THE increased use of amateur video footage on American television news broadcasts was called into question yesterday when a Los Angeles man was accused of causing a 5,000-acre fire so that he could sell his pictures of it at $150 a time.

Joshua Harville, 23, a freelance “videographer” from Palmdale, California, was due to appear in court yesterday charged with arson.

The fire, which started on September 3 last year, cost an estimated $2 million (£1.3 million) to put out. It took 1,200 firefighters, including helicopter crews, US Forest Service air tankers and two Super-Scooper fixed-wing aircraft, three days to bring under control. It also destroyed four homes. Some people escaped with nothing other than the clothes on their backs, while two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion at the scene.

Several local television stations, including KTLA-TV Channel 5, owned by Tribune Co, which also publishes the Los Angeles Times, bought Mr Harville’s footage, which was shot before conventional news crews arrived at the scene and featured it on news bulletins.

Although the exact fees paid to Mr Harville are not known, television stations typically pay freelance videographers about $150 per news clip. Brokers can, however, bid up the price of particularly compelling footage to as much as $1,000. Some freelance videographers say that they can earn up to $2,000 a night.

American news stations rely heavily on pictures shot by freelance videographers to feed a growing appetite for 24-hour coverage. Much of the footage is shot overnight, when salaried news crews have gone home. Freelances typically find stories by using scanners to listen in on police radio traffic.

In Los Angeles, traffic congestion has also contributed to the upsurge in demand. Many freelances have shot the best clips up to an hour before a news crew can make it from Hollywood to a story somewhere on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains. They fear that Mr Harville’s arrest could make life much more difficult for them and possibly put them out of business.

The case comes amid a crisis of confidence in American news journalism, which started in late spring when it emerged that Jayson Blair, a 27-year-old reporter on The New York Times, had made up quotes, plagiarised others’ work and pretended to be filing reports from around America when he was at home in New York. The scandal cost the newspaper’s Editor and Deputy Editor their jobs and sent shockwaves through America’s media industry. Until the scandal the newspaper had been regarded as one of the most reliable news sources in the world.

After Mr Harville’s arrest, several media organisations and the Los Angeles Police Department are thought to be investigating the circumstances surrounding other fires that he had he covered.

“Investigators have been looking at him for quite some time since the initial incident,” Harry Drucker, a sheriff’s deputy, said.

Like many freelance videographers in Los Angeles, Mr Harville had his own company, Code 3 Media Productions, which sold footage to a broker, On Scene Video Productions, which in turn sold the video clips to television news stations.

Rob Truckman, an employee of On Scene, said in a statement: “We stand behind Mr Harville 100 per cent and are confident that once all the facts have been presented he will be cleared of any wrongdoing. We have found his work to be of the utmost quality and his character outstanding.”

Kendra Supple, a teacher, lost her home and chickens and rabbits in the blaze, as well as 60 or so mature trees. “I’ll be dead before the trees come back,” she said at her mobile home. “My whole life has been turned upside down.”

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