Radio used to be the most immediate method of accessing news information and to many it remains an indispensable means of obtaining news. But how can radio maintain its position as a valuable and relevant medium when digital media offer effective, instantaneous methods of communicating using a combination of text, video and audio?

The answer, many would argue, is 'visualisation'. Essentially, this is a process of filming what is actually happening in a studio and broadcasting it via the web. Why do this? What is the difference between visualisation and television?

However, the effect that visualisation achieves is quite different, as explained on the BBC College of Journalism Blog. Visualisation shows the radio studio as a working environment, where interviews are held, where music is performed and where news is reported. It is very much unlike watching interview or performances in the highly engineered context of a pre-recorded television show, for instance. The attraction with visualisation is occupying the privileged position of 'fly on the wall', seeing the internal workings of a radio studio, which traditionally remains closed to the eyes of the public.

According to Journalism.co.uk, a new video service will be launched for journalists, broadcasters and web editors, giving them free access to promotional videos.

The Video News Agency is a site that offers videos to journalists, which they can use in their articles or to gain additional information on what they are working on. The agency provides content such as corporate announcements, documentary material and interview footage. The site also gives Electronic Press Kit materials to broadcast journalists.

"VNA offers the world's media access to the rapidly growing wealth of high quality news and feature footage that is increasingly being self-produced by businesses, NGOs and government," said operations director Daniel Kennedy in a release.

Journalists can now view at the latest media online without discs, ftp codes or embed codes.

"It has also been designed to meet the media's need for quick and simple access to searchable and relevant content that is of a high enough editorial standard to upload or broadcast on their own channels," Kennedy continued.

The importance of context and the disadvantages of hasty publishing immediately jump to mind when considering the journalistic implications of the political fiasco stemming from the Shirley Sherrod videoclips.

Shirley Sherrod, former Georgia Director of Rural Development for the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) was made to resign after a two-minute video of her admitting to doing 'just enough' for a white farmer, hit the waves. The video which can be traced back to Andrew Breitbart of Big Government, turned out to be an edited clip that attains a different meaning when viewed unabridged and the situation became more embarrassing when Brietbart admitted during an interview with TPMMuckraker that he did not have the full video (meaning the edited version was his sole source).

In an interview with Shepard Smith of Fox News' Studio B, contributor Juan Williams declared that the debacle is an example of how nobody "is exercising any kind of editorial judgment."

Beamups, the digital marketplace for news footage goes live today with a UK version of the site.

The invention of two former cameramen, Boaz Eshtai and Yosi Romano, Beamups offers a platform for producers to distribute and sell their previously unused and archived material to would-be buyers.

The website first launched in the Middle East in April and, since then, has already helped to secure deals with the BBC, Al Jazeera, ABC and Rtvi.

Speaking with the Guardian's digital publishing correspondent, Jemima Kiss, a company spokeswoman said the site is intended as a business-to-business venture, although they have not ruled out the possibility of adding some amateur content. In any case, the company does not plan to operate in the same way as newswire service Demotix, which promotes the work of citizen journalists.

Every item sold on Beamups represents a 40% commission fee for the company - a typical figure within the industry, particularly for a B2B provider - and the seller gets to dictate the price. Buyers can choose from a variety of material and can opt to purchase footage outright or use it as a one-off. Like eBay, vendors set up their own "window" and, once a sale has been made, shoppers are invited to rate the service and quality of the content.