Citizen Journalism site NowPublic has won a deal with Associated Press to supply content. PaidContent reports:

“Lou Ferrara, AP deputy ME for multimedia, said the contributions could range from eyewitness accounts to originally produced reports. At first, AP bureaus with will work NowPublic in certain areas to enhance regional news coverage wile the national desks might call on contributors during breaking news. This part sort of veers over the hype-meter edge: NowPublic will help AP cover virtual communities but it doesn’t seem to mean setting up a Second Life bureau—more along the lines of covering social “networks and contributed content sites.” NowPublic also will help AP extend its coverage of virtual communities, such as social networks and contributed content sites. AP rival Reuters is already involved in peer journalism projects. “

(See also press Release).

Meanwhile,  Media Nation reports on a similar, more nefarious, move in broadcasting:

“A small television station in Santa Rosa, Calif., has eliminated most of its news staff and will replace its evening newscasts with contributions from citizen journalists. The station, KFTY-TV, is owned by Clear Channel. Thus, this has all the makings of a profit-driven fiasco — a perversion of the promise of citizen journalism.”

 The station has ‘yet to decide’ whether CJs will be paid…