The News Hub, a new UK-based open journalism platform that covers news, life and sport and enables anyone to make money from their content, today announced they have launched their new website. The £350,000 investment has come from a pool of investors who believe The News Hub can disrupt the news industry. The investment is going towards paying contributors, developing the website, staff and promoting The News Hub. Notably, The News Hub is gaining popular traction with this royal-themed full-throttle video stunt which has just been released.
The News Hub launched in beta in August and has been growing strongly since. It now has contributors in nearly 25% of the world’s countries and receives traffic from over 200 countries. Contributors range from experienced journalists to bloggers, from activists, to people on the street who take photos of news incidents and upload them to the site. The News Hub is a free market for news that pays for the best content, no matter the source. One of the platform’s aims is to allow people affected by news situations around the globe to tell the world what’s happening on the ground. Instead of western journalists providing western perspectives on events in foreign countries, The News Hub gives local residents a platform to reach a global audience.
The News Hub’s readers can access its content for free and shape the experience to their interests. For instance, users can follow their favourite journalists and select the type of news they want to see, such as politics but not golf. Crucially, The News Hub doesn’t have a central editorial bias. Instead, it allows its readers to see different points of view and then make up their own minds. The News Hub addresses many of the challenges faced by content creators in today’s rapidly shifting media environment. It offers complete editorial freedom – contributors can post whatever they want, without having to pitch and without having to adhere to a predetermined editorial agenda. Unlike blogging, which relies on bloggers attracting readers all on their own, writers benefit from the network effect of being part of The News Hub’s global community. Plus, unlike most open publishing platforms, the site is indexed on Google News which means writers can top Google.
William Stolerman, Founder, The News Hub, comments: “We want new voices to challenge the often entrenched perspectives of the traditional media. Established titles have a particular agenda because they target particular demographics but we don’t believe there’s one side to a story. Instead, we encourage debate by giving our users the tools to have their say. We also believe that good content is valuable which is why we pay for it. Our aim is to ultimately make news sustainable while offering a news experience that’s made for the digital age.
