Reuters and Yahoo! Enlist Camera Phones

eldavojohn writes "In a huge advancement of citizen journalism, Reuters and Yahoo! are asking average people to be journalists with their cell phones. I hope participants don't run the risks others have for photographing the police. You can expect to see these new photos being used at Yahoo! and Reuters.com starting tomorrow." From the article: "'People don't say, "I want to see user-generated content,"' said Lloyd Braun, who runs Yahoo's media group. 'They want to see Michael Richards in the club. If that happens to be from a cellphone, they are happy with a cellphone. If it's from a professional photographer, they are happy for that, too.' Users will not be paid for images displayed on the Yahoo and Reuters sites. But people whose photos or videos are selected for distribution to Reuters clients will receive a payment."

Comments

What Controls Against Staging/Faking?

[Cr0w T. Trollbot]

Citizen Journalism is a Good Thing, but given Reuter's recent and well-publicized problems with staged photos and fraud with their own stringers (not to mention the recent allegations against AP over "fake" atrocities reported by dubious or non-existent sources), what controls is Reuters going to put in place to ensure they aren't taken in again? How can we know that a picture of, say, Barak Obama flipping someone the bird, or Israeli soliders shooting a civilian, wasn't faked by a partisan with an axe to grind?

Given the numerous problems Reuters has had with its own Middle East reporting, what controls are they going to put in place to ensure that these Citizen Journalists aren't feeding them fake pictures?

Crow T. Trollbot

Re:ignorant corporate hacks

[Esteanil]

A lot of people will be doing this. Why?
Bragging rights.

"My photo was on [big news agency] - Just look here!"