Google has announced a new YouTube channel which collates a series of verified newsworthy clips uploaded by users.
The initiative, which is a collaboration with the News Corp-owned social news agency Storify, aims to legitimise the rafts of eyewitness videos uploaded to YouTube on a daily basis.
The YouTube Newswire is designed to become become a tool for avid news hounds and journalists alike. If a clip appears within the Newswire, it can be considered a legitimate source, according to Google.
The innovation comes as user-generated eyewitness video is playing an ever-increasing role in the news cycle. Whether it’s the numerous incidences of police brutality caught by bystanders and the ensuring protests or something as innocent as a pet doing something funny, footage from YouTube invariably makes it onto the news.
The YouTube Newswire feed will also feature a collection of videos posted by national and international news organisations.
Users will be able to subscribe to a daily newsletter or the YouTube Newswire on Twitter.
On the official YouTube blog (via Engadget), Google wrote: “Today, more than 5 million hours of news video is watched on YouTube every day, and the role of the eyewitness has never had a more vital place in the newsgathering process.
“We live in a world where anyone can bear witness to what is happening around them and share it with a global audience, and YouTube has become a primary home for this powerful, first-person documentary footage.”
You can check out how Storify, the world’s first social news agency, works in the video below
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
