You don’t have to have a card marked ‘press’ in your hat, a notepad tucked in your trench coat pocket or even a super-long zoom lens thrown over your shoulder to be a member of the press these days. Thanks to the latest trend of ‘citizen journalism’ we’re all reporters now, especially those of us with a camera phone in our pocket.
The movement has been around for a few years now, but the mobile element of it really took off in earnest in the UK after last summer’s tube bombings and Buncefield oil explosion, where ordinary members of the public provided the majority of published pictures. It has continued to gather momentum ever since.
Everyone from local councils (lovelewisham.org encourages citizens to send in mobile photos of vandalism) and newspapers (a Norwegian paper already prints a text number for people to send in stories and shots and many more are following suit) to major news sources like the BBC (which has its own dedicated department for contributions from the public) is getting in on the act. Apparently the Beeb got over 5,000 photos from the Buncefield fire alone, and as we can see from this story about a recent tragic accident in the North East it is already slotting mobile footage into its reports.
Earlier this month, US news giant CNN took things to the next level by launching their i-reports service at the CNN Exchange website, which is solely created for citizens to send in their photos, video and audio news reports from phones and other electronic devices. As well as being able to share their scoops via the site, contributors have the added incentive that their media might make it onto one of CNN’s mainstream channels, including TV. CNN aren’t likely to be alone for long either, with MSNBC and Yahoo both set to follow shortly and several other major news networks reportedly working on their own solutions including Sky News and ITN who have already held lengthy discussions with mobile network 3.
The phenomenon even has its own awards co-sponsored by the Press Gazette and mobile phone giant Nokia. Unsurprisingly the inaugural winners list was dominated by the terrorist attacks in London, with the winning picture being a shot of the devastated bus in Tavistock square and third place going to a subterranean snap from a survivor escaping the underground.
And just in case the prospect of fame isn’t enough for you, there’s even the possibility of earning a small fortune in the process by signing up to the likes of Scoopt!. Effectively a mobile photo-agency, this is one of a growing number of services set up to broker sales of snaps from camera phones direct to news organisations and splits the proceeds with you.
Then again, if the prospect of selling snaps of celebs or accidents raises a moral dilemma (and if this doesn’t happen naturally, the site’s opening animation might just provoke it!) you could always just contribute your observations for the common good via the likes of Flickr’s dedicated photo journalism section.
Whatever your motivations, one story remains the same; citizen journalism is not going away and it’s almost certainly going to change the face of news as we know it. If you want to stop watching the news and start making it, check out the sites above or download the free Press Gazette guide to citizen journalism and get snapping.
Oh, and of course, if you do get anything particularly juicy, do let us know first!
Oi, that’s no car crash on the Scoopt home page — it’s devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the US
Fair enough Kyle, will ammend directly. They say a picture speaks a thousand words - but it clearly needs to speak up in this case!