<videovortex> jeffrey jarvis: should youtube start with its own channels

[geert lovink]

http://www.buzzmachine.com/2009/06/20/the-responsibility-of-knowledge-in-news/

The responsibility of knowledge in news

I tweeted a few minutes that I wish YouTube itself would be curating  
and featuring video from Iran because only it is in the position to  
know whether the video came from Iran and whether it is a duplicate. I  
said that YouTube has a responsibility in the news ecosystem. Andy  
Scheurer questioned that: responsibility? Good question. Isn’t YouTube  
just a host? Can’t it be agnostic as to interests? No, I don’t think  
so, because YouTube has unique knowledge it can add to inform the  
discussion (e.g., this video isn’t from Iran or it’s a year old or  
this video is unique from Iran today) and to not add that knowledge  
becomes irresponsible, no? YouTube can’t just make the information  
transparent so we can figure it out because it also has a moral  
responsibility to protect the identity of those who are putting  
themselves in danger by uploading the videos to inform the world. That  
means they are the only ones who can verify at least some information  
about the videos for our benefit. So shouldn’t they?

Jeffrey Jarvis