Paris - Agence France-Presse (AFP), the French newsgathering agency, announced on Wednesday that it has taken a minority stake in Scooplive, a service that lets users sell their pictures and videos on current news and receive a commission.

In connection with the deal, Scooplive will be renamed Citizenside, and be offered to media firms as a white-label service.

Citizenside says it currently has contributors from some 90 countries.

"For us, this gives us the opportunity to conduct a commercial and technologic experience in the world of the web 2.0, for the benefit of our clients, mainly in the media sector," said AFP chairman Pierre Louette.

"We intend to offer them the possibility to use the technological platform under their own brand. AFP will not be involved in the editorial process of selection and validation of the documents available on the platform."

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/1ubzi

http://www.afp.com/english/home

http://www.citizenside.com