Citizen Journalism Site Stops Pay

The international version of Oh My News (OMNI) will no longer automatically pay volunteers for published work.

According to Journalism.co.uk, the citizen journalism website is changing its current cybercash payment system where contributors receive money for articles which make the website.

Instead, citizen journalists who get their pieces published will be eligible for one of three cash prizes available each month.

The head of business relations for OMNI hopes that the new system will be accepted by writers and suggests that it will result in more published articles as editors will no longer be limited by a payment cap on content.

“Prize money will also allow selected top three citizen reporters with greater financial rewards every month, though we don't believe their sole reason of writing for us is to earn money,” says Jean K Min.

The spokesperson adds: “We hope our citizen reporters will understand the merit of the changed system over time and even welcome this as they begin to see positive aspects of the new system.”

OMNI was created in 2004 as an English language spinout from the original Oh My News website in South Korea, which was the first site of its kind to collect, edit and publish news articles from citizen reporters.