Demotix is a new type of wire service designed to make it easier for international news stories by citizen journalists and freelance reporters to make it into the mainstream media.

The U.K. company is essentially a user-friendly middleman. For instance, a photographer in Afghanistan with an image of a car bombing can log in to the Demotix website and upload an image with caption info; Demotix reviews it and pushes it to the company's feed.

Then, news outlets like The Wall Street Journal, the Times of London and The Telegraph, etc., subscribe to the feed, just like they do for established news agencies like the Associated Press and Reuters, and buy stories and assets they deem important.