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CNN wants your free clips

Video sites, such as Google Video and YouTube, have gathered significant amounts of user generated (citizen journalism) footage from war-torn Lebanon. A vid on YouTube currently causing a stir is this one from a young Lebanese Boy.

Meanwhile CNN has launched a user-generated content website called CNN Exchange. Viewers upload their content FOR FREE, but in exchange for what exactly?

i-Reporters, as CNN has now dubbed its unpaid contributers, should upload their video clips and digital snaps for no other motive than to provide copyright-free content to Time Warner corp?

Closer to home, if you’re fortunate or unfortunate, depending on your perspective, to be at the scene of a disaster or bombing in Southampton you could upload to Meridian News, which has been demanding you hand over clips and copyright for some while.

Anyone with good content should at least contact one of the new generation of ‘content brokers’. These guys attempt to sell content on your behalf. See Scoopt

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Vanity Fair: Blair’s Big Brother. Don’t read this article.

Steven Jago, 36, a management accountant,  has become the latest person to be charged under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act.

On 18 June 2006, Mr Jago carried a placard in Whitehall bearing the George Orwell quote: "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." In his possession, he had several copies of an article in the American magazine Vanity Fair headlined "Blair’s Big Brother Legacy", which were confiscated by the police. "The implication that I read from this statement at the time was that I was being accused of handing out subversive material," said Mr Jago.

Read the full feature at VanityFair.com

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Was the 2004 US Election Stolen?

Iconic US music mag, Rolling Stone, features a blistering attack on the US electroral system in the 2004 presidential elections.

Random quote….. "Republicans derided anyone who expressed doubts about Bush’s victory as nut cases in ”tinfoil hats,” while the national media, with few exceptions, did little to question the validity of the election. The Washington Post immediately dismissed allegations of fraud as ”conspiracy theories,”(1) and The New York Times declared that ”there is no evidence of vote theft or errors on a large scale.”(2)"

Link: Rolling Stone : Was the 2004 Election Stolen?.

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Blogs focus on personal experience, not politics

According to a survey by Pew Research Center, most bloggers are focused on "describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology."

Here are some stats:

  • The blog population has grown to about 12 million American adults (8% of adult Internet users).
  • 57 million American adults, or 39% of the online population read blogs (note: the research is unclear about frequency) of blog reading).
  • 54% of bloggers are under the age of 30
  • 76% of bloggers say a reason they blog is to document their personal experiences and share them with others.
  • 64% of bloggers say a reason they blog is to share practical knowledge or skills with others.
  • When asked to choose one main subject, 37% of bloggers say that the primary topic of their blog is "my life and experiences."
  • Other topics ran distantly behind: 11% of bloggers focus on politics and government; 7% focus on entertainment; 6% focus on sports; 5% focus on general news and current events; 5% focus on business; 4% on technology; 2% on religion, spirituality or faith; and additional smaller groups who focus on a specific hobby, a health problem or illness, or other topics.

Press attention tends to focus on a small number of "A-List bloggers", but the research from Pew suggests that this group is unrepresentative of the wider blogging community. Results based on a  telephone survey of 7,000 net users in the US.

The full PDF report is available here

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Come in YouTube you’re time is up.

Google has just launched its video upload service going under the inspired title of "Google Video".

A quick glance at the Top 100 most popular uploads reveals the usual mix of dubious dancing to popular records, Jackass-style stunts (mainly people setting themselves on fire) and a Paris Hilton video (not that one!). In short, it’s YouTube with British user-generated content.

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