Iran: a breakthrough for Demotix

The political crisis is not over in Iran.

But now feels an appropriate time to reflect on the way Demotix - and more importantly our brave photojournalists in Iran - shared news of the uprising with the world.

DISTRIBUTION

Demotix was, in part, built with the Irans of this world in mind. It has been humbling to see the community step up to the mark: often Demotix was the best source of imagery from Iran, but sometimes it was also the only one.

On June 19, the New York Times ran a Demotix photograph on its front page – the first Demotix front page in the US – swiftly followed by another front page on 21st June, with more photographs on inside pages and on the website. Then the Wall Street Journal licensed a Demotix image for the front page of their website and carried another very prominently in their print edition.

Your images were published by over 100 news outlets around the world, including the International Herald Tribune, the Times, NBC, the BBC, ABC, CBC, Miami Herald, El País, the Chicago Tribune, L’Express, the Observer, Gaceta, the San Francisco Chronicle, CBS, Newsnight, the Toronto Star, the New Zealand Herald, the Malaysian Star and elsewhere.

For the first time, Demotix signed global syndication deals with Reuters, AP and EPA, allowing us to quickly distribute selected images as soon as they came in.

RECOGNITION

Demotix’ role in reporting the uprising became a story in its own right, and was covered all over the world.

The Guardian said our coverage marked “a coming of age”. The Indian Express described us as the “leading voice in the global news agenda”.

Our success in placing images prompted much coverage. CNBC said: “BBC, Reuters, and other mainstream news platforms are turning to Demotix to get perspective from the ground, putting communication from the site's freelance journalists and amateurs on a mass stage.”

CEO Turi Munthe was interviewed nine times by the BBC, including on the influential Today Programme and BBC News 24, as well as by CBC, the New York Times radio, Bloomberg and Reuters (for a full video-feature on Demotix). Elsewhere our progress was reported by Le Monde, the Washington Post, Toronto Star, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, RTE in Ireland and SINA and NTDTV in China.

Live-bloggers such as Robert Mackey for the New York Times, Andrew Sullivan for the Atlantic, Nico Pitney for the Huffington Post and journalists on the Guardian and New Zealand Herald backed us to the hilt, driving tens of thousands of viewers to our work.

FALL-OUT

What does this mean for us all?

1. The Demotix name is out around the world.
2. Your images and stories are getting wider and wider reach. We’ve been able to build bridges and links to the top photo editors, web editors, and news directors at some of the biggest media outlets around the world, all of whom are now beginning to receive your stories.
3. Your stories were seen by 10,000s of people, and traffic to the site only grows.