Citizen journalists beware. If you give your videos and other content to Fox News, CNN and other outlets that are more than happy to take it for free, you may have to pay taxes on it.

That’s the word from StinkyJournalism.org, which claims to have “uncovered a real hornet’s nest for both for-profit media companies’ business models and citizen journalists who must now examine how much work they have ‘donated’ to any one media outlet over the past year.” Tax forms and even accountants may be necessary.

But citizen media expert Dan Gillmor said odds are slim that the dreaded federal gift tax will hit most amateur reporters. He also suggested that it could benefit them in the long run by forcing a change to business models that established news organizations have adopted to get free content.

[Cross-posted at my anti-tax blog, Taxation With Representation]