1. Wide of production offices of German newspaper, Bild
2. Wide of journalists in office
3. Various of video camera pack to be sold at discount chain stores
4. Set up of Michael Paustian, managing editor of Bild newspaper, demonstrating mini video camera
5. Close of tiny video camera
6. SOUNDBITE (German) Michael Paustian, Managing Editor of 'Bild' Newspaper:
"Things are documented there which are not covered by professional journalists but which nevertheless are important and crucial, and therefore we think it is an advance for journalism."
7. Close of caption on camera package reading: (English) "Capture life in an instant"
8. Close up of caption on package reading: (English) "Easy upload to YouTube"
9. SOUNDBITE (German) Michael Paustian, Managing Editor of 'Bild' Newspaper:
"We have our own editors exclusively dealing with the video and photo material coming from the citizen journalists - to watch it, evaluate it and to double-check it. We publish nothing without prior examination, and by now there are tens of thousands of publications, including web publications."
10. Wide of Eva Werner, Spokeswoman for the German Journalists' Association (DJV), walking across hall
11. SOUNDBITE (German) Eva Werner, Spokeswoman for the German Journalists' Association (DJV):
"We see potential here for encouraging people to record things they usually would not film which undoubtedly can be positive, but also has a lot of negative sides, for instance, if they ambush celebrities, or film an accident and thereby obstruct the work of the police and professional journalists. This is where we see a great danger. And generally speaking, of course, it is posing a threat to quality journalism the more material of non-professionals is pushing onto the market even though professional material is available."
12. 'Bild' newspaper logos outside Bild headquarters in Berlin
13. SOUNDBITE (German) Uwe Tegeler, Berlin Resident:
"I think everyone has to decide whether they want to upload material. For some it may be interesting, but I am not really an amateur photographer, so that is not something I would actually do or encourage."
14. SOUNDBITE (German) Stefan Martin, Berlin Resident:
"I don't think it is good that people can send it directly to the newspaper, because I think it will cause a few problems."
15. Wide exterior of 'Bild' headquarters, tilt up
Germany's largest newspaper is looking to expand - and not by hiring new reporters.
Popular tabloid newspaper 'Bild' has partnered with discount grocery chain Lidl to sell a basic-function digital camera in a bid to recruit a legion of citizen journalists to contribute images to its coverage.
Michael Paustian is managing editor of the newspaper, which commands a circulation of 3.3 (m) million copies Monday to Saturday.
Speaking in Berlin on Monday, he said he viewed the idea of citizen journalism as an "advance" in the field.
The pocket-sized, 69.99 euro (89 US dollar) camera has two gigabytes of memory and can shoot both still pictures and video.
It comes with software and a USB port that allows "reader-reporters" to upload content directly to editors who will be assigned specifically to review it for publication on 'Bild''s Web site or in print.
Users can also upload their videos directly from the camera to the video hosting site YouTube.
'Bild' spokesman Tobias Froehlich said the goal was to encourage camera owners to seek the widest exposure for their work.
'Bild''s initiative fits in with a broader trend for traditional media to turn their increasingly interactive readers into news providers.
One site, NowPublic.com, gathers photos, video and news tips from the public and distributes them to news organisations.
The trend is likely to continue as traditional news providers scramble to match readers' and advertisers' migration to the Internet.
'Bild', known for breaking major political stories as well as front-page spreads on zoo animals and celebrities, will use the new cameras to streamline an existing program that brings in thousands of photos each day by e-mail and text message, Froehlich said.
The paper has published nine-thousand of those images since 2006.
Froehlich said the paper may pay for top-quality images it uses or establish a contest for the best content submitted each week; details would be worked out after gauging demand for the cameras that go on sale on Thursday.
By turning to its audience for breaking news, 'Bild' is staking out new territory in a movement that has already driven successful independent media platforms elsewhere.
One of the first was OhmyNews, a Web site founded in South Korea in 2000 of entirely of user-generated reportage and commentary.
In the United States, a host of bloggers and amateur journalists have founded hyper-local news sites to cover communities left behind by traditional newspapers that have cut staff and trimmed pages.
Increasingly, Internet users are also influencing the flow of information once dominated by papers or television in less organised ways.
During terrorist attacks on hotels and other targets last week in Mumbai, India, bloggers and members of social networking sites like Twitter provided updates that often outpaced those from traditional news organizations.
But some journalism watchdogs in Germany are worried that 'Bild''s new media experiment will lower standards and interfere with professional reporting.
Eva Werner, a spokeswoman for the German Journalists' Association, said she feared 'Bild''s amateur photographers could undermine the work of their full-time counterparts by ambushing celebrities or interfering with police work at the scene of an accident, in the scramble to get good pictures.
