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Citizen Journalism: Why media will never look the same again
The hottest buzzword in the news business is citizen journalism. As the world sees itself now through a lense, people with video cameras are changing the ways we get our news. YouTube Direct is a new tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.
The new feature, launching on Tues makes it easy for YouTube users to submit clips that news media companies can choose to highlight. YouTube has signed up NPR, Politico, The Huffington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle.
Youtube video documenting a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in in China's Sichuan province.
According to the Chinese state media, there are nearly 600 million cell phone users today in China, resulting in a corps of citizen journalists equipped with the technology to give eyewitness accounts without a moment's notice. The devastating earthquake in China's Sichuan province produced an enormous number of photos and videos uploaded by Chinese on their mobile devices.
The BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant was a fatal shooting in Oakland, California, United States, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009. The events were captured on multiple digital and cell phone cameras. The footage was disseminated to media outlets and to various websites, where it was watched hundreds of thousands of times. The following days saw both peaceful and violent protests.
As YouTube has become a global platform for sharing news, media organizations have been looking for a good way to connect directly with citizen reporters on our site so they can broadcast this footage and bring it to a larger audience.
The Huffington Post blog who are trialling the beta system are offering an opportunity to their readers to cover the forthcoming UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Reporting on events in blogs and videos posts for HuffPost while in Copenhagen, doing celebrity interviews, and spreading the message of hope throughout his or her personal and social networks. Find out more here.
NPR's Wonderscope challenge
Also trialling the beta system is site NPR who are looking for viewers to take on science and bring the abstract to life. By sumitting their work - Youtube Direct users have the opportunity for for millions to see their piece on NPR.org.
To see more Youtube Direct see www.youtube.com/direct
Kerry Olsen
Source: Youtube Direct
Photo Credits: Various
TAGS: youtube direct citizen journalism huffington post san franciso chronicle npr technology online media trends
