On Monday, CNN unveiled its answer to video-sharing and citizen journalism sites in the form of CNN Exchange, a page on CNN.com that opens up article, video, and picture aggregation to users of the popular site.
CNN Exchange touts itself as a place that “invites YOU to connect with the news: Share your stories, your pictures, your videos wherever you see the I-Report logo. Weigh in on blogs. Click your way through QuickVotes and more.”
Recent conflicts in the Middle East have found widespread coverage on media channels outside of the cable television news sources that were once the only lenses that offered those interested overseas with up-to-date news. Blogs and video-sharing sites have quickly become a new wave of media that demands serious attention in regards to the way news is garnered and disseminated.
Earlier in July, CNN actually played YouTube video clips that were recorded by people living near the areas of conflict in Lebanon.
“User-generated content has the potential to play a pivotal role in journalism whether it’s online or offline. With CNN Exchange, we’ve essentially created a one-stop shop for CNN.com users to share their contributions with other Internet users,” said Mitch Gelman, senior vice president and executive producer for CNN.com.
This move by CNN is the first venture into what is known as “citizen journalism” by a major news organization. It is a smart strategy for CNN, who now has the option of sitting back and waiting for the content to flow to them, rather than using manpower to scour other video and citizen journalism sites in order to find videos that it must use for its news broadcasts.
In addition to already having 24/7 coverage of events in “hot” news areas, CNN will now have eyes and hands ready to give them the scoop on intricacies and issues that may be overlooked and unseen by the news organization.
CNN.com will have a group of workers devoted to filtering the best of the submissions they receive to post to various CNN outlets.
Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/exchange/
http://news.com.com/CNN+snatching+page+
out+of+YouTubes+book/2100-1025_3-6100139.
html?tag=nefd.top
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