What started with last years holiday season tsunami in Asia has emerged on the other side of the world... and appears to be establishing itself as a permanent fixture of the media landscape. "User-generated material," images and video via camera phones and blogged reports from ordinary citizens caught in London's July 7th blasts were picked up by major news outlets, adding immediate first hand accounts to the tragedy. While filing out of London's smoke-filled metro system, victims of the attacks with photo and video cell phones recorded the events and sent them directly to Mainstream Media sources such as the Guardian, BBC and Reuters who included the images in their coverage. MSM generally seems to welcome citizen content. Editor of ITV News, Ben Rayner, commented, "It's the way forward for instant newsgathering, especially when it involves an attack on the public." Helen Boaden, director of news at the BBC said, "As people get used to creating picture and video on their phones...they increasingly think of sending it to us when major incidents occur. It shows there is a terrific level of trust between the audience and us, creating a more intimate relationship than in the past." ITV News also contacted witnesses who had blogged their experiences, asking permission to use the text and images they had posted. Ms. Boaden said that within an hour of the explosions, the BBC had received 50 images, a number that within a day had jumped into the thousands. Still, there are precautions that news organizations must take in publishing citizen content. Although he believes that mobile phone images will grow more important with time, John Ryley, executive editor of Sky News warned, "We are very keen to be first, but we still have to ensure (the images) are authentic."
Source: The Guardian
