gRovE | youTuBE: THE FlATTEning oF PoliTiCS 191someone — as they unfold. No need for driving the satellite truck to the
scene if someone is already there and sending in video of the event via
their cell phone. It’s at such intersections of new and old media that
youTube demonstrates its value. It could be argued, in fact, that the
youTube platform is the new frontier in newsgathering. On the elec-
tion trail, virtually every appearance by every candidate is captured on
video — by someone — and that means the issues being talked about are
covered more robustly by more people who can steer the public dis-
cussion in new ways. The phenomenon is, of course, global, as we wit-
nessed last fall in Burma (Myanmar) after the government shut down
news media outlets during waves of civic protests. In time, youTube was
the only way to track the violence being exercised by the government on
monks who’d taken to the streets. Videos of this were seen worldwide
on youTube, creating global awareness of this situation — even in the
absence of journalists on the scene.
Citizen journalism on youTube — and other Internet sources — is
often criticized because it is produced by amateurs and therefore lacks
a degree of trustworthiness. Critics add that because platforms like
youTube are fragmenting today’s media environment, traditional news-
rooms are being depleted of journalists, and thus the denominator for
quality news coverage is getting lower and lower. I share this concern
about what is happening in the news media today, but I think there are
a couple of things worth remembering when it comes to news content
on youTube.Trusting What We see
When it comes to determining the trustworthiness of news content
on youTube, it’s important to have some context. People tend to know
what they’re getting on youTube, since content is clearly labeled by
username as to where it originated. A viewer knows if the video they’re
watching is coming from “jellybean109” or “thenewyorktimes.” users
also know that youTube is an open platform and that no one veri-
fies the truth of content better than the consumer. The wisdom of the
crowd on youTube is far more likely to pick apart a shoddy piece of
“journalism” than it is to elevate something that is simply untrue. In
fact, because video is ubiquitous and so much more revealing and
compelling than text, youTube can provide a critical fact-checking
platform in today’s media environment. And in some ways, it offers
a backstop for accuracy since a journalist can’t afford to get the story
wrong; if they do, it’s likely that someone else who was there got it
right — and posted it to youTube.111207_GRE_5344_Ch7_151_210.indd 191 11/19/14 1:59 PM