The Associated Press has purchased a minority stake in Bambuser — a service that lets users watch, share and broadcast video.
AP Director of Global Video News Sandy MacIntyre will join Bambuser’s board as “a non-executive director,” the AP says. In a release about the move, MacIntyre said:
“User-generated video content of live and breaking news is the new frontier of news generation. … Bambuser is the proven platform for eyewitnesses around the world to stream their video content and has been invaluable to the AP over the past year, allowing us to access footage of verifiable breaking news stories that would simply not have been possible before. Moreover, we have always been deeply impressed by the proven technology from the small but very talented team at Bambuser.”
The Associated Press has relied on user-generated content in several recent stories, including the siege of Homs, the Oklahoma tornado, the Waco, Texas, explosion, and the aftermath of the Boston bombings.
Fergus Bell, social media & UGC editor, International, has developed a verification process for user-generated content at the AP. In a Poynter.org interview with Craig Silverman last fall, Bell explained how the process works and why it’s important.
