Caution! You are now exercising editorial control! – Exploring initiatives to raise the quality of User Created News, and their legal side-effects

Abstract

This article will explore some of their strategies to challenge amateurs to contribute content that not only reaches beyond the private sphere, but that also satisfies the expectations of an audience that is used to a certain standard of professional quality. It will then explain if and if so how the different strategies to improve and maintain the quality of UCN can have (undesirable) legal side-effects as they trigger legal responsibilities. This article argues that the present legal framework makes the incorporation of UCN not only risky; it also acts as a serious disincentive for quality engagement with UCN in the first place.