Send It To Them
I took a tour this morning of some of the major media websites to see how they are set up to accept photos and videos.

Channel 7 and Boston.com use email, WBZ and Channel 5 use a form. NECN's feedback page won't load. The Herald has a contact us page.

It's a sad state of affairs. BostonNOW was doing it right. They embraced the reader as a contributor to the site for any and all topics. In this brief survey, the media outlets are asking for specific content like foliage photos or red sox photos. WBZ and 7 seem to have to most open submission policy.

Who's going to step up to embrace reader and viewer content?

What did I miss?

WHDH
Send It To 7


Email: senditto7@whdh.com
Subject: Fall Foliage Photos


Their slideshow is embeded in the page and doesn't require a page refresh, nice. Links to photographers would be nice.



They also have a general Send It To 7 page with this:

Send us photographs and video!

WHDH-TV is looking for your photos and video of news events. To tell your story through pictures -- moving and still -- that you've shot, just email your media to SENDITTO7@WHDH.com. Please include captions and information about the videos and photos you send, along with your name and telephone number. You can also use your camera phone to send us photos and video while you're on the road.

I sent this in to 7:


This isn't working well:

Here's the email I got back from my submission:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

Delivery to the following recipients failed.

mbaldacci@whdh.com

Reporting-MTA: dns;rim.whdh.com
Received-From-MTA: dns;psmtp.com
Arrival-Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:02:59 -0400

Final-Recipient: rfc822;mbaldacci@whdh.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.1.6
X-Display-Name: Marlena Baldacci

I went to the Send It to 7 webpage to send in a message to tell them that the email address is broken. I submitted the form and was sent to a page that said:

Not Implemented

D'oh!

There are problems here and I usually get paid for advising companies on user interface issues. I give up.

I'm back. I didn't give up. I tried again to contact WHDH.

Here's the new error I get:

contact@whdh.com: host whdh.com.s7a1.psmtp.com[64.18.6.14] said: 550 No such
user - psmtp (in reply to RCPT TO command)

help@whdh.com: host whdh.com.s7a1.psmtp.com[64.18.6.14] said: 550 No such
user - psmtp (in reply to RCPT TO command)

support@whdh.com: host whdh.com.s7a1.psmtp.com[64.18.6.14] said: 550 No such
user - psmtp (in reply to RCPT TO command)

If any readers have a contact at WHDH, please inform them that their submission email is broken.

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Boston.com
RAW: Hit Us With Your Best Shots


E-mail yours to raw@boston.com.

The RAW blog is doing a great job of highlighting viewer photographs. They just introduces a nice slideshow player that doesn't require a page refresh for each photo. Thank you. They could improve by linking back to the photographers websites or providing contact information.

Boston.com also has a contact page. It's not really geared to accepting submissions.

I sent this in to RAW:

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WCVB: The Boston Channel
Show Your Red Sox Spirit!

Limited to Red Sox ony?



Slideshow also does not require a page refresh. Nice. Link to photographer's would be nice if available.

Is there any other user content on the site besides fan Red Sox photos?

Here's their contact page. I don't see any specific method for sending in media.

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WBZTV.com
WBZ News Tips

Found on the right hand side of the home page:



Uses a form to enter contact info and to send media:



Send WBZ your:
Breaking News Tips
Video
Photos

Here's the WBZ disclaimer you need to agreet to when sending in a photo:

Disclaimer:

By sending us your picture, you agree to the following:

You represent that you own all copyrights in the photograph.

You acknowledge that CBS may, at its sole discretion, publish or otherwise use any photograph submitted by you. Such publication or other use may occur on television, in books, in newspapers and magazines, on the Internet, and/or in or on any other medium of communication now or hereafter devised, and may be for advertising, promotion, the use of trade, and/or other commercial purposes. By submitting a photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) consent to such publication or any other use.

As a condition of submitting your photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) unconditionally and irrevocably waive all claims to compensation for use of the photograph, and/or any rights with respect to such use you may have under copyright law, the right to publicity, the right to privacy, the law of defamation, and any other common law or statutory claims under the laws of any jurisdiction.

You represent that you have been given the authority by each individual depicted in a photograph to bind such individual to these release terms.

You must be 18 years of age or older to submit a photo.

It'd be nice it they allowed for sharing revenue if hte photo is really, really good.

WBZ also features viewer photos, but in a slide show that requires a page refresh each time.

I sent in this one:



Oops! Sent the same one to two stations.

Doesn't matter since the Channel 7 submission failed. (see above)

Here's the response I got back form BZ:

Thank you for your submission to wbztv.com. We will review and follow up with you as necessary.

SIGN UP FOR:

Breaking News And Severe Weather Alerts
Register For wbztv.com Daily Newsletters

VISIT THESE POPULAR AREAS

WBZ Water Cooler
View Latest Photo Galleries
Keller @ Large Political Blog
WBZ Weather Team Blog
Dan Roche's Red Sox Blog
DeclareYourCuriosity.com

Thank you,
Julie Eich
Executive Producer, wbztv.com

The way this should actually work is that I should be able to TAG my photos on Flickr and a way that allows their use... So for example, I could tag the photo, WBZ or NECN, and they could view the photos. That makes it a lot easier for me.

posted by Steve at 8:03 AM | link | (1) Join the Discussion

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