The real power of the Internet is shown
when Governments try to stop their citizens from gaining access to
the world outside and for that matter, stopping the world from
looking in. Especially during difficult times such as elections and
social uprising. So it's not surprising that little information is
escaping Iran.
However news reports are escaping that
country and one site that is attempting to keep track and to filter
the true reports and not Government propaganda is Demotix.
They have identified trustworthy
Twitter users and sources of news and pictures. Their dedicated page
provides coverage as it comes in.
Andy at Demotix emailed me earlier
today describing how things were going...
It’s generating fantastic buzz for
Demotix. Turi was on BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme this morning
(http://bit.ly/LRqDH)
and on Radio Five Live (http://bit.ly/18rIdG
at 07:08). He’ll also be interviewed by the BBC News Channel, Five
Live, Radio Scotland and Reuters today.
This is great exposure
for Demotix and more importantly our contributors in Iran.
I reported about Demotix, the
photographers CJ site, back in February this year. Since then they
have gone from strength to strength. I received a press release from
them recently with their latest accomplishment. The Telegraph (UK
newspaper) now features the 'Demotix best of content' widget on the
World News
section.
We're thrilled - it's our first
major subscription deal in the UK, and (with 23 million unique
users/month) it means masses more exposure for our contributors.
The full press release is below.
Demotix, the award-winning
user-generated newswire, has signed an exclusive deal with the
Telegraph website for its Widget.
The Telegraph, with the UK’s
biggest broadsheet web audience and over 23 million unique viewers in
April 09, is carrying the Demotix Widget on its World News page. It
joins Le Monde in France, Lebanon’s Future News and the Himalayan
Times of Nepal.
The Demotix Widget features the best daily
stories from Demotix’ 5,600 users around the world (120 countries
and counting) telling stories the traditional newswires could never
find.
Demotix CEO, Turi Munthe, said: "For Demotix, this
is really exciting. The Telegraph was our very earliest supporter,
and immediately understood what we were trying to achieve. As for our
contributors, the chance to get their stories out to so many people
in the UK, US, Canada and elsewhere is fantastic. Demotix was founded
to give a loudspeaker to the man and woman on the street. With this
partnership, their voices just got louder."
Justin
Williams, Assistant Editor, The Daily Telegraph, said: "We're
delighted to showcase Demotix's amazing images to telegraph.co.uk's
global audience. The Telegraph was the first UK media organisation to
spot the immense potential of Demotix and its global network of
correspondents and we're looking forward to continuing the
partnership as this innovative project continues to grow in size and
influence."
The stats show that total newspaper ad
sales dropped by an unprecedented 28.28% in the first quarter
of 2009, a deep plunge that represents a loss of
more than $2.6 billion in ad revenue compared
year-over-year. Compared to 3 years ago - 2006 was a pretty good year
for American newspapers - we’re looking at a drop of more
than $4.5 billion in ad sales in just three years if you
only take into account the first quarter.
You may have noticed a bunch of stories
recently about how newspapers should get an antitrust exemption to
allow them to collude -- working together to all put in place a
paywall at the same time. That hasn't gone anywhere, so apparently
the newspapers decided to just go ahead and try to get together
quietly themselves without letting anyone know. But, of course, you
don't get a bunch of newspaper execs together without someone either
noticing or leaking the news... so it got out. And then the
newspapers admitted it with a carefully worded statement about how
they got together "to discuss how best to support and preserve
the traditions of newsgathering that will serve the American public."
And, yes, they apparently had an antitrust lawyer or two involved.
So with advert sales on a sharp decline, the
newpaper industry plans to create pay-to-read systems. The question is,
would you pay if you could get the same news from CJ bloggers?
This video is from Jay Rosen, professor
of Journalism at NYU. This is his definition of Citizen Journalism.
Do you agree or do you have a different idea of what it is?
If you are a keen Citizen Journalist and looking for a site to write for then do check out This is Diversity. They emailed me a few days ago with the following, “ThisIsDiversity is a global community of citizen journalists. Our goal is to facilitate awareness and understanding by bringing together diverse viewpoints on important issues.”. Very lofty goals.
However, while checking out the about page I discovered something rather interesting, they will pay to writers...
Incentive Program
The citizen journalism incentive program rewards users who contribute content and build their ThisIsDiversity fan base. Our incentives are valid through 2009.
1) For every 1,000 page views your account attracts, you will receive $10 (we will accrue and hold payment until total amount reaches $100). We track the cumulative views per user account, so if you reach 1,000 views with one article or one hundred articles, you qualify.
2) Each month, a panel of judges will select the top articles from each topic. Based on predetermined criteria, the best article will be chosen and the winner will receive a commemorative print of their story as well as $1,000.
If you have any questions about the incentive program, please email us at editor@thisisdiversity.com
There is no indication if this is a long term incentive, I am not sure if any CJ site could sustain such an idea.
John Costner of Citizen Eye has been
touch to let me know about his latest project. I have previously
mentioned his work on citizen reporting (Pensioners
take action over benefits) but now he is expanding in to print.
I'm planning to launch a newspaper
in the city editorially run by young people only. I have the young
people team in place, a group of 'mainstream' journos who have been
made redundant and I've devised a rather basic funding model to allow
it to be self financing from day one.
John is aiming for a tabloid format of
24 colour pages, available monthly. I hope John succeeds where the
mainstream press seem to be failing.
GroundReport is a 'hyperlocal' citizen
reporting site. They say they are different because they do not use
reporters but rely on citizens all over the globe to report on the
news happening where they are.
We're different because unlike
traditional news organizations, GroundReport has no overhead and
reporters are already on the ground, at the scene--all over the
world. There are no barriers to reporting the news, which means
GroundReport coverage is faster, deeper and more global.
And more from their about page...
GroundReport.com is the world's hyperlocal citizen news platform,
empowering anyone to post news reports, videos and photos and earn
money. Every day Ground Report’s network of over 4,000
international contributors publish breaking news articles, videos
and photos, which are vetted by trusted corps of trained
editors.
Our major 2008 coverage included scoops from the Beijing Olympics,
U.S. Presidential elections and Mumbai terrorist attacks.
GroundReport was founded in 2006 by former UN reporter Rachel
Sterne, inspired by her experience reporting on the Security
Council. Named one of America's 'most
promising social enterprises' by BusinessWeek in 2009,
GroundReport's mission is to democratize the media.
Pensioners in Leicester took to the streets to protest over the level of payment they receive. They managed to block traffic and gain a lot of public support. John Costner of Citizens Eye caught the protest and interviewed some of those involved.
In good CJ style, John used a Nokia N96 for the video.
Reporters Without Borders today issued a report
entitled “Enemies of the Internet” in which it examines Internet
censorship and other threats to online free expression in 22
countries.
“The 12 ‘Enemies of the Internet’ - Burma,
China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam - have all transformed their
Internet into an Intranet in order to prevent their population from
accessing ‘undesirable’ online information,” Reporters Without
Borders said.
The debate is on to define if a blogger
can be a journalist. In the US, a bill is making its' way through
that would effectively stop bloggers being treated as a journalist.
Two versions of a bill in Congress
would enshrine a journalist’s right to keep his or her sources
confidential, effectively banning the government from forcing
journalists to reveal whistleblowers. One version though—the House
version—gives an incredibly stupid definition of journalist that
excludes not only bloggers, but freelancers, independents, and
nonprofit journalists as well.
