The idea of a market for citizen journalism has been around since the early 80s.
Maybe this time it'll do better than some of the earlier attempts.
Looking at other examples of citizen writing/editing, I'd say it will be a race to the bottom: staged and doctored videos and pictures, companies and organizations staging stories instead of PR releases, etc.
But it's definitely a feel-good kinda biz and story.
What are the chances that HN will avoid creating many threads about this conflict? It's really off-topic here (if it happens).
As for as this "new" tech goes. You are going to get a massive number of doctored photos - so many that the value of the site is basically zero.
The "idea" of paying them for the photos is useless - they don't really care, all they want is for the world to see, and for that there already is flicker.
So this site is nothing new, and with the problems they will have with forgery, it's DOA.
Actually this is an area where technology could really change the world. In fact, already has: I've heard it argued fairly convincingly that what turned the tide in the civil rights movement in the US was the appearance in the national media of photos and video of blacks being attacked by the police.
If everyone could see what occupying armies do, they probably wouldn't be able to do as much of it.
Media is a huge influence on politics. The medium is an important part of what gets covered, how it gets covered, the narrative that goes with it & ultimately public opinion.
There is plenty written on what the television did to the US: Vietnam war coverage, civil rights movements & so forth.
New internet based media is bound to have an effect too as it allows for various new things. But I wouldn't conclude that it will be a positive one. For one thing, the concept of impartial news is out the window. From government groups to human rights groups to armed groups to soldiers with blurred out faces to the next door neighbours, the stories will reflect specific agendas, specific experiences and individual stories. Many will be embellished, forged or corrupted.
This thread is about Demotix, and Demotix isn't about the conflict in Gaza. Gaza just happens to be the big news right now.
You get doctored photos in the mainstream media all the time. Agencies know their pictures will be seen by everybody. This makes the doctoring more likely.
This could be quite interesting in connection with some of the algorithms for doctored photo detection. There was a post of them here a long while back:
