Google announces 3 new initiatives for promoting eyewitness news video on YouTube
Nearly everyone has a smartphone with a camera these days, so when something big goes down in the world you can expect more on-the-scene footage than a news crew could ever hope to gather on their own. Much of that footage gets uploaded to YouTube, so Google feels like it’s time to start putting an emphasis on it.
They’ve announced 3 new initiatives for those who find themselves seeking out every bit of footage they can about local and world happenings.
Firstly is the YouTube Newswire, which is a curated feed of videos from the events Google feels are most interesting. The stories would all be validated and verified by Storyful, a social news agency in cahoots with El Goog.
Next up is more for journalists. They call it the First Draft Coalition, a movement that will help educate journalists on using eyewitness video in their stories. The main benefit will be a site ready-made for journalists that will train them on how to verify an eyewitness video, including showing them the tools to do so and the research needed to facilitate such a task.
Finally, the WITNESS Media Lab promotes human rights movements by giving activists a platform to share their story. YouTube and WITNESS will produce ongoing video series about several issues, with the first being the exploration of the impact bystander eyewitness videos have on delivering justice in police brutality cases.
All of this comes at a very interesting time where other companies are beginning to latch onto the trend. Twitter curiously has their own curated eyewitness news platform coming up, details of which were just revealed for the first time today. Their angle is that you can follow specific topics and events — the Baltimore riots, for instance — and get quick and easy access to Tweets, photos and live video coverage through Periscope and short user-recorded videos.
The difference? We don’t have to wait for YouTube and Google’s project — it’s already waiting for your curious minds to explore. Use the links straight ahead to check it all out!
[via YouTube]