In April the agency launched the "You're a Reporter" site, calling for eye-witness reports of news from readers. Last year it introduced a UGC desk to monitor social networks and blogs for relevant content and handle user contributions.
Readers can send material to the "You're a Reporter" site via SMS, email or an upload tool on the website and will now receive points for the quality of content, which can be swapped for prizes.
Contributors will gain basic points in the scheme for submitting different types of content - images, news tips, videos - and for the performance of their submissions, for example if it generates 500 or more page views or if it breaks news before RIA Novosti's own site.
The prizes on offer include a Nokia phone, a Canon camera, a tour of the agency's newsroom and
"Handling user-generated content has become part of routine media business. The ability to work with citizen journalists, encourage, train and offer them a platform for broadcasting, gives a fantastic advantage to specific media outlets," Natalya Loseva, RIA Novosti internet projects director, when the You're a Reporter site was launched earlier this year.
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