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Jul 16, 2012

Pew notes "complex, symbiotic relationship" between citizens, news orgs on YouTube

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism examined 15 months' worth of the most popular news videos on YouTube, which revealed "that a complex, symbiotic relationship has developed between citizens and news organizations on YouTube, a relationship that comes close to the continuous journalistic 'dialogue' many observers predicted would become the new journalism online."

Pew analyzed some 260 videos between January 2011 and March 2012, identifying and tracking the five most viewed each week on the site's news and politics channel, noting the nature of the videos, topics viewed most often and who produced and posted each.

Pew reports that news organizations "are taking advantage of citizen content and incorporating it into their journalism. Consumers, in turn, seem to be embracing the interplay in what they watch and share, creating a new kind of television news. At the same time, clear ethical standards have not developed on how to attribute the video content moving through the synergistic sharing loop."

"For the news industry," Pew noted, "the growth of YouTube and other video sharing sites represent a significant opportunity and also a challenge. News producers can use the site to grow their audience, find citizen-created videos, build their brand and generate revenue. At the same time, video-sharing sites are yet another platform they must understand — and to which they must adapt."

Reviewers weigh in on "Market Warriors"

Tonight (July 16) marks the premiere of Market Warriors, the much-anticipated companion program to WGBH's longtime pubTV fave Antiques Roadshow. A few reviews:

From the Boston Globe: "The formula may not be exactly new — the BBC has been doing something similar for more than 20 years with Bargain Hunt, and History is debuting a similar offering this week with Picked Off — but Market Warriors promises to be as addictive as Antiques Roadshow."

The San Francisco Chronicle: "If it wasn't kind of boring because it's too long, Market Warriors might seem like a Saturday Night Live sketch about what would happen if PBS started doing dumb reality shows."

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Market Warriors is likely to appeal to Antiques Roadshow fans, but it's also a calculated effort to compete with more popular offerings on cable, which undercuts arguments that PBS offers TV shows you can't find elsewhere."

The Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah: ". . . buffs of antique and collectibles who have made Antiques Roadshow a success will get a kick out of this spin-off. Like its predecessor, Market Warriors has an educational element that proves to be just as enjoyable."

Radio Ambulante tells stories from Latin America

The Nieman Journalism Lab profiles Radio Ambulante, a new, bimonthly Spanish-language show for radio and online that features narrative journalism from Latin America. The show has raised $46,000 via Kickstarter, and its producers hope it will be aired on stations in Latin America starting next year. “Latin America is a continent of narrators and storytellers, and for us it was obvious to put such oral tradition together with radio, and adding journalistic rigor to the mix,” says Daniel Alarcón, a writer and one of the show’s founders. You can hear Radio Ambulante’s first episode here.