Første bildebyrå for amatører

Skotske Sunday Times bringer et intervju med Kyle MacRae, grunnleggeren av Scoopt, det første byrået som er dedikert til å videreformidle fotografier tatt av amatører og "citizen reporters".

Noen utdrag fra artikkelen om Scoopt:
"On July 4, the website launched. Three days later London was bombed. "At the time, it was disastrous for us,? says MacRae. ?Pictures of maimed bodies and people in distress were allegedly making their way onto the internet, and to be associated with that would be bad news both from a business and a personal ethical perspective."

Many of the most iconic images of the attacks were taken on camera phones, however, in Tavistock Square and on the devastated trains. ?Over a longer period, that helped to close the credibility gap and convince people that we had an idea that could work,? says MacRae. Scoopt was picked up by, among others, CNN, Wired magazine and Newsweek. A bandwagon was rolling.

Six months later, MacRae has crow?s-feet from working round the clock, and the site has 5,500 members in 86 countries. More significant, perhaps, are its imitators ? sites such as The Snitcher Desk and Cash Your Pics. Last week Splash, one of the biggest picture agencies in America, announced that it too was starting a service for members of the public who wished to "snap, send and sell"."

The paparazzi are now everywhere - Times Online.