Merinews
Merinews is an English language online portal in India built on the concept of citizen journalism. The website is owned by Bizsol Advisors Pvt. Ltd. and allows anyone to share news, opinion, analysis, reviews, photos and events. Merinews also has city based local print editions in metropolitan areas in India.
Launched in 2006, Merinews was started by Vipul Kant Upadhyay, who had at the time no journalism background. Its slogan is "Power to the People". In 2011 Merinews was India's largest citizen journalism portal, and in 2013 the merinews website had 45,000 registered users.
Business Model
Merinews publications consist of user generated content, where citizens play the role of journalists and share news, opinion, analysis, event details etc. The content isn't published directly as in a blog or social media platform, but is instead screened by the inhouse editorial team Revenue is generated primarily through advertisement served with the content. As of 2013, merinews has also started publishing online local editions, complemented by city specific local print tabloids.
Recognition
Merinews received the Manthan Award for Best e-content in 2006 in the e-news category.
In 2007, merinews was the first Indian website to make the list of ‘Official Honoree’ at the Webby Awards.
In 2013 its Alexa rank was 45,333.