YouTube unveils video Newswire

YouTube has partnered with social news agency Storyful to launch YouTube Newswire, a curated feed of eyewitness video news. 

YouTube said it aims to provide an “invaluable resource” for journalists to discover news video for major events, and to highlight eyewitness video that offers “new perspectives on important news stories.”

YouTube Newswire will feature global and regional feeds, which will be verified by Storyful’s team of editors.

At the same time, YouTube announced two other news initiatives – the First Draft Coalition and the WITNESS Media Lab.

The First Draft Coalition is a group of social media journalism experts that will create educational resources on how to verify eyewitness media and about the ethics behind news reporting.

The group, which will include representatives from firms like Eyewitness Media Hub, Storyful, Reported.ly, and Meedan, and will develop and launch a website with training, tools, research, and case studies that will launch this autumn.

The WITNESS Media Lab will produce a series of in-depth projects that focus on human rights struggles, told from by people with a first-hand perspective. In partnership with non-profit organisation, WITNESS, the lab will aim to tackle human rights issues through “the analysis of citizen video.”

“We’re proud of the role that YouTube and its creators have and continue to play in the ever-changing, ever-expanding news and information ecosystem, and we hope that these new projects will empower more journalists to use powerful eyewitness video easily and responsibly,” said Olivia Ma, head of strategy and operations, News Lab at Google.