WebProNews

A new project from the founder of popular online classifieds site Craigslist will extend citizen journalism to fix trust issues Americans have with journalism.

In 2006, Craig Newmark plans to copy his "wisdom of the masses" approach to journalism, he told conference attendees at Oxford University.

Newmark claimed US newspapers and the White House press corps are afraid of losing access to the Bush Administration and won't "speak the truth to power." He expounded on the project during his talk:

"The American public has lost a lot of trust in conventional newspaper mechanisms. Mechanisms are now being developed online to correct that."

Mr Newmark would not reveal any specific projects, which will run separately from Craigslist, but implied that they would involve using web technology to let readers decide what the major news stories would be.

"We have seen a genuine wisdom-of-crowds effect at work at times on our website," he said.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.