DNA09: Demotix creates local 'Reporting Teams' to expand stringer network

Pro-am newswire Demotix has developed new features to help its network of contributors increase their coverage of local news.

The site, which sells news videos and images submitted by professional and amateur correspondents, has created country-based Reporting Teams edited by a member of Demotix's staff, who will suggest assignments to contributors within the groups.

The teams can be searched by country, city, subject matter or individual user profile, and are intended to further professionalise the service, Turi Munthe, founder and CEO of Demotix, told Journalism.co.uk at the Digital News Affairs 2009 (DNA) conference.

By asking contributors to join geographical networks, professional news organisations will be able to find content or stringers for specific news events, he said.

Users of the site help verify the content of submissions, and local groups should strengthen this process - users will know their network and flag up problems, he explained.

An internal points system is soon to be introduced, which will allow Demotix to recommend particular users or their content.

"We have thousands of contributors and we will create an internal system for deciding who our preferred contributors are, for when the mainstream media comes to us. The notion of collaborative news is really thrilling," said Munthe.

The Reporting Teams, of which there are 61 so far, will also build stronger relationships between contributors, with the possibility of offline contact. An internal messaging system for users is in development, he added.

"We are really developing the community side of Demotix for one screamingly obvious reason: we need our community to be as involved as humanly possible and to tap into the idea of 'collective wisdom'. By creating Reporter Teams it's a perfect way for people to get citizen, local news," said Munthe.

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