Germany's largest newspaper, Bild, is looking to recruit citizen journalists, and it is doing so on a grand scale. The Springer title is working with supermarket chain Lidl to sell a basic digital camera to the new recruits who will help Bild expand its coverage.

Managing Editor, Michael Paustian, says, "We can't cover everything. We think it is an advance for journalism." The German newspaper is the most dominant player in the market, achieving circulation of 3.3 million copies from Monday to Saturday.

Bild is not the first news organization to take such a step: NowPublic.com, gathers photos, video and news tips from the public and distributes them to news organizations.

The Bild's initiative has not been universally applauded, with Eva Werner - a spokeswoman for the German Journalists' Association - saying that she feared Bild's citizen photographers could undermine professionals by ambushing celebrities or interfering with police work at the scene of an accident. "It poses a threat to quality journalism, the more images from nonprofessionals that are pushed onto the market even though professional images are available," Werner said.

Paustein responded, "We're not YouTube. Every contribution will be viewed, reviewed and journalistically evaluated."

Source: International Herald Tribune via EJC