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Web of spies: Site urges video brigade to keep an eye on pols
By Jessica Heslam
Saturday, April 22, 2006
A provocative and controversial new Web site is calling on “everyday people” to arm themselves with video cameras and catch hypocritical pols who are up to no good - and mealy-mouthed journalists “sucking up” to them.
It’s called AmbushTV, and its creators are looking for any juicy footage they can get their hands on.
They want video of lawmakers who “talk tough on immigrants” but hire them to work in their homes. They’re also eager for footage of members of Congress who use private corporate jets when traveling to campaign events.
And it’s not just lawmakers they’re after. They also want video of journalists “sucking up to a politician.” They even offer tips for wannabe reporters. “Don’t be a wimp! Push for an answer. If your subject storms off - keep the video rolling,” the site says.
Yehudi Mercado of Texas, who launched www.AmbushTV.us this week, says he got tired of complaining about politics with colleagues every day at lunch and decided to so something about it.
“We’re sort of looking at it as an expansion of our press pool,” said Mercado, 32, who likened it to video blogging.
Brent Cunningham, managing editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, said he doesn’t have a problem with the idea of citizen journalism, but noted the potential for problems with AmbushTV, such as doctored video.
“There’s just going to be an ever-increasing number of this kind of thing and it’s not necessarily bad,” Cunningham said. “It probably grows out of a fairly well-intentioned idea.”
Emerson College professor Jerry Lanson raised the specter of videos acquired in unethical ways. “It seems a little dicey to me,” Lanson said. “It might be interesting, but I suspect that it also could be “The Howard Stern Show” version of citizen journalism.”
Apple Computer Inc. is embroiled in a court battle that could decide whether bloggers of all kinds should have the same rights as traditional reporters. The company is trying to find out who leaked information on an unreleased product to bloggers.
As for AmbushTV, Boston City Councilor John Tobin calls it “sort of a paparazzi for politicians.”
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