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The media becomes an activist for democracy
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May 8, 2013, 2:23 p.m.
LINK: www.buzzfeed.com  ➚   |   Posted by: Justin Ellis   |   May 8, 2013

BuzzFeed launched a new Community vertical today that creates a kind of stage for all reader-submitted BuzzFeed posts. BuzzFeed has allowed users to create posts for a while, but the new Community page collects them all in one place, and, as staffer Jack Sheperd writes, creates a pipeline to feature the best work on the site’s homepage.

BuzzFeed’s not alone in wanting to promote their community (and create a farm team of potential writers), Gawker’s new Kinja system (now up on all the Gawker sites) is also designed to bring content from readers out in the open.

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The media becomes an activist for democracy
“We cannot be neutral about this, by definition. A free press that doesn’t agitate for democracy is an oxymoron.”
Embracing influencers as allies
“News organizations will increasingly rely on digital creators not just as amplifiers but as integral partners in storytelling.”
Action over analysis
“We’ve overindexed on problem articulation, to the point of problem admiring. The risk is that we are analyzing ourselves into inaction and irrelevance.”