VMLY&R Singapore and Mediacorp launch CNA Eyewitness to connect journalists and citizens to develop news stories
VMLY&R and Singapore’s largest content creator and national media network, Mediacorp, have launched CNA Eyewitness, an open, collaborative channel that allows journalists and citizens to work together in the creation of news stories.
The platform aims to bridge the gap between citizen contributors and news media, enabling greater collaboration, faster reporting of breaking news stories and curbing of fake news.
Targeting aspiring journalists, citizens and whistleblowers, CNA Eyewitness consolidates citizen contributions from the CNA app (iOS and Android), Telegram, Facebook’s chatbot, Twitter Direct Messages and forms on the CNA website, to facilitate timely, on-the-ground viewpoints from CNA readers. Editors can then fact-check and verify the information with contributors before developing the content into holistic and immersive news stories for CNA. Identifying the opportunity for greater connection between CNA and citizen contributors, VMLY&R developed the unified CNA Eyewitness dashboard as well as a Facebook chatbot for contributors.
Commenting on the project, MD for VMLY&R Singapore, Preethi Sanjeevi, said: “The absolute importance of authentic news validated by on-ground realities has never been more apparent than now. CNA Eyewitness is meant to solve exactly this challenge – with an eye on reduction of misinformation & enabling more personal stories, it connects journalists to Singaporeans island wide. It has been a privilege to be part of CNA’s digital transformation journey & we are really proud this is launching despite the un-precedented times we are living through! A huge thank you to our client teams who continue to work with us as collaborators towards a greater goal!”
Willy Tan, Lead, Digital News & Lifestyle, Mediacorp, said, “We are glad to collaborate with VMLY&R in developing CNA Eyewitness, which will transform the way we collect information by allowing our audiences the flexibility in reaching out to us using their preferred channel of communication. Not only will we be able to receive information across multiple platforms, effectively increasing the volume of citizen tip-offs, this real-time platform will also enhance our efficiency in developing new content, consolidating Mediacorp’s position as the go-to source for timely, trusted news.”