Meporter Citizen-Journalism iPhone App Gets Updated
by Mike Lata
June 2, 2011
If you ever wanted to be a reporter, but couldn't, because you didn't finish journalism school or land a gig at a big publication, don't worry because now you can. Meporter is an iPhone app that allows you to report news as you see it locally. It is based on location tracking and citizen journalism. The app was recently updated to version 1.1.1 which added Twitter support on top of the various other features we previously mentioned.
Citizen journalism is the term used for bloggers and citizen-reporters not bound by a gatekeeper or a publication. Citizen journalists are much like freelancers, but with even less restrictions; and they aren't necessarily professional reporters trying to sell their stories to publications.
The app allows you to not just write stories you see as they occur live, you can photograph and film events as well.
"When you witness breaking news – anything from weather to traffic, from nightlife to local politics, from a hot new restaurant to a cool new real estate opportunity – simply use your iPhone or your iPod Touch to take a picture or make a video, write up your story, add a headline, and post it for the world to see," according to the app description.
Meporter has social networking integration and allows commenting on your news stories as well. The app even allows local distribution of news and the capture of live events.
"When you post local news on Meporter you earn "press passes" – rewards for posting your first story, posting to specific categories and more. Be a newsie, collect Meporter press passes and gain street cred," the app description mentions.
This is a great way for students and those new to reporting to figure out if they have the heart and passion to be journalists. Apps like this are really what makes the iDevices stand out.
Meporter is currently free on the App Store for iPhone.
