The Broadcast Networks Explore “How They Might Incorporate Viewer Content”

By Brian 

The cameraphone pics from London were dramatic, and CNN received “hundreds of submissions” from viewers during Hurricane Dennis last weekend. Now the Boston Globe says all the broadcast networks are figuring out how to handle “citizen journalists.” Examples:

> CBS News VP Marcy McGinnis “said that the network has had meetings recently to discuss how they might incorporate viewer content.”

> “Recently, NBC officials have started to equip both reporting and nonreporting staff with cellphone cameras in case they come upon a news story, as have officials at ABC and CBS.”

> “In the next couple of months, ABC plans to create a website that will allow viewers to submit images and video.” Senior VP Paul Slavin “expects that some of that material will make it on the air but worries that the network will also eventually start to receive fake material.”

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