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Abstract
This article presents the findings of an exploratory piece of research focusing on contributors to the participatory news photo agency Citizenside (launched in France in 2006 and based on a business-to-business model, equivalent to iReport, Blottr, or Demotix). The authors have studied the viewpoints of contributors themselves, through an online questionnaire and through in-depth interviews. The responses help to identify the profiles, practices, and motivations of so-called citizen photojournalists. Contrary to bloggers or users regularly commenting on online news articles—which research has often scrutinized since the mid-2000s to understand better online areas of participation—the active audiences or publics producing news images are driven by logics which remain poorly known, if not stereotyped. Several features showing the shift from ordinary to organized practices are discussed in the paper, including the minor use of smartphones as well as the importance of the preparatory fieldwork versus the minority of events captured “by chance.” In this respect, the motivations and profiles of Citizenside’s contributors go further than citizenship aspects, as they behave actually as independent eye-witnesses and photographers/videographers, some of whom are even remunerated. Therefore, in the authors’ view, these publics, considered as “amateurs” from afar, are in fact driven by (semi-)professional logics.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the contributors who completed the online questionnaire and particularly those who agreed to give in-depth interviews.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. At the time of this study, Bourdieu made the following division of subjects photographed by amateurs: “A study of a sample of 500 amateur photographs reveals that 74 per cent include people. Monuments appear as secondary subjects rather than for their own sake: in most cases, they are associated with a person and appear in the background of the photograph. Rare overall (10 per cent), landscapes can, more often than monuments, be an object of photography in themselves (one in two photographs of landscapes do not include a person): but given that they are not remarkable to the observer, one can assume that they represent a particular relationship with the object rather than the object in and of itself” (Bourdieu Citation1965, 61).
2. In 2012, French professional journalism authorities recognized Citizenside as a press agency, which was not the case when it was first founded.
3. The “freelance” offer is for magazines and traditional players who are invoiced for the image upon publication. In 2013, subscription packages varied from 1 to 12 months, allowing the download of 10, 20, or unlimited images each month depending on the package (source: http://www.pro.citizenside.com and “general conditions of use” headings or tariffs, accessed 3 January 2013). Direct payment via the site was suspended in 2014, the agency temporarily preferring offers targeted at its media clients; in time, however, the company anticipates a return to online purchase, which will then be managed by an external provider. On the other side, contributors get 50 per cent of the sale (65 per cent until 2013).
4. According to the typology of Harvey Molotch and Marilyn Lester (Citation1974), a “routine event” is one where the basic acts are intentional and the authors of the acts promote them. An “accident” is an event where the basic act is unintentional, and its promotion takes place through other means. A “scandal” is an event where the basic act is intentional, but the author(s) of the act are not responsible for its promotion. A “serendipitous event” is an event resulting from unintentional acts promoted by those who are responsible for them.
5. A report on photojournalists in France published in 2010 by the monitoring service for Cultural Affairs and submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Communication offers some statistics on this group. “It is basically a male group [88 per cent men], with a high average age (between 45 and 50 years old), which rose considerably between 2000 and 2009, reflecting a profession that is not being replenished” (Bertin and Balluteau Citation2010, 10). Moreover, “the core of the photojournalistic profession is distinguished by the possession of a press card. It is a small group (1300–1400 people) which grew slightly between 2000 and 2004, then shrank between 2004 and 2009” ( 10). Finally, thanks to figures provided in 2009 by the commission responsible for issuing press cards (CCIJP), we know that “in 2009, the total number of press cards issued to ‘photographic reporters’ rose to 1124; of this group, 664 were ‘journalists on a monthly salary’ (that is, employees) and 460 were ‘freelance journalists’, who are either employees, or journalists paid through fees or invoices at a lower tax rate (5.5%)” ( 6).
6. Clément Méric was a young far-left militant who died on 5 June 2013 after a street brawl with far-right militants. His death led to a wide emotional reaction within the French population and media.
7. In this respect, it is interesting to emphasize the compartmentalization of this photographic activity with respect to other participative online spaces: no contributor said that he or she has taken part in participative written journalism sites (such as France’s Agoravox). Only a few said that they had an account with the pure player Rue89.
8. Quoted from http://www.citizenside.com/#upload.
9. According to the aforesaid report on photojournalism, the average earnings of a freelance photojournalist tended to be as follows: “29% said that they earned less than 1200 euros/month; 40.7% said that they earned between 1201 and 2400 euros/month; 15.7% said that they earned between 2401 and 3600 euros/month” (Bertin and Balluteau Citation2010, 8).