DigitalJournal.com was a pioneer in revenue-sharing when it launched its user-generated news site in 2006. We've shared revenue with Digital Journalists who report news and help us grow. We're now introducing a new pay structure as well as bonus payments.
DigitalJournal.com shares advertising revenue with Digital Journalists who report news and help us grow the community. The ad revenue is divided among all Digital Journalists based on how much they contribute, and how much attention their articles receive.
Starting April 1 (no, this is not an April Fool's Day joke), we will be adjusting the payment algorithm to offer more incentive and extra bonuses. The following is an overview of how payments are calculated with a detailed explanation below.
Payment overview:
1). Payments are calculated based on both votes and pageviews (
More on this)
2). Digital Journalists will be paid more for a news article than for an opinion piece (
More on this)
3). We offer bonuses for extra work such as on-the-ground reporting and interviews (
More on this)
Payments are now calculated based on a combination of two factors: The number of pageviews and the number of votes an article receives from readers. Those translate into points, so the more points a Digital Journalist gets, the more money he or she will make.
Votes: On the bottom of every article there is a big vote button; that feature sorts DigitalJournal.com's front page (the more votes an article receives, the faster it hits the front page and the longer it stays there). The vote button also helps us determine when an article is appreciated by the readership. Digital Journalists earn more if their article is deemed to be very important (more votes = more pay). We always encourage you to vote for articles you find newsworthy.
Pageviews: Sometimes a Digital Journalist will publish an article that is very popular and brings in tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of views. However, readers don't always vote for the article. To ensure writers are compensated for this, we include pageviews in our payment calculations. So the more pageviews an article receives, the more money the author will earn.
As a growing news network, we rely on having breaking news of major international events. Readers expect it. They want it. That said, we will now be paying more for hard-news reporting than for opinion articles.
While opinion (Op-Ed) articles are a fundamental and valuable part of a news organization's stable, we want to encourage hard-news reporting first. A hard-news report only includes facts of the story (the who, what, where, when and why) and does
not include your personal opinion of the subject.
Readers expect news first so we're adjusting payments accordingly: Reporting a news article that is facts-only will pay more than an opinion article based on news (
More info on Opinion/Op-Eds). Opinion articles will still earn a writer money, just not as much as if he or she stuck to the facts. So if you're writing an article and you want to maximize the amount you can earn from it, keep your opinion out of it and just report the facts.
We now have a bonus in place, giving financial incentive to any Digital Journalist who puts in
extra effort by reporting from the scene of a news event and doing interviews with people who are in the news. While all news stories are important and need to be told, we believe Digital Journalists should be paid more if they do more work. This move encourages more originality, and we're working to show the rest of the world user-generated news can be top-notch if done right.
DigitalJournal.com
When a Digital Journalist publishes an article, he or she can specify if they saw an event in person or if they interviewed someone.
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Step 1: Post news When a Digital Journalist wants to file a story, he or she can click "Post News" on the top of the page to be taken to the posting window (if you're not yet a Digital Journalist but would like to become one, log in and click "Post News" to be taken to our application screen -
more info). From there, you fill in the particulars of your article, including headline, keywords. etc.
You will also need to click a button to indicate if your article is a news story or opinion piece (remember we pay more for news articles than Op-Eds and
here is more info on what the difference is). On this screen, you will also see boxes you can check if you did an interview with someone, or if you went to an event or saw news happen and want to report it.
We encourage everyone to call or email someone to add value to every news article. For example, if it's a political story, a Digital Journalist can email or call a professor, a pundit or even a politician to ask them a question about an issue. Ask them what they think, why it matters or who the news item will affect. The same can be done with natural disaster stories, sports, business mergers or even new tech products that are hitting the market. You can even go to events around your city and report what happens in various communities. News is happening all the time, you just need to look for it and ask people about it. If you interview someone who supports a subject, it's always a good idea to try and find someone who is against the issue. This balance offers both perspectives and you can ask each individual why they feel the way they do.
DigitalJournal.com
Digital Journalists need to provide contact details to their interview subjects.
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Step 2: Provide contact info Once you check off a box telling us you were at the scene where news happened, or you did an interview with someone regarding a news event, you will see a new box pop-up that asks for your source's information. This step is mandatory.
Why do we ask for this? DigitalJournal.com always strives for accuracy in reporting. Just like a traditional newsroom, our on-staff editors may contact your sources to verify quotes and check facts. This step ensures your report is always accurate and up-to-date.
DigitalJournal.com
Digital Journalists need to provide contact details to their interview subjects. They can then re-use contacts at a later date by selecting them from a drop-down list.
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If you interviewed someone, please provide
their phone number(s) and email address(es). If you are reporting something you saw but didn’t interview anyone, please provide
your phone number and email address. This information will not be shown publicly (unless you choose to share your Contacts with other Digital Journalists), and most people are happy to provide their details to an editor for follow-up questions. Remember to tell your interview subject they may be contacted.
Step 3: Activate your article Once you're finished writing your article, check spelling, Save & View to make sure it all looks good, then activate it to make it go live on DigitalJournal.com. That's all you need to do.
If you put in extra effort (if you checked off one of those boxes saying you are reporting first-hand, or you interviewed someone), DigitalJournal.com will be notified and a member of our editorial team will have a look at your submission. Remember, in order to get the extra effort bonus your article has to include first-hand reporting or an interview; you cannot simply rewrite an issue you heard or read about somewhere else.
We may call your sources at this point to ensure quotes are accurate. If you are the source, we may call you. Your article will be active the whole time, so you don't need to worry about making sure we check it right away.
The article will immediately have a red "sticker" added to it when it's activated, but you won't get the financial bonus until it's reviewed by a member of our staff. When you hover over this sticker it will tell you what makes it special (if it's first-hand reporting or if it includes an interview, or both). This tells readers your article is a special report and it helps the article stand out on the site.
Once it's approved as a Special Report, all the votes and pageviews that have accumulated on it will then have a bonus applied and you will earn more money than if you had published a regular news story without the extra work of first-hand reporting or interviews. The more pageviews and votes your article gets, the bigger the bonus. You will be notified by email when it's been approved.
In the event our staff does not approve your article (if it doesn't include extra work), you will be notified by email and the sticker will be removed.
A final word:
As the site's revenue climbs, we'll be pouring more money into the moneypot to ensure Digital Journalists are paid more for their work. Thanks to all the dedicated and passionate Digital Journalists who are helping to grow this news community.
