The new agreement will enable video eyewitnesses and AP’s own journalists to “share the news” in real time with customers via the Bambuser platform. Under the terms of the deal, AP has negotiated a level of exclusivity and jointly developed the “share the news” tool on Bambuser, making it the only news agency to be integrated into the Bambuser platform.
All newsworthy video shared with AP is verified by AP’s social media specialists before being shared with a global audience via AP’s worldwide network of more than 700 broadcasters. The agreement also puts Bambuser’s live streaming ability in the hands of more AP journalists, increasing the agency’s commitment to Bambuser and the amount of live content AP can exclusively offer customers.
The deal follows five months of successful collaboration between AP and Bambuser, which has already given AP subscribers access to Bambuser’s growing number of content creators. In the last four months Bambuser content has been used by AP customers more than 4,000 times – much of it from the front lines in the Syrian conflict. It is delivered either as standalone content in real time or integrated into longer edited pieces for AP customers.
Since April 2012, the number of Bambuser platform users has significantly increased numerically and in geographical spread. The network now extends throughout Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Australia.
“User-generated content is integral to covering breaking news events," said Mark Davies, AP deputy director of international video. "Through the Bambuser deal and use of the ‘Share The News’ function, AP has pre-approval to use the Bambuser content, allowing us to check and verify content we deem newsworthy and put it live to air incredibly fast."
Around the world unprecedented numbers of people are broadcasting live video to the Web. The probability of someone being at the scene with a smartphone when news breaks is increasing by the day. More and more Bambuser users are utilising their handheld devices to capture news stories to share on their blogs, on Twitter and Facebook, and on other social media.
“Through the co-operation with AP, Bambuser has further strengthened its position as a tool to capture live and newsworthy video content," said Hans Eriksson, executive chair, Bambuser. “We have already had enormous success working with AP in getting live news video distributed globally and this is because users can rely on AP’s expertise as a very credible and professional news organisation that matches many of Bambuser’s own values.”
The Bambuser blog and website provide advice to citizen journalists, highlighting the possible risks and how to handle them.
