A study from The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism called “YouTube & News: A New Kind of Visual News” reports on the ways in which people are consuming news on YouTube. First, the report notes that citizen journalism is prominent on YouTube — at the expense of attribution:
The data reveal that a complex, symbiotic relationship has developed between citizens and news organizations on YouTube, a relationship that comes close to the continuous journalistic “dialogue” many observers predicted would become the new journalism online. Citizens are creating their own videos about news and posting them. They are also actively sharing news videos produced by journalism professionals. And news organizations are taking advantage of citizen content and incorporating it into their journalism. Consumers, in turn, seem to be embracing the interplay in what they watch and share, creating a new kind of television news.
Other items of note in the report included:
- Natural disasters and political upheaval were the most popular videos
- Viewers play a key role in providing footage for news videos on YouTube
- Viewers are the ones posting content from professional news sources to YouTube much of the time
- A mix of raw footage and professional footage makes the most popular videos
You can read the rest of the report here.
Sara Inés Calderón is a journalist and writer who lives between Texas and California. Follow her on Twitter @SaraChicaD.
