Looking Forward: Our Talk at CUNY’s Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism

If you’re a journalist, media professional or avid reader of news, entrepreneurial journalism is likely a blip on your radar already.

Journalism has always embraced revolutionary ideas — anything that will contribute to better, more authentic storytelling is embraced with open arms. But in America’s shifting media landscape, the future (and even survival) of journalism will depend on those willing to explore new models and ideas wholeheartedly. CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism — and their Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism — is driving this media transition.

The center sparks research on the the economics of modern journalism, including the most sustainable business models, and provides a welcoming environment for new ideas and projects.

On Wednesday, Scopio Creative Director Nour Chamoun spoke to a class of 15 entrepreneurial journalism students about the platform, tying our brand’s experience into the students’ interests in new media. The talk was facilitated by Professor Jeremy Caplan, the Tow-Knight Center’s Director of Education.

Our Beginnings

Scopio began in 2012 as Protestify: a startup solution to messy social searching during the Arab Spring. Photos and videos from social media are often the most authentic view of any news event — a genuine, first-person account of what’s happening at street level. But because news outlets needed to request permission for every photo and video they found of the Arab Spring, the process was hardly time-effective. Journalists would spend time requesting permissions for these photos and videos just to come up empty-handed, and our founders noticed similar patterns during other protest events. How could journalists truly tell a story without striking visuals to accompany their work?

It wasn’t just protests, though, that lacked photos and videos from everyday people. Companies, nonprofits and even live events lacked a way to gather better visuals, and user-generated content became integral for companies to humanize their marketing and advertising strategies. It’s a must in the digital age.

The question became not just how to gather citizen journalism from protests, but how to get top-notch visuals for everyone. Scopio was the rebrand of Protestify, but also the solution to this user-generated content problem. We’ve come a long way since 2012. Today, Scopio’s clients include everyone from 20th Century Fox to Baarb.com, a way for global nomads to get travel recommendations using artificial intelligence.

After relaying our growth story to the entrepreneurial journalism students, she was able to demonstrate just how Scopio’s platform works and answer questions from students. It was a great learning experience for me, too. Many of the students had worked for established news outlets or were spearheading their own projects, but they still recognized the need for a platform meant specifically for finding and licensing better photos.

Who knows — maybe we’ll be able to work directly with one of these students in the coming years.

Scopio is the industry’s premier search and licensing platform for images and videos on social media. We help companies find and use the photos and videos that matter to their audience, from capturing content to evaluating the analytics on campaigns. Wondering about what we can do for your digital marketing strategies?  Request a demo with the button below or email [email protected]. 

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