner, rather than later, to secure a good spot on the team.

Hope to see you there.

Site link:
http://www.theloneanalyst.com