Two recent clips at YouTube demonstrate the power of this medium above more filtered news outlets. First up is the video of the Michael Richards’ (AKA Kramer on Seinfeld) racial dummy spit. Then there is the video of an Iranian-American U.S. citizen being repeatedly tazered by security officers at UCLA. The Richards video achieved over 500,000 viewings in 24 hours and the tazer footage achieved 425,000 viewings in 6 days. In both cases YouTube viewers see the story as it happened. They don’t rely on filtering by journalists and editors. While such filtering can be appropriate in many instances, with these two stories the video is better than any reporting. I want to see the raw material so I can make up my own mind with stories like these.
That such footage is so readily available is educating a generation to trust unedited content rather than the masthead. This is a challenge for mainstream media and all who rely on it for income.