PA strikes 'landmark' distribution deal with citizen newswire

The Press Association will distribute images from amateur photographers for the first time after striking a deal with citizen newswire Demotix.

Demotix, which is two years old this January, receives contributions from amateurs across the globe and sells them on to media buyers.

Under the new deal, PA will take an undisclosed cut of the final fee for any image, with Demotix sharing the remainder of the fee 50/50 with the contributor.

Press Association said today in a release that it is "working to increase its portfolio of world photography" and "anticipates high demand for the fresh perspective offered by 'street' photographers".

"Street photographers" are something Demotix has in abundance – as well as deals with several major UK national organisations – but CEO Turi Munthe told Journalism.co.uk that the agency lacks "deep reach".

"Demotix lacks deep reach into the enormous and critical local market in the UK, which the PA has been developing over the last 100 years.

"Their contacts with local newspapers, local magazines and local journalists all over the UK gives us access to a market that we would simply never be able to reach."

Munthe added that Demotix has already has "deep and successful" relationships with several international distributors – including DPA in Germany and Scanpix in Scandinavia – but called the agreement with PA "more interesting".

"It's more interesting because we have a very large UK community of photojournalists within Demotix and one of the areas in which we are really hoping to grow with the Press Association is to see where we can't combine to work proactively together.

"And not just the way Demotix mostly works now, with material submitted on spec. We've spoken with PA in some depth about commissioned works, shoot on demand, the ways we might partner on large-scale events, we've spoken a lot about political events, etc.

Martin Stephens, managing director of Press Association Images, said: "Press Association Images is delighted to be working with Demotix, who share our passion for delivering quality news photography. We pride ourselves on providing customers with the very best photography from around the world, using our own staff photographers and partners which include many major news organisations. 

"We are excited to be working with user-generated photographs for the first time, and believe these images will not only add a unique and personal perspective to our 100 year old archive, but provide our customers with a new angle on world news."

In December, Demotix struck a content sharing deal with fellow citizen newswire Global Voices, under which Global Voices will be free to use images from Demotix and Demotix will republish Global Voices blog posts.

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