The India tragedy heads a list of "Top 10 Moments In User-Generated News" determined by editors at the Vancouver-based startup.

"2008 not only proved the concept of user-generated news, but also tipped the scales," said NowPublic co-founder and chief executive Leonard Brody.

"The pillars of mainstream media have all made significant efforts to embrace the new model."

The validation of citizen journalism culminated last week when Pulitzer Prize organizers added an "Internet-only" news category for what is considered the most prestigious honor for reporters.

"In today's highly wired and mobile world, everyone has a digital soapbox," said NowPublic global news director Rachel Nixon.

"No longer the preserve of a few, crowd-powered media formats began to be widely used by anyone wanting to get their message out and connect."

NowPublic's Top 10 list includes reporting on natural disasters worldwide and crisis in Africa, as well as the effect of an online posting falsely reporting that Apple's iconic chief executive Steve Jobs had a heart attack.

"Concerned communities used a variety of platforms to share emergency information about natural disasters," Nixon said.

"And activists used these tools to circumvent -- and pre-empt -- official information sources, helping to change the direction of protests, or getting information out when authorities were slow to provide it."

Also on the list was citizen reporting of what became a farcical game of hide-and-seek with the running of the Olympic torch along San Francisco streets and pressure put on then-presidential candidate Barack Obama by a blogger.

The blogger quoted Obama saying during his successful campaign that some US citizens get bitter and "cling to guns or religion." Obama spent days defending and explaining himself in what was considered a rare oratory blunder.

In part of a trend referred to as "citizen journalism," NowPublic lets anyone with digital cameras or a camera-enable mobile telephones upload images or news snippets for dissemination via the Internet.

Content at the NowPublic website is completely user-provided, with about half of it being original and the rest links to other online news stories.

NowPublic boasts of having more than 100,000 contributing "reporters" in more than 160 countries.

Volunteer "deputy editors" filter inappropriate material and let contributors know when stories are incomplete, inaccurate, or unauthentic.

NowPublic makes its money predominately through syndication of content and fees charged to connect established news organizations with citizen reporters.

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