Now more than ever, anyone with a cell phone can upload video or even stream events as they happen. But how reliable are these videos as news sources? Saying we ve witnessed many of the biggest and most important news stories unfold on YouTube over the past decade, YouTube today launched three news initiatives to find and verify eyewitness accounts on the video site.
The first is YouTube Newswire, which is a channel containing videos that have been curated and verified by editors of Storyful, a news agency YouTube is working with.
Storyful has had a formal partnership with YouTube since 2011; in a Medium post, Storyful cites the Boston Marathon bombing as an example of a big story it helped YouTube present. Storyful also says it has worked with news sources such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times on documentaries that have included user-generated content, and has helped debunk popular YouTube videos.
YouTube Newswire could provide a way for YouTube to differentiate itself from other services where Internet users can find video, including Facebook, and streaming services such as Periscope and Meerkat.
The other initiatives are The First Draft Coalition, which will provide education and guidance about verifying eyewitness media, and the Witness Media Lab, which will produce projects that focus on human rights struggles, according to the YouTube announcement. The first Witness Media Lab project will focus on the impact of bystander video on police brutality cases in the United States.
Above: Screenshot from YouTube Newswire
