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Citizen journalism news site Oh My News to stop paying contributors

Posted: 09/01/09 By: Laura Oliver

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Oh My News, one of the web's earliest citizen journalism news sites, is to end its payment system for contributors on its international site (OMNI), citing financial pressures caused by the current global economy.

The CyberCash initiative will end on February 1, according to a statement from OMNI, which was set up in early 2004 as an offshoot of the original citizen journalism portal founded in February 2000.

Contributors currently receive 20,000 South Korean won (around £10) if their story appears on the site's homepage, 10,000 Korean won if it is published under a section tab, and 2,000 for a story published without a section.

The fee system will be replaced with three monthly prizes: 300,000 Korean won for the article that creates the most 'buzz'; and two 100,000 Korean won awards to be made by the editors.

"Since its inception 9 years ago, OhmyNews has always been about empowering citizen reporters by giving them a chance to connect with the world. Even if we have been paying cybercash for the published articles, we believe our citizen reporters really wanted to speak to the world and make their case," Jean K. Min, head of international business relations for the site, told Journalism.co.uk.

More reporters will have the opportunity to be published on the site without the CyberCash system, added Min, as site editors have previously been restricted by a daily payment cap.

"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.

"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."

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