Mojo (Mobile Journalist)

Mojo refers to Mobile Journalists that is, staff or freelance reporters who write their stories from their communities thanks to technical tools such as digital cameras and camcorders, laptop PCs with broadband wireless connection. Stories are posted either on the newspapers' websites or included in the print editions. Mojos typically don't have office space at the newsroom.

The term apparently has been coined in 2005 by people with [http://www.gannett.com Gannett newspapers] as a codename for a project at the News-Press at Fort Myers, Fla. For a report on this project see [http://www.gannett.com/go/newswatch/2006/february/nw0210-2.htm article on Gannett's corporate website] .

The term Mojo is now of regular use within the community of journalists. Mojo journalism was a topic at the Conference of the Online News Association in Washington, DC, in October, 2006 (see the [http://journalist.org/2006conference/archives/000631.php report] ). It has been adopted by media observers such as writers at the Poynter Institute website (see for example [http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=83&aid=114839 article] by [http://www.poynter.org/profile/profile.asp?user=358578 Pat Walters] ).

For a report on what a Mojo's life is, see this [http://mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a9435.asp story] by Chuck Myron at Fort Myers News-Press.

Several freelance journalists and bloggers now define themselves as Mojos, including [http://www2.blogger.com/profile/14762826416770302102 Joseph Hollak or Solo Mojo] and [http://www2.blogger.com/profile/16893856156074362316 M. Fagans or Digital Mojo] and [http://locustfork.net Glynn Wilson at LocustFork.Net.

ee also

*Gonzo journalism