YouTube Aims To Train Citizen Journalists

Posted by Bill on Jun 30, 2009 in MeshBlog | 0 comments

Via TechCrunch comes news that YouTube has launched a new channel, the Reporters’ Center. TechCrunch says YouTube “hopes will prove to be a good way to educate existing and aspiring citizen journalists on how to report news in ‘the digital age’.”

The new resource from the online video sharing site “will feature a host of top journalists and media experts sharing instructional videos with tips and advice for better reporting,” says TechCrunch.

What does this mean for the media relations efforts for your business, organization, church or campaign?  The YouTube Reporters’ Center is just the latest in the ongoing trend of decentralizing and democratizing the creation and distribution of information. A press release to the local media just isn’t going to get the job done as effectively now or in the future as it did in the past. Many of your current or future customers, supporters, donors, members or voters are going to be too busy creating content to spend time watching or reading what we traditionally think of as “the news.”

You need your story, your message, your presence to be where they are, not where they are not.