It was announced that there will be some new three new journalism-focused initiatives by YouTube yesterday, including YouTube Newswire, which is a user-generated feed of daily eyewitness videos that cover major events from around the world.
What will be included in the YouTube Newswire content will be embedded from original sources after being verified by Storyful, which is a social news agency that began working with YouTube back in 2011 during Egypt’s Tahrir Square protests.
YouTube’s goal with Newswire is to:
“Discover new news video around major events, and to highlight eyewitness video that offers new perspectives on important news stories.”
YouTube is also putting together something called The First Draft Coalition, which is a group that is charged with developing a site for journalists that off verification and ethics training.
The First Draft Coalition will launch this fall, and will include experts from:
- Eyewitness Media Hub
- Storyful, Bellingcat
- First Look Media’s Reported.ly
- Meedan
- Emergent
- SAM Desk
- Verification Junkie
According to YouTube, they are partnering with WITNESS Media Lab to create video projects that will spotlight human right struggles from the perspective of those experiencing human rights injustices.