Screenshot of Yoosk page on Birmingham Mail site
Trinity Mirror has launched a new partnership with the interactive news site Yoosk to boost its coverage of local democracy by offering readers the chance to ask the questions.

A special section of the Birmingham Mail's website has been created using Yoosk's format, which allows readers to submit queries to local community figures.

The first local pilot for Yoosk, which has received funding from Screen West Midlands and 4iP, is backed by funding from the Ministry of Justice and will focus on putting questions to local authority figures, such as members of Birmingham City Council.

Questions will be submitted via the microsite and answers in video, audio or text will be obtained by Yoosk's team. The Mail's news team will monitor the interaction and follow up on potential leads, David Higgerson, head of multimedia for Trinity Mirror, explained to Journalism.co.uk.

"On of the things we've worked really hard on across the group is moving away from this idea that the journalist is the only person who can find the information for the story," he said.

"When we sit down with our journalists and show them the possibilities of collaborative working, people really take it on board."

There is more scope for news organisations and journalists to work with sites such as Yoosk, democracy site mySociety and new venture Help Me Investigate.com to hold local authorities to account and to boost local news coverage, added Higgerson.

"We're very very open to partnership working and the role the local media can play. Is there a way we can work better with these sites, so we are using our reputation and sending them an audience that wouldn't necessarily go looking for them?"
 
"We want as many tools as possible on our website that help empower readers," he said.

Readers can submit questions to candidates over a specific time period and can rate queries posed by other users. But the service will not be used to run regular question and answer sessions, but for 'slow journalism,' explained Higgerson.

"People can post a question to Yoosk, we take a journalistic decision on whether it's worth taking on that story," he said.

There are many occasions when people ring up with a niche interest question, but the paper cannot necessarily devote a reporter to find out the answer, he explained. Those niche areas, however, can 'balloon' into other interests. The new service will aim to serve those type of specific enquiries, which might have been neglected in the past.

In May last year Johnston Press' Halifax Evening Courier began using Yoosk to crowd-source questions for high-profile interviews.

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