Fox News sources local video from users of Fresco app
Fox Broadcasting Company is partnering with application Fresco, enabling local citizens to submit videos of news events for money, reflecting how broadcast news is shifting thanks to mobile technology.
Fresco allows users to submit their own footage of news events directly within the app and Fox News is compensating those whose content is featured on air. The partnership is cognizant of the change in news broadcasting that mobile video has created, as smartphone?s video quality has transformed the everyday consumer into a videographer almost on par with a news crew.
"Mobile is disrupting nearly every social system we have, including journalism," said Michael Becker, managing partner at mCordis. "Journalism professionals have been leveraging mobile for quite some time.
"Back in 2010, during a Mobile Marketing Association New York Forum keynote address, the famed CNN Anchor Soledad O?Brien 'stressed the importance of mobile devices in her reporting,'" he said. "She discussed how she reported on the Haiti earthquake from her phone.
"Since then, smartphones, social media, video consumption and the sharing economy have all be on the rise due to advancements in mobile. Now, with mobile, there are potentially 5 billion plus reporters on the planet and growing."
Freshening up news
The news app allows users to stay up-to-date with news in their area while also becoming a part of the news team themselves. Fox News is tapping into the app to incite more users to send in videos, which can decrease the manpower needed from its news team and also create a more authentic content with up-to-date footage.
Users submit their own footage of events taking place nearby through the app and can get a list of assignments that Fox is looking for around their location. A tab in the app, labeled assignments, brings up a map of the user?s location and labels places in which current news stories are taking place that Fox will compensate for.
To submit footage, users select the camera feature within the app and upload the content they have for the story. The app uses technology to verify that the content was created within 24 hours and at the accurate location, to make sure people are submitting accurate information.
Fox will be giving $50 for videos and $20 for photos used on air.
Consumer dominated industry
Now that almost all of consumers have a quality camera on them at all times, everyday social media users are often beating news stations for breaking stories. Fox is cognizant of the opportunities smartphone camera devices create and is leveraging Fresco to help corner the user-generated content market.
It is important for broadcast networks to evolve in the consumer-dominated market today. A Huffington Post executive at Mobile Marketer?s Mobile FirstLook: Strategy 2016 emphasized that as consumers rely more than ever on distributed news content on mobile-first platforms, namely social media, this is diluting time spent on destination sites (see more).
"The future of journalism will forever be changed by mobile, particularly since we take into account the expanding definition of mobile and connectivity," Mr. Becker said. "New capabilities like micro cameras, augmented an virtual reality, 360-degree video and audio capture, new media distribution channels like SnapChat, on-demand news services like NewsOn and so much more will influence our expectations of what and how news is reported.
"However, technology is not the answer; it is a tool," he said. "We all must remember of and take care not to waiver from the core fundamentals of ethical journalism, truth and accuracy, independence, fairness and impartiality, humanity and accountability, as technology advances and is adopted."
