In an interesting twist on user-generated media, Yahoo (YHOO) and Reuters has teamed up to empower amateur photographers to put their photos of newsworthy events on the online news sites of the two companies.
Those photos picked to be on the site will be displayed with text coverage of whatever event was photographed. The service is called, "You Witness News."
With photography specifically, the key to success here is having something unique that nobody else has. Evan Nisselson, founder and CEO of Digital Railroad says, "Content is king, and getting a unique image to the masses is the holy grail when nobody else has it." He's credited with being among the first to see that cell-phone photography would alter the news industry.
An added incentive for photographers is starting in January, if their work is sought be professional organizations, they will be paid for their work.
Another unique change and opportunity that citizen journalism is spawning. In reality, this puts photographers just about anywhere in the world. The opportunity for true indepth coverage is growing as a result of encouraging citizens to take shots of the events happening in their part of the world.
The key will be making sure they're legitimate photos or film that haven't been touched up or changed.
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