14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube has introduced a new channel called "Reporters' Center," a resource intended, as the name suggests, to educate and help aspiring reporters or citizen journalists. The channel features videos from top US journalists sharing tips and advice on how to report in today's changing media environment. The move comes after Google News began featuring related YouTube videos in news stories last month, a sign that the video site planned on becoming a greater news resource.
“Today, we're launching a new resource to help you learn more about how to report the news,” writes Olivia Ma, YouTube news manager, on the video sharing site's blog. “It's called The YouTube Reporters' Center, and it features some of the nation's top journalists sharing instructional videos with tips and advice for better reporting. Learn how to prepare for an interview from CBS News' Katie Couric; how to be an investigative reporter from the legendary Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, or why it's important for citizens to participate in the news-gathering process from Arianna Huffington. And definitely don't miss out on New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's video on how to report from a crisis area without getting shot.”
The channel currently has 34 videos featuring famous journalists as well as other media people and most of the content is quite informative. Some of the basics rules and principles of journalism, as well as practical advice like how to fact check your stories, are presented. The content could prove rather useful for anyone interested in citizen reporting and it's obvious that having more people interested in and educated on creating their own content is in YouTube’s greatest interest.
Another move in making the website an important news source is the better integration with Google News, which now adds YouTube videos to certain stories. “Though it's the phenomenon of citizen reporting that YouTube is probably best known for, we also have hundreds of news partners who upload thousands of videos straight to YouTube every day,” Ma also writes in the official Google blog. “We believe the power of this new media landscape lies in the collaborative possibilities of amateurs and professionals working together.”