Citizen journalism site Demotix aims to fill gap in foreign news

by Paul McNally, Brand Republic 02-Sep-08, 15:30

LONDON - An online news service that allows anyone with a camera to sell material to the media has officially launched this week with its owner hoping it will make up for the "lack of foreign correspondents" employed by news groups today.

Demotix, which soft-launched in July, acts as a broker between publishers and members of the public who upload photos and videos from around the world and report on stories that might otherwise have been suppressed by governments.

Photos fetch between £40 and £800 on a non-exclusive basis, with exclusive video charged at around £250 to £300 a minute.

The site, which is hosted in the UK, takes a 30% cut and passes the rest to the photographer.

During its trial period, users uploaded videos from the Beijing Olympics and the war between Russia and Georgia. A video smuggled out of North Korea was sold on to the Daily Telegraph.

The clips are arranged into categories on the site, ranging from sport and the arts to economics and politics.

The Demotix founder and chief executive, Turi Menthe, said the site aimed to plug the gap created by publishers who were cutting the number of frontline foreign journalists they use.

Menthe said: "There is a distinct lack of foreign correspondents today. Demotix lets the street journalist fill in the gaps and provide the real news from the street that otherwise would go unreported.

"It aims to help newspapers and broadcast news programmes by providing them with content they wouldn’t otherwise see."

Demotix is the latest in a series of sites aiming to give citizen journalists a platform.

Last year, Getty Images bought the online photo agency Scoopt, which lets users with cameraphones upload their images and sell them to the press.

Earlier this year, video sharing website YouTube set up a dedicated channel showcasing news videos uploaded by its users, and CNN launched an online citizen journalism network called iReport.