Online video leads global news agenda
April 19th, 2007 by Wendy McAuliffe
Online video has become such a prolific news source that it’s hard to remember how we coped without it.
The reality hit me on Monday when news broke of the Virginia Tech shooting, and I my watched myself instinctively go to YouTube to find out more. It’s astonishing how quickly habits form, particularly when it comes to social media. Had you told me a couple of years ago that I would be turning to a viral video network for news before a news organisation, I would have been shocked.
Jon Snow in his daily newsletter Snowmail sums it up very nicely:
“Another busy old day, dominated by a product of our technological age - the ghastly tape of the Virginia Tech killer recorded in the period between the first and second spate of killings. The 23-year-old killer sent the material to NBC in New York - but got the postcode wrong so it took an extra day to arrive.
“Of course, there is enormous controversy over whether it should be shown by the American TV networks. But in truth, if they didn’t show it in this day and age, it would be on YouTube soon enough.”
Extracts of the killer’s video are available here.
