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| Sunday, 4 December 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Era of citizen journalists dawns in Britain by Pierre Lesourd, LONDON, Dec 3 (AFP) - An era of "citizen journalists" is dawning in Britain as media organizations turn increasingly to their viewers and readers to beef up news coverage, particularly with amateur photographs. The amateur photographer already has an agency "Scoopt" to disseminate reports or images taken on the spot, while the budding writer can replace professionals in The Guardian newspaper's thick Saturday travel section. As soon as there is a major unexpected event, a script runs at the bottom of the screens on the British Broadcasting Corp or Sky News inviting members of the public to send digital photographs to the company's e-mail address. The July 7 terrorist bombings on three London subway trains and a bus were a watershed in the news business; most of the on-scene bombing images carried on the television and in newspapers were the work of amateurs. The professional may still be master of all he surveys - or over the news that is programmed or anticipated - but there is increasing scope for the amateur. Armed with a mobile telephone camera or digital camera, any eyewitness now has the technical means to become a journalist for a day. "People do like to contribute to the news and get a kick out of it, quite a big thrill," according to Kyle MacRae, the founder of Scoopt. Founded in Glasgow, Scotland in July, the agency claims 4,300 members - to be sure some of them are not very active - in 80 countries without the benefit of advertizing. |
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