News on YouTube: 2012 in review

When something big happens in the world, the YouTube community responds. Our news partners race to get footage live on the site. On-the-spot reporters upload video directly from their smartphones to let us all know what it’s like to be there. Leaders express their outrage, and their sorrow. And our 800 million users around the world head to YouTube to better understand what just happened, from multiple perspectives. For years, YouTube has been the global living room - today’s it’s becoming a global newsroom.

2012 was a year in which one of the most respected voices in reporting, The Associated Press, hit one billion views on YouTube - a milestone only reached by a few dozen channels in YouTube history, and shared this year by one of the newest voices in reporting, Phil De Franco.

It was a year in which one of the world's most exciting stories on Earth came in the form of a four frames-per- second video from Mars.

It was a year in which The Weather Channel live-streamed its coverage of Hurricane Sandy for more than 70 hours, to millions of people who would have struggled to get the news any other way.

And it was a year in which people from more than 200 countries tuned in to youtube.com/politics to watch the US Presidential Elections.

We’re proud of our news partners, and the work they do to bring the events of the world to their growing audiences around the world. Here’s our recap of 2012, which we put together with the help of Nieman Journalism Lab and Storyful. As we head into the new year, subscribe to the new youtube.com/news channel to stay on top of the biggest news stories of 2013.

Tom Sly, Director of Content Partnerships for News and Education, recently watched “The Year in 60 seconds: 2012.”

Throwing a virtual debate watch party: a primer

Two down, two to go. We’re not sure about you, but last week’s energetic Vice Presidential debate left us wanting more. Luckily, you’ll have your second chance to watch Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama face off in the second Presidential debate tonight at 9:00 pm ET at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Tune in to the YouTube Elections Hub to watch the whole debate live from the comfort of your own chair.

But if you’re tired of watching the debates all by your lonesome, well, no longer. You can create your very own virtual debate “watch parties” tonight inside a Google+ Hangout. All you have to do is click on this link, which will open up a Hangout window. Then, you can invite some friends, name your debate watch party (if you like), and enter the Hangout. The ABC News debate live stream will already be loaded inside the Hangout.

You’ll each have to make your own popcorn, but it’s worth it to see your friends’ real-time reactions and exchange color commentary while the candidates go head-to-head.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “Frontline |The Choice 2012".

A new home for investigative journalism on YouTube

Some of the biggest news stories of recent times have played out on YouTube—we’ve been transfixed by citizen-uploaded footage coming out of the Middle East, gained unique perspectives on natural disasters thanks to on-the-spot reporting and security cameras, and seen citizens document elections via video to ensure fair process. This growing volume of news-related video has contributed to the now 72 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute.

In this age of abundant content and short attention spans, thoughtful analysis and rigorous reporting is more important than ever before. That’s why we’re so pleased that investigative reporting now has a new home on YouTube—The I Files. Curated by the Center for Investigative Reporting with funding from the Knight Foundation, The I Files will be a hub and community for investigative journalism on the web, showcasing reporting that digs deep into stories, gives background to complex issues, and reveals details that help us make better sense of our world.



Contributors to The I Files include such luminary media outlets as The New York Times, BBC, ABC News and Al Jazeera, and organizations like the Investigative News Network and their member non-profit news organizations like the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, the Center for Public Integrity, and the Investigative Workshop at American University.

Subscribe to youtube.com/ifiles to get the best of online investigative journalism delivered to you as it happens.

David Gehring, News Content Partnerships Manager, recently watched “The hidden cost of hamburgers.”

Face blurring: when footage requires anonymity

As citizens continue to play a critical role in supplying news and human rights footage from around the world, YouTube is committed to creating even better tools to help them. According to the international human rights organization WITNESS’ Cameras Everywhere report, “No video-sharing site or hardware manufacturer currently offers users the option to blur faces or protect identity.”

YouTube is excited to be among the first.

Today we're launching face blurring - a new tool that allows you to obscure faces within videos with the click of a button.

Whether you want to share sensitive protest footage without exposing the faces of the activists involved, or share the winning point in your 8-year-old’s basketball game without broadcasting the children’s faces to the world, our face blurring technology is a first step towards providing visual anonymity for video on YouTube.

Blurring faces on YouTube is simple. Once you’ve chosen the video that you’d like to edit within our Video Enhancements tool, go to Additional Features and click the “Apply” button below Blur All Faces. Before you publish, you will see a preview of what your video will look like with faces blurred. When you save the changes to your video, a new copy is created with the blurred faces. You will then be given the option to delete the original video.

This is emerging technology, which means it sometimes has difficulty detecting faces depending on the angle, lighting, obstructions and video quality. It’s possible that certain faces or frames will not be blurred. If you are not satisfied with the accuracy of the blurring as you see it in the preview, you may wish to keep your video private.

Visual anonymity in video allows people to share personal footage more widely and to speak out when they otherwise may not.

Because human rights footage, in particular, opens up new risks to the people posting videos and to those filmed, it’s important to keep in mind other ways to protect yourself and the people in your videos. 

YouTube is proud to be a destination where people worldwide come to share their stories, including activists. Along with efforts like the Human Rights Channel and Citizentube that curate these voices, we hope that the new technologies we’re rolling out will facilitate the sharing of even more stories on our platform.

Amanda Conway, YouTube policy associate, recently watched "Russian court refuses to free anti-Putin punks."

Zimmerman charged with murder, Earthquake in Indonesia, F-18 crashes into Virginia Beach apartment

Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

• We watched the world's attention turn to Florida as George Zimmerman was charged with the second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin.
• We saw the ground in Indonesia shake as the country was rocked by a powerful earthquake, sparking tsunami fears.
• We witnessed dramatic scenes in Virginia Beach as an F-18 fighter jet crashed into an apartment block, starting a large fire.
• We observed tension and doubts surrounding the first days of a Syrian ceasefire, especially after attacks on a refugee camp across the Turkish border.
• We followed another twist on the US campaign trail as Rick Santorum bowed out of the race.
• We were on the edge of our seats as the final day of 76th US Masters golf tournament entered a playoff, with Bubba Watson eventually donning the fabled green jacket.
• We viewed Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, erupt for the 24th time this year.
• We saw unrest in Bahrain as police fired tear gas on crowds during protests, both in support of a hunger-striker, and against the F1 Grand Prix race.
• We paid tribute to legendary 60 Minutes journalist Mike Wallace, who died this week aged 93, with a compilation of some of his classic interviews.
• We watched the classic London Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge fall to pieces as a swimmer interrupted the race.

Come back to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Sandstorm."

JetBlue emergency landing, Pope visits Latin America, Wildfire devastates Colorado

Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

• We viewed appalling scenes in the air over America as a JetBlue flight was forced to make an emergency landing after the pilot was restrained for "erratic behavior".
• We saw the Pope endear himself to Latin America, donning a sombrero in Mexico and meeting Fidel Castro in Cuba.
• We witnessed devastating wildfires in Colorado force the evacuation of hundreds of residents, with at least one death reported.
• We observed a sense of 'petrol panic' as motorists in the UK and beyond were worried by rising oil prices and a potential fuel shortage because of strikes.
• We followed the GOP candidates as the presidential race took yet another turn, with Rick Santorum winning his 11th state of the campaign in Louisiana.
• We marked a successful run-off presidential election in Senegal, won by Macky Sall amid many economic challenges in the country.
• We saw no let up in the controversy surrounding the Trayvon Martin case, as Trayvon's frustrated parents took their plea for justice to a Congressional forum on neighborhood watch groups and racial profiling.
• We overheard US President Barack Obama talking about a future after the next presidential election during a 3-day tour in South Korea that focused on securing nuclear stability in the region.
• And finally, we watched one man go where few have gone before, as Titanic director James Cameron plunged to the deepest point on Earth in his submarine: the Deepsea Challenger.

Come back to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Suu Kyi set for parliament in key Myanmar vote".

Follow the Burma Elections on YouTube

On Sunday, April 1, millions of voters in Burma will cast a ballot in the parliamentary by-elections. This year, Burma is opening its doors to media and election observers alike to document the election proceedings in real-time. With support from Google Ideas, our friends at the J-School News Lab, a real-time reporting training program for Burmese journalists, will be curating a Burma Elections news channel on YouTube. Here, they will feature original reporting from J-School journalists on the ground, Burmese media outlets, and international broadcasters.

Until recently, Burma has been more or less closed to the outside world, making it difficult to find news and information about what was happening inside the country. We’re pleased that people around the world will be able follow what’s happening as Burmese voters head to the polls on election day.

Visit youtube.com/burmaelections for the latest news and developments.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “Wine: ‘I’ve Never Voted’”.

One year of Syrian protests, Japan Earthquake anniversary, Clooney visits Sudan

Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

• We witnessed devastating scenes from Afghanistan, as 16 civilians were killed and five injured after a US soldier allegedly went on a shooting spree in the south of the country.
• We were saddened to hear of the deaths of 28 Belgians, including 22 children, who were killed in a coach crash inside a Swiss motorway tunnel near Sierre.
• We followed George Clooney as he witnessed the horrific effects from the war crimes that have taken place in Sudan's Nuba Mountains.
• We marked one year since the revolt against Assad's regime began in Syria, even as towns where the uprising began, such as Daraa, continued to be mercilessly bombed.
• We observed a 'mini-Tuesday' for GOP candidates on the US campaign trail, as Rick Santorum pulled off a southern sweep with wins in Alabama and Mississippi.
• We viewed solemn reflections in Japan one year after the most powerful earthquake in their history struck, causing a devastating tsunami and the now infamous Fukushima nuclear plant incident.
• We saw heightened violence between Israelis and Palestinians leave at least 20 people dead.
• We were awestruck as a massive tornado hit Dexter, Michigan on Thursday, leaving several homes destroyed as it swept through the town.
• We watched David Cameron receive a warm White House welcome from President Obama as the UK and the US celebrated their 'special' relationship.

Come back next week to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched "Raw Video: Clooney Arrested at D.C. Protest"

Tornadoes in the U.S. Midwest, Super Tuesday, Elections in Russia

Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

• We saw record flooding in New South Wales and Northern Victoria force the evacuation of thousands from their homes in the region.
• We observed a high-ranking defection in the Syrian government, as deputy Oil Minister Abdo Hussameldin quit his post saying he could not go on "serving the crimes of this regime."
• We watched Vladimir Putin secure the presidency of Russia for a third time, amid heavy protests at alleged electoral fraud.
• We were pummeled by a geomagnetic storm of charged particles after two unusually large solar flares erupted from the sun.
• We followed the GOP candidates during one of the high points of the US campaign trail: Super Tuesday. Of the ten states on offer, Mitt Romney took six, Rick Santorum took three and Newt Gingrich took one.
• We watched protesters rally against possible military action in Iran, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with in Washington DC with President Barack Obama.
• We witnessed fast-moving twisters devastate America's heartland as homes, school buildings and as prison were destroyed by the powerful tornadoes.
• We marked International Women's Day with a variety of profiles, messages, and historical facts on women that were uploaded to YouTube for the occasion.
• And finally, we waited eagerly with the rest of the world to see what exactly Apple had up their sleeve at the unveiling of the new iPad.

Come back next week to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched "Two massive solar flares erupt from the sun."

Super Tuesday Coverage, Live and from the Trail

The election season heats up today as voters in ten states -- with a total of 419 delegates at stake -- head to the polls to cast a ballot in the GOP primary.

We’ve been following the race closely on YouTube, featuring this cycle’s trending videos, political advertisements and campaign highlights on youtube.com/politics. Tonight, you can watch live coverage from the Wall Street Journal, whose top editors and reporters will be providing commentary and analysis as the results come in.

Tune in to youtube.com/wsj starting at 7pm ET to follow the evening’s returns.

And if you’re in one of the ten states holding a primary or caucus today, we’d love to see your videos! For those on the campaign trail documenting the political process at work, you can upload your videos to YouTube using a new mobile app created by the team at Storyful. Available for both Android and iOS, Storyful Direct is an easy way to share your videos with Storyful, who will be choosing a selection to be featured on YouTube and google.com/elections.

Even if you don’t live in a state that’s holding a primary tomorrow, Storyful Direct can be used to document your experience during the run-up to the Presidential election in November.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “The Fix: What's at stake on Super Tuesday?"

Syria approves new constitution, tornadoes ravage Mid-West, Breitbart dies age 43

Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

• We monitored events in Syria, where the populace said a resounding yes to a new constitution and Red Cross continued their attempts to evacuate the wounded from Homs.
• We saw a string of tornadoes across the US Midwest claim the lives of at least twelve people, injure hundreds and destroy countless properties.
• We were saddened to hear of the death of conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart, who died of unexpected natural causes, aged 43, while walking this week.
• We observed thousands in Moscow protest against Vladimir Putin by forming a human chain that encircled the inner city.
• We followed the remaining GOP candidates on the US campaign trail as Mitt Romney claimed victories in Arizona and his home state of Michigan.
• We were shocked as another US school was plunged into violence with the deaths of three students in a shooting at Chardon High School, Ohio.
• We watched the ailing Costa Allegra, sister ship of the Costa Concordia, being towed back to the Seychelles after a serious engine fire.
• We witnessed police and bailiffs evict members of Occupy London from their base at St. Paul's Cathedral.
• We remembered with a heavy heart some of the greatest music of the 1960's, as Monkees heart-throb Davy Jones passed away, aged 66.
• Finally, we saw all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, as the world's biggest movie stars came together for the 84th Academy Awards.

Come back next week to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched "New Worry on Global Warming: Mass Shrinkage".

Christchurch Earthquake — One Year Later: live streaming the memorial service on YouTube

Cross posted from the Google New Zealand Blog.

On the one year anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake, the New Zealand Herald is providing full coverage of the city’s memorial services on YouTube, commemorating the lives that were lost and those who are still affected by the tragedy. The live-stream of the memorial services starts today on NZ Herald’s YouTube channel.

On February 22, 2011, Christchurch was rocked by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake, killing 185 people and devastating much of the historic city centre. The state broadcaster’s raw coverage of the immediate aftermath was one of the most-viewed videos on YouTube on that day, as millions of people around the world stopped to watch the tragedy unfold.

Christchurch, is New Zealand’s second-largest city, located on the South Island. The idyllic town is known for its friendly people, abundant gardens, and historic stone buildings. And its convenient location makes an easy gateway to mountains, beaches — and Hobbits.

Quakes have continued in Christchurch over the last year. Despite this hardship, we remain inspired by the great resilience of the city’s residents, who have worked hard toward rebuilding their hometown and keeping alive the memory of the tragedy.

Richard North, a YouTuber from Christchurch, recently watched "John Key on Christchurch anniversary."

Whitney Houston tributes, Athens burns, Syria protests continue - News of the Week

Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

• We paid tribute to the late Whitney Houston by compiling some of her all time classic performances.
• We observed Syrian towns such as Daraa, Homs and Hama receive heavy bombardment as fighting between military forces and rebels continued.
• We were saddened to hear of the death of New York Times Foreign Correspondent Anthony Shadid, who died this week while working in Syria.
• We saw parts of Athens burn as protests over austerity measures in Greece turned violent.
• We followed Mitt Romney as he got his campaign back on track by winning both the CPAC straw poll and the Maine caucuses.
• We witnessed anger in Israel as two of the country's envoys in India and Turkey were attacked with bombs.
• We viewed mourning in Honduras after a large fire claimed the lives of hundreds of inmates in a prison there.
• We saw North Korea hold extravagant celebrations to celebrate the 70th birthday of their late leader Kim Jong-il.
• We watched Bahrain police use tear gas to disperse large crowds marching towards a historic landmark.
• We monitored the progress of Madagascar-bound Cyclone Giovanni with the help of a schoolboy reporter named John.
• Finally, we gave into 'Linsanity' as NBA star Jeremy Lin's popularity exploded worldwide after he hit a last-second 3-pointer to win a game for the New York Knicks.

Come back next week to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched "Kobe Bryant, meet Jeremy Lin -- Rough Cuts".

Syria unrest, Denver snowstorm, earthquake in the Philippines

Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week we post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

• We watched the situation in Syria deteriorate into almost relentless violence as military forces laid siege to neighborhoods in Homs.
• We witnessed unrest in the Maldives as President Mohamed Nasheed resigned, handing over power to vice president Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik.
• We monitored the harsh weather in the United States, as cities like Denver suffered record snowfall.
• We saw the New York Giants win their fourth Super Bowl, and the resulting celebrations in New York City.
• We followed the GOP candidates continue their toil on the US campaign trail as Rick Santorum pulled off the hat-trick of Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.
• We were saddened as scores were killed or injured after a powerful earthquake rocked the Philippines.
• We viewed pro & anti-Putin protesters brave the cold in Moscow to voice their opinion of Russia's polemical Prime Minister.
• We observed public anger in Greece despite officials announcing that coalition partners had reached a bailout deal.

Come back next week to see the news unfold on YouTube.

Posted by Olivia Ma, YouTube News and Politics Manager, recently watched "War Torn: An Iraq Veteran's Story."

This week's top news stories on YouTube

To help you learn about the big stories of the week, we’re kicking off a new series from CitizenTube, a YouTube channel focusing on global news and politics.

Everyday on the CitizenTube channel (and @CitizenTube on Twitter), along with our curation partners @storyful, we look at how the top news stories are covered on YouTube. Each week, starting today, we'll post a weekly recap of the top news stories of the week, as seen through the lens of both citizen-reported footage and professional news coverage.

• We witnessed widespread protests in Cairo, Egypt after the tragic deaths of over 70 people at a soccer game in Port Said.
• We monitored reports of violence in Syria, where fighting intensified causing the Arab League to suspend its monitoring mission in the country.
• We observed parts of Queensland and New South Wales being declared natural disaster zones due to flooding after days of heavy rainfall.
• We watched Eastern and Southern Europe come to a standstill due to freezing temperatures and unprecedented levels of snowfall.
• We followed the GOP candidates do battle in Florida as tensions grew on the US campaign trail, with Mitt Romney emerging as the comprehensive victor in the Sunshine state.
• We watched social networking giant Facebook announce that it was going public, as it sought to raise $5bn in the largest IPO by a technology company.
• We viewed Occupy Oakland protesters burn the Star Spangled Banner after clashes with police.
• We saw Novak Djokovic defeat Rafael Nadal to claim the Australian Open final, in a match that will go down in history as one of the greatest of all time.
• And finally, we looked forward to Super Bowl XLVI, as some companies released advanced versions of their half-time commercials.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics Manager, recently watched “Inside Syria: Escalating violence pushes country toward full-blown war”.

From the West Wing: Hanging out with President Obama on YouTube

You asked, and today President Obama will answer. This afternoon at 2:30 p.m. PT (5:30 pm ET), President Obama will head to the Roosevelt Room of the White House to connect face-to-face with people across America over a live Google+ Hangout. This first-ever virtual interview will be streamed live on the White House YouTube Channel so you’ll have a front row seat.

In the past week, over 225,000 of you have asked a question or cast a vote on the White House YouTube channel, voicing your interest in everything from military benefits to online poker, outsourcing to the Occupy movement. During today’s post-State of the Union interview, a selection of the top-voted YouTube questions will be asked, and several participants will actually join the President in the live Google+ Hangout to pose their questions directly.

Tune in today to watch Your Interview with President Obama live at 2:30 p.m. PT on youtube.com/whitehouse and see how President Obama addresses the issues that you care about.

Ramya Raghavan, YouTube News and Politics Manager, recently watched “Ask Obama: Why Tuesday”

Your Interview with President Obama

If you could hang out with President Obama, what would you ask him? Would your question be about jobs or unemployment? The threat of nuclear weapons? Immigration reform? Whatever your question is, submit it on YouTube for the opportunity to ask the President directly in a special interview over a Google+ Hangout from the White House.

On Monday, January 30, a few days after delivering his State of the Union address to the nation, President Obama will answer a selection of top-voted questions you’ve submitted in a live-streamed interview. Starting today through January 28, you can visit the White House YouTube channel to submit your video and text questions and vote on your favorites. Your YouTube questions will drive the interview, and several participants with top-voted questions will be selected to join the President in the Google+ Hangout to take part in the conversation live.



So take out your camera, check your hair and go to youtube.com/whitehouse to submit your question now. Need ideas? Visit youtube.com/whitehouse on Tuesday night to watch the President’s State of the Union address live. The address will be followed by the Republican response on Speaker Boehner’s YouTube channel.

Video questions are preferred (though we also accept text) and should be about 20 seconds long. In the video description, be sure to tell us a little bit about yourself, like where you’re from.

Your Interview with President Obama will be streamed live at 5:30 p.m. ET on January 30 on youtube.com/whitehouse. You have until midnight ET on January 28 to submit your question and make your voice heard on the issues that matter to you.

Ramya Raghavan, YouTube News and Politics Manager, recently watched, “How to Buy a Car, Using Game Theory”

Reflections on September 11 - Share Your Story

The worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil took place ten years ago next month. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 affected the lives of millions of people, not only in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania, but around the world.



Working with The New York Times, we’re marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11 with a dedicated YouTube channel, featuring special content from the New York Times, archived news broadcasts from September 2001, and your own personal stories and tributes. We hope this channel will provide an enduring record of what took place on that day.



We’re asking you to share with us:

• Your strongest memory of that day or that time period
• How 9/11 changed you, and how you believe it changed America
• What you lost — or gained -- because of 9/11

Make a video answering any of these questions and submit it to youtube.com/September11. A selection of your videos will be featured on the The New York Times website and YouTube homepage on September 11 this year.



Through telling and sharing stories, we can all hope to make sense of an event that, for many of us, was one of the defining moments of our lives. Thank you for sharing yours.



Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics Manager, recently watched “Portraits Redrawn: Alissa Torres”

YouTube in the Palestinian Territories

There are few areas in the world where the ubiquity of the web means more than in the Palestinian territories. In a place where conflict is a part of daily life, and land disputes prevent the kind of geographical freedom most of us take for granted, it’s platforms like YouTube that are allowing people to broadcast their ideas to the rest of the world—and to tell stories that aren’t being told by other media outlets.

A few weeks ago, as part of our efforts to broaden YouTube’s news content partnerships, I spent a week with some other Googlers in Gaza and the West Bank. I met with news organizations, bloggers, local officials, and young people—all of whom were eager to tell their stories on video. In the last month, over 16,000 videos have been uploaded to YouTube from the Palestinian territories, despite low access to 3G networks and broadband Internet. And of the more than 75,000 videos uploaded from the territories this year, 5,000+ were tagged as news and politics videos:

Sleepless in Gaza is an innovative 90-part (!) reality show on YouTube featuring six women who travel in the Palestinian territories and document their experiences. It drew such a following on YouTube that it’s now being optioned for TV series in the U.S.

• The Maan News Agency, the top online Palestinian news site, has begun uploading its video reports to YouTube to share with the world.
• Videos covering the March 15 demonstrations (which were held to demand unity between competing Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Fatah) saw many views on YouTube as conflict broke out between demonstrators and Hamas.
• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has a YouTube channel they use to tell the stories of Gazans they work with in schools and other projects.
• The Global Citizen Corps, a group of young bloggers organized by the international NGO Mercy Corps to do community service and media training, has a robust YouTube channel with videos made by young people telling the story of Gaza through their eyes.
• The Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation, once the state media outlet of President Abbas’ Fatah, has recently decided to hire an independent board of directors and produce content outside the influence of the government (on a model that might end up quite like PBS).

Meeting with bloggers in Ramallah

Meeting with bloggers in Gaza

It’s in Gaza (the part of the Palestinian territories that are run by Hamas) where media freedoms have a ways to go. Journalists told us they’d been jailed for writing articles critical of Hamas, and one news organization had their office broken into and computers stolen when their pages held criticism of the government. And, after growing to 1,200 members, the Global Citizen Corps caught the attention of the government and was disbanded by the organizers for a while to protect members.

But the people of the Palestinian territories want desperately to tell a story of the region that gets beyond stereotypes. The images we see in Western media, of a place fraught with conflict and despair, doesn’t tell the real story of the territories, they told us. Some Palestinian entrepreneurs even created a new travel website, highlighting the best there is to see in the region.

It’s been said before, but it’s true: it’s the young people in the Middle East who will make change. Seventy percent of the people in Gaza are under 30. In Israel, 30 percent of the population is under 14. Several bloggers told us they had relationships with Israeli youth on the Internet; their hope is that YouTube and other platforms will help them communicate beyond the seemingly intractable political battles between their leaders and start conversations that will lead to new opportunities for peace.

Steve Grove, Head of YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “Sleepless in Gaza, part 1.”

Remembering fallen journalists on video

We live in a world that feels smaller every day. As we become accustomed to nearly ubiquitous coverage of the news and events unfolding around the world, it’s easy to forget the price that is sometimes paid to obtain quality, accurate reporting on important stories—particularly in areas of conflict or in cases of government repression of the media. With this in mind, today, the Newseum in Washington, D.C., Google and YouTube are together launching the Journalists Memorial channel on YouTube to remember the journalists who have died in the last year while reporting news around the world.

Their stories are incredible: heading into a street battle with no weapon other than your camera; talking about politics over the radio, only to be beaten to death with iron bars by a group of thugs on the way to work. The risks and sacrifices that many have made in order to provide us with accurate information is remarkable. On the Journalists Memorial channel you can watch a collection of videos representing these journalists’ lives and their work.



This channel will become a digital version of the Newseum’s Journalists Memorial, which is re-dedicated annually to honor journalists worldwide who have died during the preceding year. This year, 77 names are being added to the list of the more than 2,000 journalists who have been recognized for their sacrifices since 1837. At today’s rededication ceremony, Krishna Bharat, the founder and head of Google News, will be delivering the keynote address, which the Newseum will post to the new YouTube channel later today.

In tribute to those who are being honored at today’s ceremony, we would like your help finding videos that profile or represent the work of all journalists who have risked or lost their lives doing the important work they do. We invite you to go to the Journalists Memorial channel and submit videos you think deserve recognition to the Moderator platform on the channel. The Newseum will be featuring additional submissions there.

Steve Grove, Head of YouTube News and Politics, recently watched "Reuters: 21 Journalists Slaughtered in Philippines Massacre."