Associated Press sides with citizen journalism

Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on February 12, 2007 at 1:52 PM

The Associated Press announced it has partnered with citizen journalism site NowPublic.com, in order to improve regional news coverage and use citizen contributions, when these may capture critical information and images about breaking news.

NowPublic is the world’s largest participatory news network. Based it Vancouver, it counts more than 60,000 contributors from 140 countries.

The AP is the world’s largest newsgathering organization, with 240 bureaus in 97 countries.

"The Associated Press has a long tradition of pursuing citizen contributions in breaking news events worldwide," said Jim Kennedy, AP's vice president and director of strategic planning. "This relationship will make that connection even stronger and result in more news and images from people who are in the right place at the right time."

AP bureaus will work with NowPublic in select locations, to improve regional news coverage.

Content could "range from simple eyewitness accounts to originally produced content,” said AP Deputy Managing Editor for Multimedia Lou Ferrara.

The AP’s partnership with NowPublic is the latest, and most notable, recognition of new media and citizen journalism by a professional news agency. NowPublic was named one of the top five most useful news websites by The Guardian this year.

Source: cyberjournalist.net