This week I interviewed Turi Munthe of Demotix, a citizen-journalism website and photo agency.

Firstly, well done with the launch and the coverage you have achieved so far. How do you intend to keep the momentum going?

We’ve only just really started on getting the word out that we exist, and are happy that the process is slow and gentle.

In this first phase, the kind of contributors we’re bringing on is more important than the number. It means we pretty much only have interesting content.

But to answer more broadly, I - as CEO - will be spending the next year running round the globe meeting with journalists, photographers, newspapers and citizen activists to tell them that we exist and can really help them.

I’m off to Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan in the first couple of weeks of Feb, then Russia, and then Zimbabwe.

For quality purposes you check all submissions before they appear on the website. How many moderators do you have, and what measures are in place to ensure Demotix is politically neutral?

We have a rotating group of about 7 moderators, but on neutrality we’re a citizen space. We have no politics. No editorial.

If the community sways more one way on a political issue, then we’ll make a concerted effort to bring on the other demographic but can’t guarantee anything.

On Gaza, for example, we’ve had infinitely more pro-Gaza material than we have pro-Israel, and that’s despite contacting the media organisations of Sderot and the IDF. But that’s a pretty good gauge, it turns out, of global opinion on the Gaza offensive.

You make your revenue (50% of the selling fee) when a publisher buys a photo or video. Are you going to look into generating revenue from people who simply browse the photos?

Possibly, but later down the line.

When will you allow people to send photos via Text/MMS?

As soon as humanly possible!

There are tech challenges here, and costs associated to this, but obviously this is exactly where we want to go, as quickly as possible.