300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute and every day 7000 hours of this is news-related. (1) YouTube is all about ready to change the face of Journalism, whether you want it to or not, whilst the need for professional journalists slowly decreases.
How many times has a video that appears on an online, broadcast or social media news story been taken by an amateur using a smartphone who just happens to be in the right place at the right time?
The Atlantic recently wrote, “Any individual with a smartphone and Internet connection now possesses a tool once reserved by television networks.” (2)
An example of this is one of the first videos to emerge from the recent terror attacks in Paris which can be seen on YouTube was originally just an amateur video taken by Daniel Psenny. He did happen to be a journalist for Le Monde, however, at the time he was just an innocent member of the public taking a video of the horror happening just outside his living room window, just like many of the other videos that were unearthed as the hours went on.
YouTube now have a way of making videos like this more easily accessible by journalists. YouTube Newswire, partnered with social news agency Storyful, deploy a curated and verified feed of the day’s most newsworthy events being published to YouTube.
The idea is that this can be the most up-to-date place for journalists to find eye-witness videos that can be used for news stories and perhaps offer a new version of events or even a new perspective entirely.
Does this make journalists lazy?
Of course not.
Video adds emotion to a story. It’s not surprising to say that you or I would be more interested in reading a news story if there is a video attached and when it’s a negative story this interest is threefold.
The public like to feel emotion – if they’re told it’s a sad story, they want to feel sadness. The same is for fear and happiness.
When the Paris attacks happened, it was hard for the everyday person to understand the horror that went on.
Until the video surfaced.
YouTube is now so much more than cat videos. It takes away the need for a journalist entirely. It is the source, the sharing platform and the curation platform. A video alone tells such a huge part of a story, it barely needs explaining, but obviously they also offer a fantastic opportunity for journalists who would be silly to not use what is essentially handed to them on a plate.
Journalizm Speak 