We’ve heard of media channels promoting citizen journalism, and some leveraging the Internet and mobile for content for campaigns. That’s mostly been focused on urban areas.
Himvani.com is an interesting citizen journalism initiative started by Voice of Himachal a year ago. HimVani leverages the Internet for creating awareness of issues that people in Himachal Pradesh face, and more importantly, facilitating solutions. They’re calling it grassroots journalism, featuring academicians, writers and journalists; here’s the history of the initiative. Their biggest challenge: “to reach out to people in remote areas where the untapped grassroots journalists don’t have access to the internet.”
So will it be the ‘Year of Broadband’ for rural India as well?