Citizen journalists should be wary of distracting or ego-stroking media coverage

David Sasaki directs Rising Voices, a Web platform set up to "empower under-represented communities to make their voices heard online."

In a new column, the 2007 Knight News Challenge winner hints at his struggle to keep the focus.

Rising Voices began with the goal diversifying the viewpoints and content on the conversational web by including members of communities that have historically been excluded from both traditional and new media. However, we quickly came to realize that these projects should meet the needs of the members of the participating communities and not just the needs of international news junkies looking for a story that no one else knows about. Mobile Voices, I believe, came to the same realization. Rather than just changing popular perceptions of migrant workers, several of the participants mentioned their desire to use their mobile phones to find work and send out alerts about immigration raids.

Also see, How training can help citizen journalists