Jay has started NewAssignment.net, a response (but not The Answer) to the question “Where’s the money going to come from to support real reporting in this brave new media world we’re building? ” At NewAssignment, story ideas will come from the Web. The idea will be developed initially on line. A budget will be created. Then a reporter will be contracted – for honest-to-goodness money. She’ll work in public, with any of us who care to contribute, in what Jeff Jarvis felicitously calls networked journalism.

Initially, the money is coming from Craig. (Thank you, Craig.) Jay writes:

NewAssignment.Net has no dogma about how the money comes in. It’s a charity and will raise funds for high quality journalism any way it can figure out that’s wise, that works and maintains the site’s independence and reputation.

That’s good. But it means that NewAssignment is not really a response to the money question. The charity model — even Jay’s non-dogmatic charity model — means that NewAssignment is going to be, as Jay says, a “boutique” firm that will cover stories otherwise being ignored. New Assignment instead responds to the question, “How can journalists and citizens work together, in public?” NewAssignment may validate that hybrid, networked journalism gets the job done. But as a charity, it is not — and Jay is clear about this elsewhere in his post — the business model for the future of journalism. [Tags: jay_rosen newassignment journalism media ]

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