At the J-Lab: MyReporter.com

The first winner to present at the Knight-Batten awards was MyReporter.com.

This site, from the Wilmington, N.C. Star-News, won a $1,000 Citizen Media Award for its ask-a-question-and-the-newsroom-will-answer-it concept.

Doesn’t sound terrifically exciting, but apparently people love it. Vaughn Hagerty explained that more importantly, the types of questions asked by readers help shape coverage in the newspaper.

Do the reporters resent answering questions on top of their regular work? Sometimes. “I’m not going to say it isn’t a burden,” Hagerty said. “But if you don’t have time to answer questions from readers, maybe you’re in the wrong business.”

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