Global Warming News from Citizen Journalists at Demotix

The internet has made it easier to access first-person accounts of events around the world – but you wouldn’t know it from most traditional media outlets. The Associated Press and Reuters don’t have a single staffer in 40% of the world’s countries, so what does that say for the freshness and accuracy of international news?

Some newspapers are wising up to that fact, and heading straight to the source – citizen journalists who are in the thick of things as they happen.

Demotix, a citizen journalism website and photo agency, takes user-generated content from freelancers and amateurs – including remarkably high-quality photographs – and markets them to the mainstream media. Recently, photos from the site were featured in a New York Times article about the conflict in Iran. Demotix was also recently awarded a ‘Notable Mention’ in this year’s Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism.

This is especially valuable for anyone interested in learning more about how global warming and other environmental problems are affecting every corner of the earth. In Nepal, the effects are alarmingly clear, as shown by Nepalese contributors to Demotix, who upload photos and firsthand accounts of how climate change is affecting the nation’s glaciers, and causing paddy seedlings to dry out.

Other environmental issues covered on the site include droughts in Kenya and Syria, rescuing elephants in India, the annual ‘Naked Bike Ride’ in London and the effects of non-native wolves in New Jersey.

This is definitely journalism for the 21st century.

Link[Demotix]

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