User Generated Networks and BBC News

Current.tv, led by Al Gore, is leading the way in the UGC or VC2 (Viewer Created Content) area providing a 24 hour network. The audience can see submitted clips online at www.current.tv/ and "green-light" them for TV by voting for their favourites. Current.tv offers cash for content upto $1000 per video but viewers can earn upto $50,000 by producing adverts for the networks sponsors, the rights to the content is held by current for three months.

I've heard that Al Gore may be working on a similar proposition for a network, or at least a slot on current.tv, showing UGC on issues around Climate Change - using UGC to champion a specific cause.

User Generated Content - Now BBC News 24 are at it!

BBC News 24 has launched the first all user-generated news programme, ‘Your News’, featuring new stories made up from material sent in by the public. "Your News will reflect the stories catching the audience's eye, and will talk to them directly about the issues they feel really matter." - Kevin Bakhurst, controller of BBC News 24

‘Newsnight’ encouraged viewers to make short videos but it was considered a failure as very few people sent films in. Peter Barron, Newsnight editor, said: “What’s surprising is that while many viewers are prepared to sit down and create lengthy and thoughtful blogs about what we’re doing on ‘Newsnight’ - or what we should be doing - which will be read by about 50,000 hardened blog watchers, almost no one seems to want to commit those thoughts to video, with a potential audience of a million viewers.”

Will the new model of using UGC in the news be more successful?

- Paul Williams