Examiner.com, which operates a network of citizen journalism websites across the United States, announced on Tuesday that it had acquired NowPublic.com, a user-generated news site based in Canada.
Examiner.com, which operates a network of citizen journalism websites across the United States, announced on Tuesday that it had acquired NowPublic.com, a user-generated news site based in Canada.
Examiner.com, which has a presence in over 100 US cities and relies on the reporting of 16,000 citizen journalists it calls "Examiners," did not reveal the purchase price for the Vancouver-based NowPublic.
PaidContent, a website which covers technology and media, however, cited an unidentified source as saying the purchase price was around 25 million dollars.
Examiner.com, which currently receives 17 million unique visitors a month, and NowPublic will continue to operate as independent brands but will share content and advertising, said Rick Blair, chief executive of Examiner.com.
"We're going to stand on our own," Blair said, but the combination of Examiner.com with NowPublic "creates a pretty powerful content generation engine."
"They have great technology which we will take advantage of and will be the underpinnings of our publishing system," Blair said.
NowPublic chief executive and co-founder Leonard Brody said the company, which he described as a "next generation" news agency and which was launched over three years ago, has 185,000 contributors in more than 160 countries.
"We have this army of eyes and ears that are people who are witnessing and experiencing and sharing and communicating," he said. "Today we are the largest citizen-generated or participatory news network in the world."
Blair said Examiner.com has plans to expand into Canada and the addition of NowPublic would help it extend its reach globally.
Examiner.com was launched in April 2008 and is a division of the Clarity Digital Group, which is owned by the Denver-based investment firm The Anschutz Company.
© 2009 AFP
