My favorite part of the comment section of YouTube is the ability to link a timestamp (say “0:31″) to a particular point in a video, letting someone just click on the “0:31″ in blue and see, in full, the point you’re referencing.

It’s a great way of adding context to your comment, but unfortunately, it currently only works in the comment section itself. Discussing the contexts of a particular moment in YouTube videos, however, can also be advantageous for your journalism.

In my searching for other possibilities to add video context to journalism, I stumbled upon TubeChop—I suggest you give it a try.

Read more

The I Files YouTube channel is now live. The latest multimedia project from the Center from Investigative Reporting combines video from media partners, freelancers and filmmakers to create a hub for investigative video online. (Read our previous coverage). Read more

The Center for Investigative Reporting will soon have a new way of sharing watchdog journalism with the masses: An investigative YouTube Channel.

The organization announced today that, in partnership with the Investigative News Network, it will use $800,000 from the Knight Foundation to create a channel that will feature video from contributors like NPR, ABC News, The New York Times, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Center for Public Integrity, American University Investigative Workshop, Independent Television Service and, of course, its own video.

According to a press release, CIR also plans to take submissions from freelance journalists and independent filmmakers.

Social media is a key element of the new project, which CIR and INN will use to engage an audience and promote the journalism.  Read more

In a press release distributed today, The Wall Street Journal announced that it would bring its WSJ Live content on-demand to a dedicated YouTube channel. Previously available through iPad and Internet TV devices, WSJ Live “ brings influencers and decision-makers live news and on-demand video directly from 2000+ reporters across the globe.” The new YouTube channel will host replays of WSJ live content immediately following airing.

The launch also coincides with a new lifestyle program, “Off Duty,” with content presented daily based on the Journal’s Saturday paper, WSJ Weekend. Airing daily at 6 p.m. ET, “Off Duty” will be hosted by reporter Wendy Bounds, and according to the press release, “will bring to life many of its namesake’s features, as well as other culture coverage from the Journal – from food to fashion, music and movies, travel to tech.”

Read more

The editorial board of New Jersey’s largest newspaper, The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger, has taken to a new story form to express its point of views: the animatorial.

It’s an editorial that’s in animated video form. The result is amusing, hilarious and a surprisingly effective storytelling method.

The production values are pretty corny. It’s cheesy text-to-speech animated figures on a real-life background. But the story (in this case about toll hikes) is told in a way that anyone can understand. It speaks to the viewer more than a traditional text-based editorial would.

For a video to be an effective storytelling tool, it need not have tons of bells and whistles. Instead, it needs to be well-written and understandable. And that’s exactly what these animatorials are. Read more