Citizen Bloggers Wanted By Sky

Sky News is planning to recruit several hundred citizen journalists to provide content for the next general election in the UK.

The innovative project will see a significant number of non-professional writers contribute towards the political coverage provided by Sky News in the form of blogs.

Press Gazette reports that City University in London is joining forces with Sky to deliver the initiative, which will be coordinated by a postgraduate student.

Neil Thurman, senior lecturer in electronic publishing at the university, stated that Sky is looking to experiment with its news format and has agreed to fund a PhD studentship in order to “get input from the academic side”.

He said: “Rather than having Sky News journalists blogging [about the election], they'll aim to recruit a number of citizens who will blog as well.”

Applications are currently being sought for the studentship and the successful candidate will be responsible for identifying suitable citizen journalists to participate in the project.

Further details about this story and the studentship can be found at Press Gazette, the Guardian and City University.