Reflections from SusanG, a Daily Kos' editor and co-founder of ePluribus Media
Anna Haynes interviews SusanG over email, May 15-21.
When it comes to hands-on crowdsourced journalism, Susan Gardner - better known online as SusanG of Daily Kos - has seen and done it all. Her offhand invitation to the Daily Kos community to join in "useless speculation as to what this complicated crapola means" triggered the Daily Kos investigative avalanche (1,2,3,4) that exposed White House reporter "Jeff Gannon'"s career trajectory as "a modern-day fairy tale on steroids." She went on to co-found ePluribus Media, an organization for "citizen journalism, of the people, for the people," investigating propaganda, corruption, and other issues of public concern. Today, she's a contributing editor at Daily Kos.
Having lived crowdsourced journalism for years now, SusanG has a wealth of wisdom to impart. In this interview she talks about her experiences, why people do crowdsourced journalism, the movement's strengths and weaknesses, its relations to the traditional press, her thoughts on "partisanship" today, and more.
Anna Haynes: What do you think motivates contributors to participate in Daily Kos and ePluribus Media?
SusanG: Certainly not money. Part of it might be, in some cases, a desire to get a name for one's self in a pretty small pond. But mostly, I think it's a frustration with the media, which has served the country poorly during this administration. I know a lot of people feel a responsibility for getting to the truth of the matter. They no longer trust the media to do that. And I also think the fellowship that comes with collaboration in a country where many feel isolated and cut off from the truth is a motivation. There is something inherently ennobling about joining with others in a cause greater than just promoting the narrow interests of your life (and America is grounded in that tradition). I think it's also a revival of the notion of participatory democracy. Those who are gifted with analysis, research and interpretive skills feel they're giving something back to the country by exposing corruption. It's grounded in idealism, I think, that people have been embarrassed for a long time are putting themselves to a practical end: gathering information to make us all better citizens.
5/23/07
