The Decentralization of News

Lynne Kiesling

Forbes has an interesting article today on the increasing use of viewer video in news stories.

The concept is a potentially revolutionary one for TV newsrooms and their Web sites, which rely on their own camera crews and news services such as Reuters and the Associated Press for the vast majority of their video footage. The plans for greater use of user-generated content coincide with recent initiatives at CNN, Reuters, AP and other news organizations to provide Web surfers with more online video footage.

“It’s a hot topic,” says David Payne, senior vice president and general manager of CNN.com. “I think we all see it as an opportunity to increase our news category by effectively enlisting an army of millions.”

Not a new concept, particularly with respect to weather news (it’s always been fascinating to watch home tornado videos on WGN!), but increasingly easy for major media outlets to harness due to the ease and low cost of transmission over the Internet. It’s also interesting to see the media outlets embracing some aspects of the changing business model in news.