Citizen reporters can submit their news videos by uploading them to the Endemol website or to its partner, the Dutch citizen journalism venture Skoeps.

The reports are then compiled to make local news TV items that are broadcast on IK OP TV (Me on TV).

According to an Endemol spokesperson, the citizen journalists do have a certain level of qualifications and know the main guidelines to report.

"We tell them [citizen reporters] how to report, the dos and don'ts, to make sure they don't get in the way of emergency personnel, for example. We have told them that in some situations they need to keep a certain distance, if not the will be blocked from IK OP TV," said the spokesperson.

About 150 citizen journalists are currently enrolled in the program. They aren’t compensated but are given a mobile device to capture footage. The program expects some 300 contributors in Holland in the weeks to come.

Citizen journalism has made its debut on TV. Just how far can it go?

The Editors Weblog will soon post a piece about the rise of Skoeps. Less than a year after its launch, few would have guessed that its ‘journalists’ would be making regional TV news reports.

Source: Journalism.co.uk