From MediaShift:

Each of these folks represents a new class of semi-pro journalist tasked with covering the U.S. presidential election in innovative, more personal ways. Gotsdiner is one of five citizen journalists doing reality-TV style video reports for PurpleStates.tv; Middleton is one of 51 mobile journalists on MTV’s Street Team ‘08; and Fowler is one of 1,800 people who have helped out on Huffington Post’s Off the Bus project.

Each of these projects provides an alternative to mainstream media coverage, combining the ground work of average citizens or inexperienced journalists with editorial and production expertise of professional journalists.

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After talking with people involved with all three projects — including editors, producers and the semi-pro journalists — I’ve put together this guide, highlighting the good, the bad and what’s to come from these efforts. Think of it as a mid-term report because they all have time to improve by the general election in November.

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