CNN Diggs it

Mediaweek is reporting that CNN is jumping on the social news bandwagon with a new site called iReport.com in which any citizen journalists can publish content unvetted by CNN editors. It will function much like other popular community-governed news sites like Digg, Reddit and Mixx, though more YouTube-like video centric.

So is CNN finally crying uncle to the unfettered social news onslaught that has eroded its web readership? After all, it's been dabbling with user-generated content since 2006 through its iReport submission site, though with strict editorial oversight. According to the report:

CNN executives acknowledge that iReport.com’s openness is something of a departure for a news organization that prides itself on accuracy and editorial judgment. But iReports have become increasingly popular, and in many cases have even proved beneficial in the reporting of breaking news. Some of the most compelling footage from last April’s shootings on the Virginia Tech campus came from the 420 user-gen video clips CNN received, while last year’s California wildfires yielded more than 11,000 submissions.