The new initiative is effectively a curated feed of verified videos for those who want to see accurate videos.
Google has come up with a response to the problem of unverified content on YouTube. With so many videos online it can be difficult to tell which ones contain accurate information, and YouTube Newswire is set to combat the issue, writes Devindra Hardawar for Engadget.
Series of partnerships for YouTube Newswire
YouTube Newwire will make the site a more trustworthy source for news, and Google announced a partnership with startup Storyful, a News Corp-owned startup which aims to find accurate social content.
Further partnerships are in place with Eyewitness Media Hub, Reported.ly and Verification Junkie which form the First Draft Coalition, an initiative which educates journalists in how to verify video content and the ways in which it can be used.
YouTube Newswire appears to be Google’s attempt to help journalists and other users draw out verified sources from the huge amount of available content. By highlighting certain videos, Google will make YouTube a more trustworthy news source.
Google supporting media projects
“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 news-gathering process,” read a blog post from Olivia Ma, head of strategy and operations at Google’s News Lab. “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.”
As well as the launch of YouTube Newswire, Google will also support the WITNESS Media Lab, which works to raise awareness of human rights issues through eyewitness accounts. The first project will deal with the ways in which eyewitness videos have caused a shift in the way the public views cases of police brutality in the United States.
YouTube Newswire looks set to improve the use of user generated content in news stories by providing a home for verified content, as well as improving the ways in which news professionals use those videos.
