I suggest realNEO members consider the developments surfaced in the Guardian article highlighted below. One of the world's top Journalism prizes - The George Polk Award [1] - was awarded to an anonymous bystander who captured a death in Iran on a cell phone and uploaded it to the Internet. The 40 second video is the most disturbing I have ever seen, by a long shot, and I do not embed it here, nor include even a still frame, nor do I recommend anyone viewing it - if you do you will see a person die, close-up, in a very bloody and graphic way.
Why I post about this on realNEO is that, as the Guardian writes, the "New 'videography' category reflects rising professional use of user-created content". Further: "This award celebrates the fact that, in today's world, a brave bystander with a cellphone camera can use video-sharing and social networking sites to deliver news," said the New York Times' John Darnton, the curator of the Polk Awards.
From the Guardian [2]...
Anonymous video of Neda Aghan-Soltan's death wins Polk award
New 'videography' category reflects rising professional use of user-created content
The George Polk Awards [3], one of the most important annual journalism prizes, has honoured the anonymous video [4] of the death of Neda Aghan-Soltan during the 2009 Iranian election protests.
The new videography category reflects the increasing importance of user contributions to journalism in an era where cameras are commonplace. It is the first time in the 61-year history of the awards that a work produced anonymously has won.
"This award celebrates the fact that, in today's world, a brave bystander with a cellphone camera can use video-sharing and social networking [5] sites to deliver news," said the New York Times' John Darnton, the curator of the Polk Awards [6].
More ...from the Guardian [2]...
Links:
[1] http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/polk/index.html
[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/feb/16/george-polk-awards#start-of-comments
[3] http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/polk/glance08.html
[4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d90bwM4No_M&feature=player_embedded
[5] http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/socialnetworking
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/nyregion/16polk.html