American Public Media funded for 'citizen sources'

It's less 'citizen journalism" than growing sources, but a $4.1 million grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced this week could greatly expand the voices, tips and reportinig on local and regional levels.

CPB "officials said the grant will add 100,000 more people to the network to share information with 50 more newsrooms," reported Brett Zongker of the Associated Press. "It will fund mobile apps to share content and tools to vet information from participants."

It's unclear where the funding will originate to pay the reporters and editors required to verify sources' information or to use news judgment in determining what's verifiable news and what's not. However, any help to improve local and regional journalism is welcome, of course.

Curiously, the money, to be spent over two years, if going to American Public Media and neither PBS nor NPR.