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Getty Images acquires citizen photojournalism pioneer Scoopt
Getty Images (NYSE: GYI) has announced that it has acquired Scoopt, a pioneer in marketing eyewitness images (citizen photojournalism) to mainstream media outlets. Scoopt was launched in 2005 and has gained recent notoriety when it supplied images to the media of the tragic Manhattan plane crash that killed New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle in October 2006 and coverage of the fierce January 2006 storms in the U.K., which brought devastation and disruption to large parts of the country.
"We're very much looking forward to taking our business to the next level by collaborating with the world's leading imagery provider," said Kyle MacRae, founder of Scoopt. "This acquisition will exponentially expand our customer base and establish a strong foundation for long-term growth."
Getty plans to integrate fully integrate Scoopt, along with its network of Citizen Photojournalists but indicated that content will be tightly edited to make sure that images marketed through Getty Images adhere to ‘stringent editorial quality standards’. "User-generated content is serving a valuable role in today's communication landscape; safeguards to validate its authenticity are critical," said Hugh Pinney, director of Editorial Photography at Getty Images. "By implementing rigorous quality standards, we can deliver powerful imagery captured from a unique perspective while ensuring journalistic integrity."
"New technology has made it easier to capture and distribute imagery, leading to citizen photojournalism that is increasingly relevant to the news cycle," said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. "While this genre will never replace the award-winning photojournalism for which we're known, it's a highly complementary offering that enables us to meet the evolving imagery needs of a broad customer base."
Web: www.scoopt.com – www.gettyimages.com - click here to view the original press release.
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