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YouTube to invest $25 mn to boost ‘trusted’ news sources
WASHINGTON, July 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – YouTube unveiled plans to invest $25
million in news organizations as part of an effort to boosted trusted
journalism and combat misinformation.
The Google-owned online video service said it would offer funding “across
approximately 20 global markets to support news organizations in building
sustainable video operations.”
The grants “will enable our partners to build key capabilities, train
staff on video best practices, enhance production facilities and develop
formats optimized for online video,” YouTube said in a statement late Monday.
The latest move is part of a $300 million Google News Initiative announced
earlier this year by YouTube’s parent to help curb manipulation and
misinformation, which can spread easily online.
The YouTube effort comes as Google and Facebook — companies that drew
heavy criticism following the 2016 US election for failing to prevent the
propagation of false news — have been taking a series of steps to promote
verifiable journalism.
“The work of trusted journalistic organizations is as critical as ever,
especially when it comes to seeking information about current events online,”
YouTube said.
In addition to helping news organizations with video, YouTube said it was
stepping up efforts to help its users identify “authoritative” news sources.
“Authoritativeness is essential to viewers, especially during fast-moving,
breaking news events, so we’ve been investing in new product features to
prominently surface authoritative sources,” the statement said.
This will include short previews of news articles in YouTube search
results on key breaking stories.
“After a breaking news event, it takes time to verify, produce and publish
high-quality videos,” according to the YouTube statement.
“Journalists often write articles first to break the news rather than
produce videos. That’s why in the coming weeks in the US we will start
providing a short preview of news articles in search results on YouTube that
link to the full article during the initial hours of a major news event,
along with a reminder that breaking and developing news can rapidly change.”
Additionally, YouTube said it was creating a working group with news
organizations and advisers from around the globe to “improve the news
experience on YouTube and tackle emerging challenges.”
The first partners in the program will be US-based Vox Media, Jovem Pan of
Brazil and India Today.
“We’ve looking forward to having more join as we convene the group in the
coming weeks,” the online giant said.
BSS/AFP/HR/1040