We’re always looking for cool ways to connect you with the news and newsmakers. So when experimental journalist and author A.J. Jacobs stopped by the CNN.com newsroom recently, we asked him to get in on the fun - and be a part of a something we've never tried before. In many ways, A.J. has made his life one big experiment. He once outsourced his life to India, and also spent a year living as literally as possible by the Bible. He spent another year reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z - all 44 million words of it. 
“You'd think it would be one big sonic boom,” iReporter Adriana Maxwell said of witnessing the space shuttle Atlantis launch from three miles away. “Instead, it almost feels like it travels across the ocean, and you feel the boom right in the middle of your chest.” How did she get to see a launch from that close? When NASA announced to their Twitter followers that they would be holding the first “Tweetup” at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Maxwell signed up right away to be one of only 100 people invited to attend. And she shared her front-row photos through iReport, and they made their way into CNN.com’s coverage of the launch. 
I get asked a lot who's my favorite iReporter, and my response is always the same - “I don’t keep favorites.” It’s a diplomatic answer, and it might seem disingenuous, but the truth is there are many iReporters - far too many to list - whom I hold near and dear to my heart. Today, I’d like to introduce to you to one. 
Let me tell you about my favorite corner of the web: CNN iReport. (Full disclosure: I’m totally biased, since I lead the amazing team that built iReport, but stick with me here. This is big.) Just like CNN, iReport is a place where you’ll find news stories from almost every corner of the globe and fresh perspectives on the day’s big headlines. What’s different is the people. People on iReport aren’t professional journalists. They’re regular folks who have a camera and something to say, and together they’ve built a lively community of news hounds and citizen reporters who take us inside the stories that are close to them. Their work is incredible, and it’s made an enormous impact on CNN.
You saw Meredith's post a little while ago about big changes to CNN.com? Well, a few iReporters got to take a look last night at a press preview in New York and they're starting to share their first impressions on iReport.com. We're collecting them over on the iReport blog – come take a look! One of my favorite things about iReport is that every day it offers little glimpses of life in places I don’t know anything about, and introduces us to the characters who live there. Very often, those stories and people become part of CNN. At CNN we argue a lot about what's news. The results of those daily discussions, of course, are displayed in bold headlines on the CNN.com home page or in stories on our cable network shows. But over on our new site, iReport.com, we're trying something different. This time last year, the small team that produces the I-Report section on CNN.com didn't have a whole lot to do. We'd raced to launch the brand new section page, filled it up with simple forms for collecting video and photos, and made big plans with our friends and colleagues who produce CNN TV to get the I-Reports on the air once they came in. |
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Welcome! Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at CNN.com. This is where we'll talk about the site – from our coverage, to new features, to the story behind the story. We look forward to lots of feedback from our thoughtful and informed readers in this space. Recent Posts
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