Despite all the arcane movies and music videos, and countless random clips, YouTube has positioned itself as a veritable news outlet.  During the 2008 Presidential campaign, the web site hosted several debates between candidates.  President Obama regularly gives YouTube addresses.  

Now, during the aftermath of the Iranian election, YouTube is allowing regular folk like you and me–the kind who might upload old school plays or sociology projects to the site–to post videos of events on the ground.  With foreign media expelled from the country, this is a great way to stay up to date, along with reading Twitter updates.  

The feature, CitizenTube, allows citizens to act as journalists and upload content taken from their own cameras.  While some videos from the Associated Press were floating around, a good number bore unique handles and seem to be genuine footage taken by spectators.  This adds a new degree of authenticity to the reports we receive.  In addition to reading about it in the paper, online, or watching clips on CNN, we can see it literally through the perspective of a witness.  

The downside, of course, is that for actual journalists, this represents another threat, however minor.  Will reporters, already expected to take their own pictures and film on occasion, now be supplanted by on-the-ground citizens?  On the other hand, this could provide media outlets with another cost cutting measure…hmmmm.

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