Thu, December 7th, 2006 by Chantal
Throughout modern history, new organizations have relied on citizen journalists to supplement images of news events regularly provided by the photojournalists they employ. Many of the most poignant images of major news events in recent years have been made by amateur photographers and regular citizens, often armed with little more than a camera phone. The larger news organizations are taking notice of this trend.
On December 5, 2006, Reuters.com and Yahoo! News began collecting news images submitted by the general public. Now anyone can upload images of news-as-it-happens onto the You Witness News website where they will be considered for use in features and articles on Yahoo! News. All submissions will appear on Flickr or a similar video-sharing site.
Editors for Reuters and Yahoo News will then organize the images to be used for various, relevant news stories. People will not be paid for use of their submissions. However, Reuters does plan to implement a system where they would pay for exclusive rights to images relating to larger news stories.
This brings up two conflicting arguments. On the one hand, it can be argued that the frequent use of citizen journalists will mark the demise of traditional professional photojournalism. Why should news organizations pay for a staff of photojournalists when they can get the images for free from anyone with a camera phone?
On the other hand, as Mike Johnston points out on The Online Photographer, the use of images and video from amateurs has been going on for decades and will continue, not to the detriment of professional photojournalism. Mike says:
Because everybody is literate and occasionally an amateur writes a good book, does that mean we no longer need book authors?...The fact is, good news reporting has always used primary source material. But having more primary source material hardly means we have less need for professional reporting.
What do you think?
You can read more about this project in the NYTimes, and check out Mike Johnston's article on his website.
(Posted with thanks to Chrys.)
December 7th, 2006 at 10:27 am
While the ease of acquisition of the outputs of citizen journalism in the digital age may certainly provide a depth of available coverage previously unavailable, the market for the pros will still exist. Cases in point: Citizens will not get embedded in the military. Few citizens will be able to gain access into a disaster area and have the available communications needed to deliver their images in a fasion timely enough for the news cycle. Citizens will also not get the security acreditation to allow them close access to many top newsmakers.
But, on the bright side, the local paper with a handfull of staff photographers is just never going to be lucky enough to always have one at the right time and place to get The Shot. Soliciting citizen submissions, in that regard, augments the abilities of the news organizations to provide more complete coverage to their customers.
Indeed, I fully expect to see more citizen-supplied video being used as the next stage of this trend.
But it will only augment the pros. Not supplant them. The pros, after all, are still more likely to get the best shots than most of the point-n-shooters out there.
December 8th, 2006 at 5:16 am
On the surface, it may seem great to have all these unique photos coming in from various non-affiliated sources. However, with the ease and ability to create "Fauxtographs" (eg. Lebanon and Reuters faked/staged photos this past year - http://www.answers.com/topic/2006-israel-lebanon-conflict-photographs-controversies), the media conglomerates will have to become much more vigilant in the way "citizen stringer" photos are utilized, especially in the area of geopolitics. It may end up creating even more distrust in the media than is already present.
December 10th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
From hearing what photojournalists have to say - news photojournalism got boring for professionals anyway. They are told exactly what to do, get loads of preassure to do it on a deadline and have little room for creativity. With the progress of digital technology, pictures became possible to produce just by pressing a button. Once citizen journalist fill his shoes, the professional will get to do other creative projects. Sounds like a typical man vs. machine debate.
December 20th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
There are a lot of sites where amatures submit their photos. It was not a journalism until big companys called it so. You may call chats and forums in the web CITIZEN LITERATURE, but it is not a LITERATURE. So there is nothing from journalism... it is just "lucky witness"
March 28th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I hope so...
it is our only hope?
Secret society new world order owns medias...
BR,
TT
conspiration critic and human rights activist,Denmark