YouTube has created the most vibrant video community that ever existed, and naturally, struggling news organizations want a piece of that interactive action. Two of my favorite media blogs are looking at what happens when Dan Rather hits YouTube.
Over at InterMedia, Steve Bryant interviewed the CEO of Feedroom about why news companies are so scared of user-oriented sites like YouTube:
"While I'm sure we'll see all the major news outlets dip their toes into user-generated content, YouTube can do user-generated content without judgment. News organizations can't. They need to know: Is it vetted? Is it accurate? Is it real? What is it?"
On the flip-side, Chartreuse readers have been debating C-Span's attempts to keep its Colbert footage exclusive. C-Span writes:
"It is important for online video providers to understand that C-SPAN-produced programming is protected by copyright in the same way that the video of any other news network is protected."
You can't have it both ways. If you want to get new users interested enough to interact with your content, you can't restrict those new users from playing with that content.
The couple bucks that C-Span will make selling the Colbert DVDs is nothing compared to the audience they they could have tapped if they staged a Colbert-style comedy video contest or sponsored a show called America's Best Political Video-Bloggers.
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