Searching for a Story: Television News in the Age of YouTube

          The advent of the internet has had a major impact on how news is produced and consumed. Less than 20 years ago, newspapers, periodicals and television programs were the dominant means by which news reached citizens.  But newspapers are quickly losing readers.  And television, while still popular, does not offer as great a variety of news sources and opinions as does the internet.

Culture of Participation

The widespread use of YouTube for the presentation and watching of television news is redefining the way that audiences interact with their news source.  One substantial way in which the website has translated old media practices is through its comments feature.

Readers can now comment on a news report from the moment of its posting.  One would assume that this is a positive development for journalism in several ways.  One advantage of this feature is that it  theoretically allows for a freer and more diverse expression of opinions.  Another is that a journalist could be challenged for the facts he or she uses immediately and publicly, allowing other audience memebrs to more easily detect reporter bias and inaccuracy. 

Gone are the days when editors would preview reader comments to make sure that they were fit to print.  However, this does not mean that there is no moderating force which shapes the culture of YouTube’s comments pages.  Referring to a medium’s ability to shape the content it presents, Marshall McLuhan once said “The medium is the message.”  The situation is no different with regards to digital technologies.  In the case of YouTube - like all networks, computers or software – its interface determines the culture of user participation (Fuller 12).

Matthew Fuller notes that the way in which a computer is programmed and designed greatly affects the resulting human interaction that takes place on it (Fuller 13).   The same goes for website or software design.  Just as the software studies expert argues in his article, “It Looks Like You’re Writing a Letter,” that the business styles of Microsoft executives affects the kind of writing that Microsoft Word users produce, YouTube’s conception of free speech affects what comments website users get to read (Fuller 146).  YouTube's code relies wholly on the sensibility of its users to determine what is offensive (flagging) as well as what is praise-worthy (thumbs up vs. thumbs down). 

But this does not mean that YouTube’s comments pages are a modicum of free speech.  On the contrary, YouTube's design results in users flagging the comments of those with unpopular opinions, while praising the biases and beliefs of some of the website's most radical or offensive users: this is mob rule at its most technologically advanced.

It is in this way – along with the anonymous nature of internet posts – that YouTube comments  have become the haven of bigotry, trolling and conspiracy theories for which they are notorious.  While YouTube’s laissez-faire comments policy presumably allows a greater degree of free speech, the domination of vocal and manipulative users  over others hijacks what should be in theory a free and fair forum.

YouTube as a Database

 

Who needs video archives when you've got YouTube?

              Video hosting websites like YouTube are also changing the way news is produced.

         Lev Manovich argues in his piece “Database as Symbolic Form,” that the database is the predominant narrative of the computer age.  As devices capable of storing large amounts of linkable data, computers ,in particular, lend their networks, websites and programs to being designed and used as databases (Manovich 40-41).  YouTube is no exception.  The website was programmed and conceived of as a universal video database – a one-stop internet destination that archives videos on an infinite range of topics.

          The concept of a video archive has been in existence since before the invention of internet.  However, as a physical entity containing copyright protected footage, archives allowed limited access to individual filmmakers and even news organizations.  In today's world, YouTube permits original news narratives to be constructed by anyone using its easily accessible and downloadable database of videos. 

"I contacted a friend at Google and he sent me a bunch of videos.  I was pulling off videos [from the internet] as well.  I just threw everything together and threw it online."         -Tamer Shaaban,  YouTube user tshaaban88 and creator of viral video

The above video is a segment I edited and wrote about the impact of hip-hop and the role of social media in Tunisia's January 2011 revolution.  It is a prime example of how, as Lev Manovich writes, “The database becomes the centre of the creative process in the computer age” (Manovich 45)  To produce such a segment would be impossible without indexed access to YouTube’s vast archive of video content and, in a sense, serves as a reflection of it. 

As an amateur film editor, YouTube allows me instant access to millions of videos, tagged by topic matter.  By using websites like keepvid.com, I can then download footage from YouTube and edit the clips together to provide alternative interpretations of footage to which only the mainstream media has traditionally had access.

But it is not only amateur YouTube producers who are  recognizing the website's value as a database.  The mainstream media, too, is beginning to rely more heavily on user created content.  CNN or Al-Jazeera broadcasts will now regularly incorporate YouTube footage in their reports.  Just as cinema changed peoples’ perceptions of time, through the use of splicing, slow motion and reversed footage, databases are now changing the public’s perception of source gathering (Manovich 50). 

Georgia Tech student Tamer Shaaban’s video documenting the January 25 Egyptian protests against President Mubarak is a prime example of the use of YouTube's database for journalistic purposes by both social media and mainstream media actors.

He used videos archived on the internet to produce this clip.  Having added music and text – as well as specific clips in an intentional order – he provided a moving, original narrative to the existing protests.  Not only was his video mirrored by countless YouTube channels, receiving over 2 million hits, but his video was referenced by the mainstream media in television broadcasts.

 Vlogging: the New Blogging

          Finally, the role of vlogs (video-blogs) in the news cycle on YouTube cannot be underestimated.  While many popular vlogs focus on lighter news, there is a wide diversity of news vlogs on YouTube varying in their focus, production quality, professionalism and motives.

          Second, vlogs can – and often do – attract more viewers than traditional news organizations with content uploaded on YouTube.  It is not unusual for YouTube users such as SXEPhil and Alex Jones to have video view-counts in the hundreds of thousands, if not occasionally millions.  What is particularly interesting about these popular vlogs is how they, like podcasts, bridge the gap between mainstream and alternative news. 

SXEPhil: New Media on Old Media

Vlogging is now providing a career alternative for journalists who may be considering a traditional job in television.  Julian Dibbel argues, through his concept of “ludocapitalism,” that the voluntary engagement of individuals in activities they find fun may ultimately present the possibility of profit (Dibbel).  Indeed, for some users, YouTube videos that may have begun as the result of a hobby now represent a financially lucrative business.  Many professional vlogs, such as The Young Turks, have begun integrating product promotion in their shows.