Yahoo debuts ‘You Witness News’
Cory Bergman December 4th, 2006
Starting tomorrow, users can submit photos and video via Yahoo for display on both Yahoo News and Reuters.com. And Reuters will also start distributing some of the submitted content to its print, online and broadcast subscribers. Called “You Witness News,” submitted photos and video will appear on Flickr and presumably Yahoo Video. Editors will then screen it to see which content is worth promoting to news stories or be distributed to Reuters clients. Yahoo will use the content for its sports and entertainment sections, and the company said it will soon expand to local news and high school sports. Meanwhile, users will not be paid unless their content is distributed, although the payment structure has not been finalized. This is the largest citizen journalism partnership to date — the most popular news site on the web teaming with the second largest wire service — and the fact that Yahoo wants to extend it into local news and high school sports should set off alarm bells at local TV stations everywhere (except, perhaps, media partners of Yahoo, although it’s unclear whether they would have access to this content). As we’ve urged before, it’s high time local TV sites encourage their users to submit news and sports video and photos before the portals and national news sites steal it away. (Full disclosure: I work for a Belo TV station, and Belo newspapers are Yahoo media partners.)
14 Comments Add your own
1. Echy | December 4th, 2006 at 5:36 am
I don’t understand why people give their content away for free. Giving content to Yahoo and YouTube just doesn’t make any sense. These companies are trying to make money from donations.Can anyone explain this?
2. thedetroitchannel | December 4th, 2006 at 6:21 am
it plays on the same premise that broadcast executives has used for many years: the audience is dumb.
3. Z | December 4th, 2006 at 7:49 am
Let’s not forget that the audience is also lazy.
If there’s a viable payment plan for submitters, it might work out. But it’s gotta be pretty good if you’re going to get many people to send anything.
4. Cory | December 4th, 2006 at 9:17 am
This is the advantage that TV has. While people will grow weary of donating content to sites, I think they’ll still get jazzed about seeing their video and photos on TV.
At KING5.com last week, with the snow storm, we received over 2,000 photos from users and counting. We aired many of them, and the Ellen Show even aired one of them, which jazzed people up even more.
There’s still a magic about TV.
5. thedetroitchannel | December 4th, 2006 at 9:49 am
cory, that’s the same tired argument “TV” has used for the past 5-10 years. instead of fostering this sort of interactivity all along (viewer emails when the net was mainly text-based even) they have been relying on “magic”. the curtain is pulled back. time is not on the magician’s side anymore.
6. Cory | December 4th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
I think there’s a little time left due to stations’ promotional platform. It’s still highly effective, but not for long. I’ll give it another 12-18 months for local TV to get competitive in key niches online, including user video, or they’ll hand it over for good to the pure plays.
7. GT | December 4th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Do we think this may explain a lot of why the Yahoo and CurrentTV partnership was broken? Seems almost like the Current model: no pay unless it gets picked up.
8. Sandi | December 5th, 2006 at 8:47 am
I think we are missing the point here. It’s not about “giving away” content or about payment - it’s really about viewers wanting to program their own viewing which means, among other things, contributing things they think are interesting. User-generated content is about empowerment and TV has been missing that boat for the last few years.
9. Echy | December 5th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
If I produce a video, post it to YouTube, and it it picked up by a TV network how does that empower me? It doesn’t. Why don’t CBS, Paramount,or Disney feel empowered by their shows being freely distributed on the Internet? Because they don’t make any money that way.
The constitution is what empowers me to make and distribute a video. The Internet makes it easier. But if I give it to YouTube or Yahoo or someone else for free, I have nothing.
10. Joe | December 5th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Another flop. Yes, a few people might want to contribute photos and videos, but why would they want to use Yahoo instead of their own blogs and flikr accounts? It’s giving away their intellectual property for a pittance. Media giants are LAME.
11. Cory | December 5th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Echy, but if you capture something extremely cool on tape, edit it your own way, don’t you want a bunch of people to see it? YouTube or Yahoo can get you the views. If you submit it to a TV site, it may appear on TV. For some people, getting appreciated for their work is important, and many times recognition is just important as $$$.
Plus, not everyone is tech savvy enough to figure out how to post video online and share it with friends, and that’s where YouTube has come in with free hosting.
12. Echy | December 5th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Cory,
Sure I would want people to see it. But why should I give it to a media company who is using it to generate revenue I will never see. You are always going to have some people who don’t mind giving it away for the thrill of “seeing their stuff on TV.” I am not one of them and neither is Joe. And there are alot of others like us. You don’t expect me to believe that if took the time to produce a quality five minute movie, you would give it to Rupert Murdock for free.
Now if you have a model that gets me paid (and not the lame $200 Current.TV is doling out) I might get interested. I mean even Readers Digest pays for stories.
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14. MOJO | January 18th, 2008 at 6:32 am
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