Foley

Online anonymous tips helped ABCNews.com break the story about former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate messages to teenage aides, signaling a new model of citizen journalism for news gathering.

ABC News was the first major news outlet to report that Rep. Foley (R-FL) had sent inappropriate emails to a congressional page, but the news turned into huge scandal when other pages aware of more-explicit messages sent email tips to the station's website, writes Reuters. ABC News reported 8 million daily pageviews after the Foley scandal broke over a week ago, more than double its daily average a year earlier.

The practice of collecting anonymous tips online is heralding a new era for gathering news information: "This marks one of those watershed periods where you can use the internet to cast an enormous net for people who may have information," Robert Thompson, professor of media at Syracuse University, is quoted as saying.

As audiences turn to the web for updates through the day, traditional broadcasters are investing heavily in online operations and competing with newspapers' and radio stations' sites as well as blogs.