Yahoo and Reuters are looking for amateur photojournalists and cell phone owners who happen to be in the right place at the right time. Yahoo is partnering with Reuters on a new service called You Witness News. While the Yahoo/Reuters service sounds intriguing, it might not be so welcome among professional photojournalists.According to Reuters, what makes a good news photograph is a picture that will be of interest to a wide audience. It may depict an event in the news: a train crash, a clash in the streets, deliriously happy fans the moment the big game is won.
Or it may not be of a strictly 'news' event. It could be an out-of-the-ordinary moment in time in an otherwise ordinary day. Something that has novelty and impact. For example, a model falling over her huge heels on the catwalk, or a fox running up Downing Street, or a fire station catching fire, or a mouse hitching a lift on the back of a toad during a flood.
It may be unique. A picture that no one else took has much more news value than one taken alongside a rank of other photographers. A good news picture will tell a story without words. It will have context by showing the surrounding scene, or show the emotion on the faces of the people in the picture.
Whatever the content, a news picture can lose its value in a short space of time. News events move quickly, and the shot of a mini tornado you took last week may have been destined for the front page when you took it, but of no interest to a newspaper or a website a week later. There are exceptions if the event is of huge significance and rarity. For example, a photo of a tsunami wave could still be of great interest days after it struck. To find out more visit Reuters-You Witness News or Yahoo-You Witness News.
