@ ONA: Trusting The Community

[By Steve Klein] So who do you trust when you turn to the Internet for information? “We trust the audience,” said Susan DeFife, co-founder and CEO of the citizen journalism site Backfence.com. DeFife participated on an American University panel discussion Thursday in conjuction with the Online News Association annual convention called “The Future of News Is Here, Now What?” Also participating: Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist; and Michael Clemente, executive producer of ABC News’ Digital Media & Breaking News. The panel was moderated by Professor Wendell Cochran of AU’s School of Communication.
Added DeFife: “The audience creates the culture and will shun anything inappropriate. Just because one person might doing something untoward isn’t going keep me from building a community for the other 9,999 people out of 1,000.” Who does Newmark trust? “What we’ve learned from Craigslist is provide a platform for the people, then you get out of the way.” And from the mainstream guy, Clemente: “People want to know how to become part of the conversation. A complementary website can help get better information to the surface.”

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