Citizenside, a French participatory news photo agency, is analysed here to measure the changing production of news. How do traditional circuits respond to new flows of news provided by ‘amateurs’? Is the latter term still valid? The concept of citizen news content is examined: its image largely depends on established media, which may feel threatened in the digital era. Citizenside, as a news agency, conducts its operations with established media. This model is of interest because of the technical tools employed to ensure the checking of photos and videos (reliable profiles, metadata, geo-location, web tracking of photos) and because of its ‘community management’, which strengthens the performance of contributors. Until 2013, Agence France-Presse held a 34 per cent stake in the company, which was acquired by Matilda Media subsidiary Newzulu.com. Citizenside exemplifies the move from user-generated content (UGC) to user-certified content (UCC).
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