Channel 4 Crowdsources News-Gathering

Visitors to the Channel 4 News website have been helping its journalists find buried news, reports Journalism.co.uk.

The news editors had a hunch that the recent G20 summit and protests would provide the government with a “good day to bury bad news”, so they asked web users to find stories “that might otherwise slip under the radar”.



“We would like you to help us keep an eye on government departments during G20,” stated the website.

It continued: “If you think there’s a story we’ve missed or a buried statistic or announcement that deserves more attention, then let us know.”

Channel 4 News provided crowdsourcing helpers with links to government department websites so they could dig around for interesting press releases and then email or tweet any findings to the newsroom.

The website later featured an update publishing some of the stories found during the course of the day.