Citizen Journalists’ Code of Practice… at last

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has launched the Witness Contributors’ Code of Practice, explained here. It aims to provide some ground rules for the mainstream media’s use of material from citizen journalists, that is stories, photos et cetera from members of the public. Publication coincided with a debate hosted by Media Guardian, which has been rightly described as uninspiring as it reveals that few of us have really got to grips with the issues.

While there’s nothing particularly new in members of the public submitting material to newspapers, technology is now such that it’s an everyday occurrence and services like Scoopt make it easy to sell photos to the press. And while some believe that this heralds the democratisation of the media, there’s little evidence to support that and there are pitfalls – do you really want to give your pictures to the Telegraph? – that mean the Witness Contributors’ Code of Practice is long overdue.
Contact Stephen Newton

Posted at : January 31st, 2006 - 5:23 am
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