YouTube is helping to launch a new investigative channel called I Files
with the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR). The news channel is
edited by CIR and has 10 videos to begin with.
The new "I Files" channel will include investigative news videos from
across the globe from major media players such as The New York Times,
BBC and Al Jazeera. Contributors also include public television's ITVS
and a host of independent reporters and producers.
Sharing the
vision behind this experiment, Stephen Talbot, Senior Producer at CIR
stated on a blogpost, "The main assignment of I Files is to be timely
and relevant, to provide an outlet for a citizen journalist who captures
an incredible moment on camera, but above all to dig deeper and to
present well-reported and engaging stories that offer real information
and insights."
Talbot further states, "With The I Files, we hope
to create a community of engaged viewers and video journalists who share
a passion for discovering how the world really works and how it can
change."
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is funding the
project while YouTube and its parent company, Google are providing a
platform for the channel's launch.
YouTube has become a source of
news and information, especially in times of disaster - whether natural
(a volcanic eruption in Iceland) or unnatural (the recent mass shooting
in Aurora, Colo.).This was confirmed in a new study by the Pew Research
Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Findings in the Pew
report reveal that though TV still tops the news source for most
Americans, there's been a growing trend whereby more people are turning
to YouTube that has established itself as a rapidly expanding platform
for "a new form of video journalism.
Here's a glimpse of what I Files is about.