ABSTRACT
In striving to bring to the fore certain ethical, journalistic and strategic tensions at the heart of video advocacy, this chapter explores how performative right to bear witness is consolidating amongst diverse communities of interest mobilising across globalising communicative networks. It considers several pertinent conceptual insights to help frame the discussion, particularly those provided by Susie Linfield and Ariella Azoulay, respectively, regarding human rights imagery. The chapter focuses on WITNESS, an international non-profit organisation widely perceived to be a leader in a global movement to create change by developing citizen-centred approaches to human rights reportage. To date, WITNESS has partnered with more than 360 human rights groups in 97 countries, devoting particular effort to supporting inclusion of citizen video as a 'democratic tool' in human rights campaigns seen by millions of people around world. By the time it was marking its ten-year anniversary in 2002, WITNESS had evolved into a 'full service' organisation for its growing range of 'campaign partners'.
