Episode 218 Scott Adams: How to Get Paid as Citizen Video Journalist…

Date: 2018-09-12 | Duration: 8:16

Topics

You could offer to provide live breaking news video via the Interface App by WhenHub. Sign in and select “Be an Expert”. Then offer key words that news organizations would search for to locate you at a news worthy event.

I fund my Periscopes and podcasts via audience micro-donations on Patreon. I prefer this method over accepting advertisements or working for a "boss" somewhere because it keeps my voice independent. No one owns me, and that is rare. I'm trying in my own way to make the world a better place, and your contributions help me stay inspired to do that.
See all of my Periscope videos here…
https://www.pscp.tv/ScottAdamsSays/1nAKERDOwylGL
Find my WhenHub Interface app here…
https://interface.whenhub.com

## Transcript

## [Hurricane Florence and WhenHub](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT_9EbL9OiM&t=9s)

Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh. Hey everybody, come on in here. This will be a quick one. I've got something that's sort of exciting—I hope it's exciting for you too. 

As we're watching Hurricane Florence approach the coast, and hoping everybody gets out of there—if you're anywhere near the hurricane, get out. Get out. Run for your life, or at least make sure you're very safe. But it made me think that my startup, WhenHub, has somewhat accidentally designed a product that would allow anybody to be an instant video reporter if they happen to be around the scene of any disaster or major news event. 

I wanted to show you how easy that would be. All you need is the Interface app. It's free; it's in the Apple Store and the Google Play store. Download it. When you open it up, it says you can be an expert or find an expert. 

## [Reporting via the Interface App](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT_9EbL9OiM&t=70s)

If you want to be an expert—let's say you want to be a reporter who's on-scene and can just point your phone at stuff and get paid for it—there's a place where you just list your expertise. 

Let's say you had to be on-site when Florence was over, but there's still a lot of flooding. It's safe, and you've got a cell connection—I hope you have a cell connection—and you're going to be there anyway. If you don't have to be there, don't be there, and don't go there just to take pictures. But what I'm telling you is, if you happen to be there and there's something interesting—whether it's Hurricane Florence, or you happen to be at a protest, or there's something newsworthy like a big fire—you could just go into the Interface by WhenHub app and set your price. You just type in, "I will go live with you for $100 an hour," or five dollars an hour, whatever it is. 

Then for your expertise, just put in "Florence hurricane reporter." You can also update your profile and put in some more words about being on-site, and you could take some pictures if people want. 

## [Connecting with News Organizations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT_9EbL9OiM&t=191s)

This product is made for one-to-one, so an individual can contact you and say, "Hey, I'd like to see what it looks like from somebody who's actually there on the ground." And they would pay. I'd pay $25 for that—maybe for just 15 minutes—but I'd pay $25 for that. If the other person answers, they're making $25 for 15 minutes of talking to you and pointing the phone and stuff so that you can see what they see. 

Now, there's nothing to prevent news organizations from also calling you. You would imagine that a lot of large and small news organizations are always starved for new video. When there's a disaster, they have their own cameras there, but they love it when they can get submissions. Instead of going through the channels or trying to figure out, "Well, I took a video, but how would I get this to CNN or to somebody who would play it?" instead, just sign onto the Interface app. Put "Hurricane" or "Florence" or whatever the situation is as your expertise and wait for people to call you. 

## [One-to-One Conversations and Experts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT_9EbL9OiM&t=253s)

If they call, they've got a few minutes of a grace period before billing starts, so you could make sure that they are real. At that point, you can charge CNN for calling your phone and pointing it in the direction of the fire. Now, they'd probably want to record it, and they wouldn't get a great picture because it would be off a phone, but they would definitely use it, or somebody would use it. 

We didn't make the app just for this; it's really made for any situation where two people want to talk, they're not in the same place, and one of them has a good enough reason to charge the other one. It could be as simple as somebody charging to have lunch with you. You could just say, "I'm available for a conversation. Let's have lunch—twenty dollars an hour." Just turn on the phone and put it in front of your bowl of soup and I'll talk to you while you're having lunch. 

There's no limitation on how to use it. We branded it as being for experts, but for us, "expert" means whatever you have that somebody wants to see or somebody wants to hear. 

## [Direct Broadcasting and Testing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT_9EbL9OiM&t=315s)

I think I'll keep this one short because I just wanted to get that idea out there: if you use the Interface by WhenHub app, you can set your own price. If you happen to be near something that's newsworthy, people will find you. If I see any of those Florence or hurricane keywords, I'll probably call them myself—partly because I'm testing the product and I like to use it as much as possible. 

So, if you don't get a call from CNN, you might get a call from me because I'll be looking to call in. But make sure you're actually on-scene of something interesting. It's limited to one-to-one, but in the case of a news agency, they would know how to take the video off a device and broadcast it. You just have to give them permission. I would assume—I mean, you don't have to—but that would be good for them if you gave them permission. Someday it will be one-to-many, but at the moment it's one-to-one, and the news agency would know how to take their end and broadcast it. 

## [Crypto Payments and Censorship](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT_9EbL9OiM&t=376s)

To answer your question about censorship, I'll just give you the big picture. The Interface app was built so you can pay in crypto—our own crypto called the WHEN, which you can purchase. I'll have to talk more about that later, but some of the WHEN comes with the product, so the moment you sign up, you've got some for free. Those do not go through a bank. 

If you are paying with the cryptocurrency and somebody has agreed to accept it—they have to accept either cash via a credit card, or crypto, or both—but if they accept it, then there was no bank in that transaction. So that's your general answer to the censorship question. 

Otherwise, it's a private call. It's the same censorship that FaceTime would have; it's the same censorship as a phone call would have. It's a private call between two individuals. We would hope that people do legal things, but we're not going to be watching your call. 

## [The Alex Jones "Ban"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT_9EbL9OiM&t=437s)

I remind you that earlier today, I banned Alex Jones from the Interface app. He can still use it; just don't tell me about it, Alex. I thought it would be good publicity if I banned him, so I'm banning the hell out of him. I'm banning everybody I can ban if I can get some free press. 

Alright, but Alex, you could still use it if you want. All right, I'll talk to you later. Bye.