We’re thrilled to announce that Demotix scooped top prize in the Independent Media category at the MEGAs, the Media Oscars of the UK, one of the biggest prizes out there.The event was held at Sketch in Conduit Street, London, and the award was presented by Lauren Laverne .
Demotix is a citizen-journalism website and photo agency. It takes user-generated content (UGC) and photographs from freelance journalists and amateurs, and markets them to the mainstream media. We covered the launch of this very exciting startup, here, and have been great fans since!
Flypaper.tv spoke to founder and CEO Turi Munthe about this big win. He told us, “We’re amazed and surprised. For us, it’s a sign that the mainstream media is finally waking up to the fact that citizen journalism, or ’street journalism’ as we like to call it, can and must play a critical role in the news gathering of the future.”
The internet is currently the fastest growing news platform (Ofcom, 2007). New media technologies have changed and multiplied the ways in which news can be accessed, but the promise of greater diversity in news seems elusive. “Street Journalism” projects, like Demotix want to change that. In justifying their place, these crowd-sourcing projects are needing to transform the theory of media’s place in democracy. It is no longer enough to be informed to fully enjoy citizenship; you now need to be an information producer. But do we? See, “Street Journalists versus Ailing Journalists”
CONGRATULATIONS DEMOTIX!
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