Almost everyone has a smartphone with camera and whenever there is something that is happening in the world, you can expect on-the-screen footage before any news crew might arrive. These footages get uploaded to YouTube and Google has come up with a decision to emphasize on the same.
Google has come up with three new initiatives for those who seek every bit of the footages they can regarding the global and local happenings.
First is the YouTube Newswire that is a curated feed of videos of the interesting events as per Google. These stories will be verified and validated by Storyful, a social news agency.
Next is for the journalists and it is called First Draft Coalition that is a movement that will help the journalists educate on using witness videos in their stories. It will train them on verifying if an eyewitness video is real, showing them the tools and research that is required to do the task.
The last one is WITNESS Media Lab that promotes human rights movements by providing a platform for the activists to share their story. WITNESS and YouTube will produce ongoing video series of service issues including the exploration of the impact that the bystander eyewitness videos have on rendering justice in police brutality cases.
These come at a time where other firms are beginning to fasten onto the trend. The micro-blogging site Twitter has its own curated eyewitness news platform that is coming soon. This platform is aimed to let you follow particular events and topics.
