People’s Voice Media will be launching the Institute of Community Reporters (ICR) today at the University of Salford premises at MediaCity in Salford. Gary Copitch Chief Executive of People’s Voice Media said:

“We now have over  1000 Community Reporters on the database from across the UK and a further 600 across Europe so it seems to make sense to develop the network and recognise the achievement  of the Community Reporters.”

Gary went on to explain how he feels that Communty Reporting is different to citizen journalism. “Community Reporting is a community development tool with individuals producing the content/stories they want to in order to encourage dialogue and discussion and establish online and offline networks. We feel this is different to citizen journalism where the emphasis is more often on individuals reporting on other people’s news.”

The Institute of Community Reporter (ICR) will be  the accrediting body for the Community Reporter programme. It will accredit courses, issues certificates and manage the Community Reporter badge scheme. The ICR will also:

• Provide access to online training resources and support for running local meet ups
• Host Community Reporter content on the communityreporter.co.uk web site
• Curate content at a European, national, local and organisational level to feed into policy and consultation

There will be three types of membership, Bronze, Silver and Gold.  Platinum members will be for authorised trainers who have completed the ICR training programme. For more information on the Institute of Community Reporters see here or contact gary@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk .