July 31, 2006 at 17:55CNN has created a website for private informants
The phenomenon of amateur content on the Web is showing itself with renewed vigor. It got to the point that professional television companies in droves appeal to citizens with a request to send them stories, photographs and other materials.
In fact, receiving audio, photo and video materials from citizens is a normal practice for television companies and has existed a long time ago. In some cases, companies are even willing to pay money for sensational materials. But before, such cases were isolated, and now, due to the proliferation of video cameras and smartphones, the phenomenon of “citizen journalism” has become so widespread that television companies are looking for new methods of cooperation.
So far, no television company has found the most convenient format for presenting amateur content. Corporations are trying to copy the tools that have worked best on the Internet: blogs, photo and video services such as YouTube, even voting systems for the best content, like Digg does.
Recall that during the terrorist attacks in the London Underground in July last year, the BBC television company opened a section on the site where users published the photographs they took. MTV recently announced the creation of an interactive Flux channelto be made up of amateur content. Users will be able to upload their videos to the Flux website, and an interactive chat of users along with their avatars will be broadcast live on TV along with the best video content.
Another attempt of this kind was made by CNN. She created a special section on her site, designed for "folk content". This section is called CNN Exchange . Here are photos, videos, emails of users from all over the world. The materials sent to the site are called “I-Reports ”, that is, “personal reporting”.
At the moment, the most relevant topic is the military conflict in Lebanon. Accordingly, the main place is occupied by reports from there.
The leadership of CNN News took part in creating the “Personal Reporting” section. What is characteristic, all materials sent to the site must be viewed by regular CNN editors, just like a regular news feed. This was announced in an interview with Reuters by senior vice president of the news department of the American division of the television company.
The site maintains blogs and also runs voting for the best reports.
In fact, receiving audio, photo and video materials from citizens is a normal practice for television companies and has existed a long time ago. In some cases, companies are even willing to pay money for sensational materials. But before, such cases were isolated, and now, due to the proliferation of video cameras and smartphones, the phenomenon of “citizen journalism” has become so widespread that television companies are looking for new methods of cooperation.
So far, no television company has found the most convenient format for presenting amateur content. Corporations are trying to copy the tools that have worked best on the Internet: blogs, photo and video services such as YouTube, even voting systems for the best content, like Digg does.
Recall that during the terrorist attacks in the London Underground in July last year, the BBC television company opened a section on the site where users published the photographs they took. MTV recently announced the creation of an interactive Flux channelto be made up of amateur content. Users will be able to upload their videos to the Flux website, and an interactive chat of users along with their avatars will be broadcast live on TV along with the best video content.
Another attempt of this kind was made by CNN. She created a special section on her site, designed for "folk content". This section is called CNN Exchange . Here are photos, videos, emails of users from all over the world. The materials sent to the site are called “
At the moment, the most relevant topic is the military conflict in Lebanon. Accordingly, the main place is occupied by reports from there.
The leadership of CNN News took part in creating the “Personal Reporting” section. What is characteristic, all materials sent to the site must be viewed by regular CNN editors, just like a regular news feed. This was announced in an interview with Reuters by senior vice president of the news department of the American division of the television company.
The site maintains blogs and also runs voting for the best reports.