By Agustin Palacio
Quotes lie at the heart of what journalists do. It is often what makes news ‘new’; they are the ingredients of the ‘national conversation’ that journalism seeks to host. Now one site is seeking to provide an overview of that conversation.
Launched in March as a beta, Trooclick tracks quotes from news sites and social media and classifies them by topic, showing on one screen who is saying what and whether their comments are ‘positive’ or ‘negative’.
Its creators believe that it provides a more neutral account of current events due to a greater variety of sources than anything else currently available. Community manager Paul Nolan said:
“Our aim is to provide an alternative to article-based journalism that can be used by the general public.
“Why read a handful of articles when you can get a cross section of every opinion on a breaking news story at a glance? We think that telling stories through articles needs to be challenged and we are providing an alternative.”
Online Journalism Blog 