Yahoo launches citizen journalism site
How does the face of journalism change when cell phone cameras and small video camera devices become ubiquitous? Instead of the appointed few recording breaking news, we have the eyes of the masses, each equipped with the necessary gear for grassroots journalism. Following in the footsteps of CNN’s I-Report, which allows users to upload video, audio, or photos, comes the more sophisticated You Witness News from Yahoo.
YouTube has already proven the ability for average people to present compelling news stories. Both the UCLA tazing incident and Michael Richard’s racial outbreak were documented by bystanders and first broadcast via YouTube.
You First News allows users to upload photos and videos and have them considered for use in articles on Yahoo News. The primary content on the site right now are a few videos and articles providing tips for citizen journalism. You First News’ stance is that you don’t need fancy equipment or knowledge to capture news–simply being at the right place at the right time, and having an inquisitive mind will suffice.
It’s great to see Yahoo forging ahead in grassroots journalism. You First News may become the outlet for citizen news breaking videos, rather than YouTube, which is a more general video site. Right now, users won’t be paid for content that is shown on Yahoo News. However, if their content gets distributed to Reuters, they will be compensated.
Categories - News, You First News | 
December 7th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
The examples you cite (Tazer/Richards Racial Remarks) were merely people recording events as they happened. Hardly “journalism”. One of the great myths of the Blogosphere and so called “citizen” journalists (with zero qualifications) is that they actually have something to say.’
The good news is there is very little “citizen journalism” being heard above the noise. And that’s where the vast majority of it belongs. In the noise.
December 8th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Davie Bowie funded a version of this years ago, to put cameras in the hands of people around the world who were willing to photograph examples of human rights abuses, unwittingly the precursors of this flood of image-based citizen reportage.
As an Emmy-winning former NBC 7 Wall Street Journal reporter I am overjoyed to live in a time when people can bear witness to the news they see. It will make censorship increasingly difficult - when images can come from so many places and people.
Yes, the mis-use, invasion of privacy and other issues will continue yet i believe the upside in our world-as-village will force everyone to learn more about the larger world. At a time when Russian journalists (that’s plural) are getting poisoned and torture is happening outside the law, citizen journalism - in all its levels of astuteness and perspectives - will show mroe authentic sides of life as we know it now than any gimmikcy “reality” show.
Here’s to even more competition among firms that will host the images.
- Kare, SavvyHer.com