'Street-level' video project recruits 50 reporters for news service

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Video communications firm WinkBall has hired a team of more than 50 reporters to create its own online news service.

The network aims to cover news stories from across the UK with a focus on 'engaging public opinion' by using video, a release from the company said.

At this week's Conservative party conference, reporters asked members of the public for their views on the party and posted the responses to a video wall on the WinkBall site .

Reporters are paid £14 per hour plus travel and expenses for the hours they work, so salary depends on weekly shifts, Winkball's co-founder Dr James Ohene-Djan, told Journalism.co.uk.

"We recruited the WinkBall reporters from a diverse range of backgrounds, including former journalists as well as those interested in media and film," he added.

"They have also all undergone training, including instruction on interviewing, PR, the law and digital media and are members of the NUJ [National Union of Journalists] - so they are all well prepared for their role."

The network was also trialled at August's Notting Hill Carnvial, where, in partnership with Flip video, more than 200 hours of footage was produced.

According to Ohene-Djan, these street reporters and their brand of 'citizen video journalism' are the future of online journalism.

The site is also planning to expand the number of events and add more reporters over the next 12 months.

"Citizen video provides the ability to engage in a two-way dialogue with members of the public using the emotional power of video," he explained.

"As the ability to record video becomes cheaper and easier for ordinary consumers, the production of video content is no longer just in the hands of major news organisations who are in fact struggling to adapt to the new media landscape.

"The public can now decide the news discourse and can record and share the news content which most appeals to them and to their agenda."

The news service has grown out of Winkball's original incarnation as a video-sharing and blogging site comparable to Seesmic or Qik , launched in 2005.

The venture is privately funded and is looking to create multiple revenue streams to support further developments, said Ohene-Djan.

"Media organisations have struggled in the past with narrow revenue models. With WinkBall we're not just relying on online advertising as a revenue stream and having invested to develop this platform will be implementing it in a number of ways including offering the platform to organisations for white label and internal communication services as well as developing bespoke solutions such as online casting services for modelling/TV companies," he said.