Tue, Dec 05, 2006 - Page 7 News List

Yahoo, Reuters seek amateur talent

CITIZEN JOURNALISM Both companies are launching new services today to tap into the resource of hobby photographers as suppliers of breaking news images

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , NEW YORK

The arrangement with Yahoo is one of several initiatives by Reuters to use the Internet to bring new sources to its news reports.

It has invested US$7 million in Pluck, a company that distributes content from blogs to newspapers and other traditional media outlets.

It has also backed two more experimental ventures: NewAssignment.net, an effort to foster reporting that combines the work of professional journalists with input from online readers, and Global Voices, a collection of blogs from around the world, especially from less-developed countries.

Yahoo has its own ambitious plans for the You Witness News service.

The images received will be used on its sports and entertainment sites. Over time, it wants to expand to local news and high school sports.

And it will consider allowing users to contribute articles as well as images. For now, both Yahoo and Reuters are concerned that they do not have the resources to edit and verify such articles.

"News has special constraints on content quality," said Elizabeth Osder, a senior director for product development at Yahoo. "If we publish text, we want to review it."

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