BBC to Pay Citizen Reporters

Hear hear. The BBC is now going to pay for citizen journalist reports, the Editor's Weblog reports. The BBC's staff has been authorized to pay for cell phone footage and/or digital images. Before you send in that photo or the accident you saw on the highway, note that they caution they are going to be very selective.

The Editor's Weblog goes on to note that this further blurs the line between news providers and news recipients. This could - make that should - set a trend that others will follow. Citizen journalists should be paid. It will raise the bar for quality.

The BBC is not the first to crowdsource. Gannett made a lot of noise recently with their decision to co-report news in conjunction with the group formerly known as the audience.

Crowdsourced news production will have a significant impact on public relations. Our industry should start to build relationships with citizen journalists, not just bloggers. Think broader. As we do, we of course will need to be completely transparent in our motives. But on the whole it gives us a whole new pool of people we can work with.