Readers Help Create Palin Gallery

A regional newspaper is supplementing its online coverage of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin with submissions from local people.

The Anchorage Daily News has created a constantly updating multimedia resource on Palin, who has been governor of Alaska since 2006 and a well known public figure in the state for more than 15 years.

And among its features is “Palin and Me” – a user-generated content initiative which invites local users to send in their photographs with the governor.

“Send in snaps you made at a rally, a barbecue, on the street, or any other encounter with our governor,” requests the Daily News.



The website’s Palin section has a wealth of material, including slideshows with audio and photographic footage from past interviews with the Daily News, videos such as the recent Saturday Night Live Palin sketch and numerous photo galleries.

It also has a biography of Palin and links to the latest news stories about her, which users can also receive to their inboxes via the Sarah Palin newsletter.

Google senior advisor Richard Gingras recently exhorted newspapers to take a leaf out of Wikipedia’s book and create “living stories” on their websites which readers can refer to over time.

And this resource regarding a local public figure who has come to global attention is a good example of regional news journalists putting that notion into practice.