new Reuters/Yahoo! "You Witness" - probably a good thing for street photographers

[sleepyhead]

new Reuters/Yahoo! "You Witness" - probably a good thing for street photographers

As many of you already probably know, Reuters news agency and Yahoo! have recently launched a service called "You Witness". (Do an internet search on it if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

The service essetially encourages what has been dubbed "citizen journalism" by allowing anyone to upload their photos to a site. News picture editors then select pictures to distribute to various online and print media.

When I first heard of this, my initial thought was "GOOD!" not because I want to use the service, but because i like to take pictures in public places, and as many of us have experienced in the post-9/11 world, taking such pictures is getting more and more restrictive, legally or otherwise. (I recently got stopped in the Copenhagen metro by a guard who told me to put my camera away. I asked him if it was illegal to take photos there - he said, "no, but it's not allowed".)

So, to me the creation of "You Witness" ACKNOWLEDGES (finally) THAT THERE ARE TONS OF PEOPLE OUT THERE WITH CAMERA-PHONES, etc. and that when they are in public they have the right to take pictures or people and events.

Next time someone tries to stop me, I'm gonna say I'm a "citizen journalist"!

Any thoughts / comments are welcome,
regards, Yaron

 

[Ash]

Sounds good. But now there's going to be real competition between caphojo's
(camera phone journalists.... aka, teeny boppers with their samsung D-whatever).

I'd love to see a bunch of people fight over a 'breaking news' story taking pics on their dodgy little 2mp phones.


I'll buy a pint for the first person to bring out a Graphic and upload a 200mb image file with pure resolution.

 

[jamiewakeham]

Ash - does my Arax count? It's nearly as heavy...

Jamie

 

[Ash]

Only if you tie a brick to it 😀 😀

 

[sleepyhead]

I knew I could count on you guys for some serious and stimulating discussion...

😉

 

[Ash]

We could always tie bricks to you instead?

 

[traveller]

Some newspapers in Germany offer this already. When your photo is printed you get paid, one Newspaper is known that they pay amateurs more for a shot than professional photographers 😱. Other platforms have a more realistic approach but won't help you if there are legal difficulties. As far as I know there is only one newspaper that does it the serious way and offers standard contracts and legal advice before they print it.

So I would better think twice before I offer them a picture.
1st : Is it so important to me that I would risk the job of a professional
2nd: Do I get enough money for the risk of getting sued when people are a main part of the picture

Just my 2c

 

[anselwannab]

The best thing about taking pictures for Reuters is that if the image isn't compelling enough, you can take some poetic license and "jazz" it up a bit.

If there's smoke, there's fire. If there isn't enough smoke to make a fire, just add some smoke.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5625098

 

[Ash]

lol I remember that story from a few months back. Has to be the WORST photoshop job I've ever seen !

 

[kbg32]

This calls into question, "What is fair game and what is not?". As citizens of democratic societies, we are entitled to a fair amount of privacy. What Reuters is doing is opening up coverage to news events that may not get covered at the time they are happening due to the fact that they might not have a stringer present. Reuters is willing to take low res camera phone images/video captures of important world news events as they are happening. Something akin to what "YouTube" was doing, posting "citizen" videos of the last Israeli-Lebanon conflict, from both sides. Don't expect that if you are a "street photographer", everything is news. These images/videos chosen will be tightly edited by Reuters. Oh yeah, don't expect to get paid much, if at all.