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London (pte030/08.07.2005/14:23) - Following the shocking bombing in London's underground and public transport system yesterday, the Internet and British and US TV stations were inundated with blogs and footage from mobile phones sent by members of the public, creating a 'new world' of media.
Mobile phone shots of the smoky, narrow underground tunnels and videos shot by commuters who were caught in the aftermath of yesterday's bombings created a first-time event in British media.
"It is a gear change," said BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk director of news Helen Boaden.
"Within minutes of the first blast we had received images from the public and we had 50 images within an hour. Now there are thousands. We had a gallery of still photographs from the public online, and they were incredibly powerful."
"People are very media-savvy. We saw use of what we call 'user-generated material' in the tsunami and at the floods in Boscastle. But as people get used to creating picture and video on their phones in normal life, they increasingly think of sending it to us when major incidents occur."
This form of public contribution to the media comes at a time in which technology and the sizeable reach of the World Wide Web is expanding.
Media executives in England and the US believe that the public's contribution to media will change media for the better.
"I think you're looking at a portend of things to come," said US's NBC News President Neal Shapiro.
Within an hour of the attacks more than 300 emails containing an average of three images and about 30 video clips were sent to the yourpics@bbc.co.uk address, said Vicky Taylor, editor of interactivity for the BBC News website.
"It's the way forward for instant newsgathering, especially when it involves an attack on the public," said Ben Rayner, editor of the ITV News channel. He added that the clips played an important role in getting across the graphic nature of the story to viewers.
The process of getting clips onto the Internet is a simple one: users send clips or photos as a multimedia message or an email and it is then downloaded onto the broadcaster's server.
BBC's Taylor said that newspapers and picture agencies contact the website and are put in touch with the people who took them, who retain the copyright and are free to sell the rights to other media outlets.
Executive editor of Sky News, John Ryley, said using citizen's footage "raises questions for the authorities, but these devices allow a democratisation of news. News crews usually get there just after the event, but these pictures show us the event as it happens."
"We are very keen to be first," he said, "but we still have to ensure they are authentic."
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