News team auctioned off

A youth news team that auctioned its services on eBay has been hired by a care home owner to produce a page of news about a home for the elderly.

The winner bid €1560 - around $1900 - to win the auction on eBay, the online auction site.

Seven staff on the news team of Junge Zeiten, the youth supplement of the daily regional German newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, will now produce a full newspaper page for the winner. The team will meet the winner on 11 December to discuss the work.

"He is a private individual who runs a care home for the elderly," said Joachim Frank, vice-chief editor of the newspaper.

"Until we meet him, we’re not sure if he is doing this for fun, or for promotion."

According to Mr Frank, the youth team came up with the idea following a popular story from German eBay in November.

"A group of young ladies auctioned themselves with a six pack of beer and said they would have a party with the winner - so we decided to come up with our own offer," he told dotJournalism.

"Initially the idea was discussed with our editors and there was an argument against it because it is our editorial policy not to 'sell' content.

"But the youth team can do it for fun."

Mr Frank said that the exercise has generated some lively publicity for the newspaper both in Germany - where national titles the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Der Spiegel ran the story - and around the world.

The final piece will be published online and in print shortly before Christmas.

See also:
http://www.ksta.de
http://www.ebay.com
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzkultur/0,1518,276918,00.html
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub8A25A66CA9514B9892E0074EDE4E5AFA/Doc~EECD323B212994F448FD6E5A19158C777~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
http://www.faz.net/s/RubC8BA5576CDEE4A05AF8DFEC92E288D64/Doc~E92EA5A3D03CD42C9ACE9A32356930FC3~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

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