Tales of the New Media: Is USAVoice.org Real?

 
There’s a new wanna-be news organization supposedly ready to burst onto the scene that claims it will be to the Internet what CNN was 20 years ago to broadcasting. In fact, it intends to displace CNN and other major news organizations in the hearts and minds of average readers and viewers. Or so it says.

Well, maybe … that is, if the organization in question really exists and if news gathering, rather than marketing or something else more nefarious in media clothing, is its real motive. There seems to be considerable room for doubt. But one thing is certain: you don’t advertise for 1,200 positions in online job sites like Careerbuilder or Yahoo! HotJobs without having some big bucks to throw around.

The enterprise calls itself USAVoice, and it’s had a lot of journalists wondering just what’s going on. The new (fake?) news venue was supposed to start business on July 4th but put that off until month’s end. It’s been advertising since late June for editors and writers en masse in the states, possibly internationally — but it isn’t really interested in applicants with legitimate journalism backgrounds or experience. Moreover, nobody seems to know who’s behind this effort or where they came from, let alone where they’re really located, and they appear to be connected to at least one possible con artist.