There’s another new channel for video storytelling: CitizeNews, from TV news bête noir Michael Rosenblum and Ken Krushel. The about post reads:
Our mission is to aggregate the work of talented video journalists of great diversity and distinction whose work is characterized by a powerful individual vision. We are constructing a digital platform where video journalists chronicle the world as they work to interpret its peoples, issues, events and personalities.
Diverse it is. So far, I’ve watched video features about making Argentina gay-friendly (in rapid-fire Spanish, with subtitles), a UFO “watch tower,” soccer for the blind (also in Spanish) and a report in children in Bande Ache. Quality varies and, like any publication, some stories are more compelling than others. That said, I’ve added it to my RSS reader and it’s likely this site is going to eat up some of the my available video-watching time.
CitizeNews has an interesting screening process: you can upload two of your news videos for review. If they like them, you become a “credentialed contributor.” There’s not a lot of detail about what that means, but it seems to be an attempt to build a solid stable of video storytellers.
The one thing missing from the site so far is the terms under which contributors operate: there’s nothing about copyright, licences, etc. other than information for those who want to make use of any CitizeNews content.
Interestingly enough, I learned about CitizeNews from another storytelling site, MediaStorm. If CitizeNews can reach the same level of compelling, quality storytelling that MediaStorm has established, it will be a site worth watching.
TAGS: VIDEO, STORYTELLING, PUBLICATION
Mark,
Thanks for taking the time to visit Citizenews, and for your kind comments.
Needless to say, we are just getting started, but we are gratified by the response and believe there is an appetite for quality videojournalism.
We are endeavouring to build a kind of Magnum analog – that is, more of a cooperative of the best; and a place in which the videographers, as the photographers at Magnum, retain the rights to their work. We are simply the showcase.
To prime the pump, we have published the work of many VJs around the world that was submitted for the Concentra Prize. This is a yearly €10,000 award for the best VJ work in the world. We felt this was a good place to start, but soon hope to have new and hitherto unseen work.