Breaking news doesn't wait for anyone.
Our origin. It was July 6 1993. The place, London. The job (if you can call it that) was the mind-numbing task of filing travel surveys in a bland office environment near Buckingham Palace. With mind drifting Nick Tapper was summoned back to the ‘here and now’ with the sounds of sirens blasting.
“The Queen, Buckingham Palace and Police sirens, told me something serious was taking place”
Nick Tapper, Founder Sell-It.Media
Out on the street with camera in hand, and still not really knowing what was happening, Nick focused on capturing the story. Afterwards the inevitable ‘what next’ question.
One problem, Nick didn’t know where to send his photos or how much they were worth.
First Nick rang the newspaper The Sun who suggested he contact The Evening Standard who had an evening edition. He made the call, explained the situation, and was told to wait for a motorcycle courier to pick up his film (old school photography so the film had to be processed!).
Now Nick had a second problem, handing the film to the courier, he had lost control of the original photo.
Time passed... He eventually got a call from The International Picture Library looking to secure the photos. He didn’t know what to do! Another hour passed and still no word.
On the way home on the London Underground Nick caught a glimpse of his work on the front page of The Evening Standard. Would his pictures make it on to the Evening News? Nick’s anticipation of financial reward sky-rocketed. So what was the story?
The event was a ‘staged’ break-in by Protestors. The protesters had organized a photographer and the evening BBC News featured the protestors own photo, not Nick’s. No big payday for Nick, but eventually a check from the Evening Standard (that paid for a budget weekend trip to Greece).
Since then Nick has spent considerable time working in media, as a senior producer for the BBC, Channel 4 and TVNZ giving him more insight into how media companies benefit from eyewitness photography and video.
Nick’s never been able to leave behind the ‘itch’ around how things might have been. With most media organizations now reliant on user-generated content he saw the opportunity to create something that would genuinely reward individuals (like him) who happen to capture valuable news footage.
Sell-It.Media is an neutral, two-sided marketplace for verified eyewitness news footage.
Some of the most important news footage in the world is captured by people who simply happen to be there - eyewitnesses, bystanders, insiders. For decades, mainstream media has relied on this footage, yet there has never been a clear, fair, global way to verity it, value it and license it responsibly.
Sell-It.Media exists to fix that.
When eyewitnesses capture news footage, they usually face the same questions:
Is this footage real?
Historically, there were only poor options:
None of these models reward eyewitnesses fairly - and none give buyers the speed, certainty and exclusivity they need.
Sell-It.Media is a neutral, two-sided marketplace for verified eyewitness news footage.
We are:
Each piece of footage on Sell-It.Media:
This creates clarity, scarcity, and trust - for both sides of the market.
We do not trade in entertainment clips, influencer content, or non-news material. If it isn't newsworthy, it doesn't belong here.
For eyewitnesses and citizen journalists:
For news organisations:
Sell-It.Media doesn't decide what footage is worth.
The market does.
