03.09.2010 at 2:54 pm | Have your say »

Community journalism not for traditional newspapers-FAZ

The Editor in charge of FAZ.net, Cai Tore Philippsen said that the concept had no place for a traditional publication like FAZ.

“I do not see us incorporating user generated materials into our production, not even in the next 10 years,” Mr. Philippsen told a group of international journalists during a presentation at FAZ offices.

FAZ is one of the most important national newspapers in Germany and the world. It is published six times in a week with average sales of about 370,000 copies and is sold in nearly 140 countries daily.

‘We have the capacity to cover the world‘

With some 300 reporters, FAZ also has one of the world’s largest correspondent networks covering wide range of issues from politics to business.

Mr. Philippsen observed that it was safer to rely solely on professionals to avoid risking its credibility to unverifiable news stories generated by amateurs.

“Community journalism is not meant for big newspapers like ours, we have a reputation to protect.

“For a newspaper like ours, everything that we publish has to be right,” he said in defense of the company’s stance, pointing out that “maybe we are too conservative to include user generated materials in our publication”.

Mr. Philippsen further stated that FAZ that regional newspapers that make use of User Generated Content does not pose any threat at all.

‘Our market is secured’

“We do not think that we will lose against local newspapers just because they are using community journalists.”

At the two-hour meeting with students of the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ) of InWent, Mr. Philippsen was confident in FAZ’s ability to provide maximum coverage of both international and local news.

He told the journalists that his publication maintains a network of 300 news gatherers scattered across the world whiles making use of other news agencies to complement its news in areas it is unable to reach.

“Maybe this discussion may hold for the future, but now we do not intend to incorporate user generated content into our work”, Mr. Philippsen said.

‘Ready to discuss the issue’

Although, the FAZ is skeptical of User Generated Content, Mr. Philippsen said the company is willing to discuss the issue, hence its collaboration with the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ) of InWent to organize this year’s International Media Conference on the theme “At a tipping Point: Community Voices create the difference

Mr. Philippsen, however, explained that FAZ’s involvement in the conference is one of its initial steps towards learning more about the emerging topic, which is increasingly been embraced by major media outlets like the BBC, CNN and New York Times.- Naa Lamiley Bentil

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