New app Newscar enlists ride-sharing users to cover breaking news
Australian start-up Newscar, backed by veteran TV journalist Adam Walters, is launching its world-first app, linking news desks to request footage from drivers at or near the scenes of newsworthy events. The app, which has the backing of the union representing Uber drivers, will allow users to take high-quality, formatted footage, which is then fed directly back to news desks before a fee is paid. Walters said the app was aimed at making the "full transformation from the electronic world of news-gathering to the digital world".
"We've built an app that is like a swiss army knife which sends back visions with the correct aspect ratio, has a live capacity for networks to switch to the pictures and send them straight to air, and an mp4 download capacity as well."

The app is the first of its kind and differentiates itself from citizen journalism companies, such as Fresco and Newzulu, where people upload footage that networks can purchase, by only responding to specific demands from newsrooms.

Shift to streaming services

"No one's making burgers when the newsroom wants pizzas," Mr Walters said. "It's attuned to the day to day demands of the newsroom."

Mr Walters, who worked for decades for the Seven and Nine networks, said viewers' shift to streaming services meant local news content was now "paramount" for free-to-air television.

"What we're counting on here – and it's already happening – is the determination of the networks to take advantage of their incumbency as trusted sources of news to adapt and make the full transformation from the electronic world of news-gathering to the digital world.

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"I think that challenge has been delivered by social media and it's something that advertisers are keeping a very close eye on."

The app will offer a "NewsCar Pro" booking option for professional freelance cameramen to cover the next stage of the story following the first response.

Prolific freelance cameraman Jason Webster, a Newscar director, is understood to have been heavily involved in the beta-testing of the app, while Bell Partners financial adviser Brett Taggart set up the company's corporate structure.

Non-professional users can expect to make about $200 from Newscar depending on the footage and the hours involved, with the start-up expected to take about a 30 per cent commission.

'Nightcrawler' users

Mr Walters dismissed concerns of so-called "Nightcrawler" users, a reference to the Jake Gyllenhaal film where a stringer sets up news events to sell footage of them to networks.

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"Nightcrawler's not a proposition for us. This is all from demand of the newsroom. We're not going to get people that are misleading to that extent."

Ride Share Drivers Association of Australia secretary Les Johnson, whose members will be preferenced for jobs, said the app would help stabilise the ride-share industry as drivers battle rising costs and low rates.

"It gives drivers another source of income in what is very fast becoming an unsustainable model in ride-sharing."

NewsCar will launch on the east coast on April 26 in Sydney. But Mr Walters said the company's goals were global and it intended to make its primary market the United States, where it will set up in June.

The company also has plans to expand beyond news, including allowing production crews to use the app for general programming and making use of the more than 160,000 drone owners in the United States for aerial news footage.