MUMBAI: Two years after inviting CNN’s global audience to contribute pictures and video of the news of the day, the network’s iReport initiative has brought in more than 175,000 videos and photos in its history, nearly 125,000 coming within the second year alone.

The untimely death of Bernie Mac, a solar eclipse in Siberia, the conflict between Georgia and Russia conflict and Michael Phelps’ record-breaking eighth Olympic gold medal were among the most recent topics that moved CNN’s viewers to capture their own takes on the news as iReport celebrates its second anniversary.

CNN News Services executive VP Susan Grant says, “With iReport, CNN wanted to engage viewers who have a desire to follow and participate in the news, and our iReporters have exceeded our expectations in both the quality and quantity of their submissions over the last two years. Sometimes the iReports we receive are first images of breaking news and often exhibit powerful points of view on issues or news events. But every day our iReporters show an enthusiasm for and pride in the community they have created.”

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With a 176 per cent rise in photo and video contributions since the same time last year, CNN’s user-generated content initiative now generates an average of nearly 15,000 iReports each month. iReport has proved to be an exceptionally powerful newsgathering tool for the network and is incorporated into reporting across multiple networks and platforms each day, including CNN/U.S., CNN.com, Headline News, CNN International and CNN en Español.

The watershed moment for CNN’s iReport occurred on the morning of the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy in April 2007, when graduate student Jamal Albarghouti captured dramatic video on his cell phone. Since then, more and more iReports have been incorporated into the network’s coverage.

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