More and more news is being made not by professional journalists but by bystanders and participants in news events who happen to be in the right place at the right time, with a smartphone in their pocket.
More often than not, the eyewitness videos they shoot end up on YouTube. Now YouTube is moving to take a more direct role in shaping how journalists use that video.
Today, the company is rolling out YouTube Newswire, a feed of the "most newsworthy eyewitness videos of the day," according to Olivia Ma of Google's News Lab, who penned a blog post on the initiative. The videos will be verified by editors at Storyful, a "social news agency" that will be YouTube's partner on the Newswire venture.
The post cites Iran's Green Revolution, the Arab Spring, protests in Ferguson, the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and the recent earthquake in Nepal as examples of situations where user-generated video "provided a unique and visceral perspective on what’s happening in the world around us."
More than five million hours of news videos are watched on YouTube each day, and the purpose of the Newswire is to "highlight eyewitness video that offers new perspectives on important news stories," Ma explained.
The company is supporting two other initiatives connected to eyewitness video as well. The first is WITNESS Media Lab, dedicated to "ensuring that footage taken by average citizens can serve as an effective tool for human rights." And YouTube is bringing together a group of "thought leaders and pioneers in social media" that it's calling The First Draft Coalition. The group's intention is to educate journalists about how to verify eyewitness video and use it in an ethical way. First Draft plans to launch a website this fall.
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