The GOP weekly address, giving by Rep. John Boehner, makes the final case for House Republicans. And the White House releases an animation finale to their "by the numbers" series. Now, everyone waits for the vote - likely tomorrow.
Gearing up for Earth Day, the EPA has launched a Gmail-like video campaign on YouTube - "It's my environment". Download the sign here, then pass it along through a video response to the video below.
Tomorrow night at 6 p.m. ET, Fox News Channel anchor Bret Baier will conduct an exclusive interview with President Barack Obama, and he wants to know what you think he should ask.
Similar to the YouTube Interview with President Obama back in February, you can submit your questions for the President via text or video on the Google Moderator platform, and vote on the questions submitted by others. The top-voted questions will rise to the top, and Baier will select some to ask in his interview.
You can submit and vote on the Fox News website or on the Fox News YouTube channel. The interview is less than 24 hours away, so now's your chance to raise your questions and concerns.
More than ever, governments around the world are threatening online free expression. Forty countries have taken measures to limit this freedom, up from only a handful a few years ago. YouTube services are or have been blocked in 25 of those nations.
On Thursday night in Paris, we took an important step to highlight this crucial issue by sponsoring the first Netizen Prize (or more elegantly, “Le Prix du "net-citoyen") awarded by the Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. And on Friday, March 12, we’ll be helping highlight the fight for Internet freedom by marking the group’s World Day Against Cyber Censorship on YouTube.
Fittingly, Reporters Without Borders chose to give the first Netizen Prize to the Iranian creators of the website Change for Equality, first established in 2006 to fight for changes in laws in Tehran that discriminate against women. That site has since become a well-known source of information on women’s rights in Iran, documenting arrests of women activists and becoming a rallying point for opponents of the regime.
Over the past year those leaders in Tehran have distinguished themselves — and earned the opprobrium of people all over the world — for their brutal crackdown on the rights of its critics to question their rule. Last year's killing of unarmed Neda Agha-Soltan during post-election protests in Tehran, seen around the world on amateur video, has become a symbol of the regime's ferocity — and the power of the Internet to reveal what governments do not want the world to see.
At the award ceremony in our Paris office, Google's Senior Vice President David Drummond said that we are at a critical point in the future of the Internet: "All of us have a choice. We can allow repressive policies to take flight and spread across the globe, or we can work together against such challenges and uphold the fundamental human right to free expression.”
David went on to praise the role of NGOs like Reporters Without Borders, the Obama Administration’s commitment to the promotion of Internet freedom and the efforts of all groups that have joined the Global Network Initiative. Under the initiative, major U.S. Internet companies, human rights group, socially responsive investors and academic institutions agreed to guidelines promoting free expression and protecting the privacy of their users around the world. “In the spirit of the undiplomatic American come to European shores," he said, "let me make a plea for European governments, companies and groups to rise to the occasion. Any effort that is limited to the United States is bound to fall far short of its global potential.”
Cross-posted on the YouTube Blog and Google Official Blog
Online video has been a major topic of discussion at this year’s Alliance of Youth Movements. With three breakout sessions devoted to how to use video to build movements and reduce violence around the world, participants have been challenging each other to think critically about the effectiveness of their video work and how they can improve upon it.
During yesterday’s online video session, we used Invisible Children as a case study of an NGO using video well. They produce a new video about every two weeks, said Chris Sarettte who was speaking on behalf of the org, with the goal of connecting young people in Uganda with those in the United States and having youth in the U.S. raise money for Ugandan schools. This is the video that kicked off our discussion - a moving, inspiring piece that demonstrates the global movement behind the organization and calls for more youth to get involved:
One thing that is clear from Invisible Children’s YouTube channel is the specific narrative and tone as you hop from one video to the next. It’s an overwhelming feeling of hope, which is quite interesting seeing as that it would be so easy to convey sadness when discussing a war-torn region (for another example of this tone, see the video called “Michael Jackson in Uganda”).
But as one participant astutely pointed out, Invisible Children likely has a far larger creative budget (and staff - according to Chris, they hire 60 interns a semester!) than many of the other young people at the conference. One such person is Samar, a Pakistani filmmaker who is trying to create dialogue between different ethnic groups about the need for the participation of women in society. Today, she talked about this video, called “Where the Waters Meet,” which features a two singers from two different regions voicing a traditional folk song amidst powerful images:
Samar says that the video portrays the melding of two different cultures (”where the waters meet”) as well as the importance of providing opportunity for women in society. According to her, the video has gotten a huge amount of traction in Afghanistan.
You can see more of Samar’s work on the EthnoMedia Pakistan YouTube channel.
From its beginning, YouTube has been a place where citizens come to have political conversations, and Canada has been no exception. From interviews with Cabinet Ministers to campaign discussions to in-depth news reports, Canadians have used the site to engage with their elected officials in ways previously not possible. Prime Minister Stephen Harper himself has shared videos on his Prime Minister channel, including his CTV interview at the Olympics, his performance with Yo-Yo Ma, and several Parliamentary speeches.
Now you can speak directly with Canadian Prime Minister Harper in an exclusive YouTube interview. Tomorrow, March 11, we'll be streaming the Prime Minister’s response to the Speech from the Throne at approximately 10:45 a.m. EST. It’s a major policy speech for the Prime Minister about his vision for the future of Canada. You can watch it at youtube.com/talkcanada, and submit your follow-up questions for him in video or text - and vote on your favourites.
Prime Minister Harper will then answer a selection of your top-voted questions in a YouTube interview this Tuesday, March 16 at 7pm EST. If you're wondering how it will work, take a look at our recent interview with U.S. President Barack Obama.
Take this chance to submit and vote for questions you want to be answered - in English or French. We prefer video questions (short and precise) if possible. This is your chance to ask the Prime Minister about the Speech from the Throne or the recent federal Jobs and Growth budget. We look forward to your questions.
Posted by Patrick Pichette, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Google
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Les citoyens, dont les Canadiens, ont fréquenté YouTube dès ses tout premiers débuts afin d’y parler politique. Il suffit de penser aux entrevues avec des ministres, aux campagnes de toutes sortes et aux reportages fouillés. Le premier ministre Stephen Harper a lui-même publié des vidéos sur le canal du premier ministre, notamment son entrevue avec CTV aux Jeux olympiques, sa performance avec Yo-Yo Ma et plusieurs discours parlementaires.
Vous pourrez vous adresser directement au premier ministre dans le cadre d'une entrevue exclusive sur YouTube. Demain, le 11 mars vers 10h45 (HNE), nous diffuserons en continu la réponse du premier ministre au discours du Trône. Vous pourrez le regarder sur youtube.com/talkcanada et poser des questions en format vidéo ou texte ainsi que voter pour vos questions préférées.
Ensuite, dans une entrevue YouTube le mardi 16 mars à 19 h (HNE), le premier ministre répondra à des questions sélectionnées parmi celles ayant accumulé le plus de votes. Pour vous faire une idée du processus, allez jeter un coup d’œil à notre entrevue récente avec le président américain Barack Obama.
Profitez de cette formidable occasion pour poser vos questions et voter pour celles qui, selon vous, devraient être sélectionnées, et en anglais et en français. On préfère que vos questions soient soumises en format vidéo, courtes et précises, si possible. Ne ratez surtout pas cette chance de demander des précisions au premier ministre au sujet du discours du Trône ou du budget de 2010. On a hâte de recevoir vos questions.
Posté par Patrick Pichette, Vice-président senior et chef de la direction financière, Google
Citizentube is at the third annual Alliance of Youth Movements Summit, a convening of youth activists from all over the world who are using new media and technology to achieve advance social justice missions, in London this week.
Yesterday, I met Yoav Gross, the Israeli Video Director of B’Tselem, a human rights organization documenting the plight of Gaza/West Bank civilians through video. The organization has distributed 150 cameras to Palestinian civilians with the hope of seeing the conflict through their eyes. It’s a view, Gross says, many global citizens never see.
In this video, for example, a handcuffed Palestinian man is shot with a rubber-coated bullet by a soldier:
The video was shot by a Palestinian youth through the window of her home, and given to B’Tselem, who turned it over to the Military Police Investigation Unit. An investigation was opened into the matter. This is another goal of distributing cameras - so that they can provide proof to police about the incidents taking place in these areas.
In this video, one of the most-viewed on the B’Tselem YouTube channel, a settler from a Jewish settlement in Hebron is seen harassing women from neighboring home. In the video you can see the metal cage that the family built around their home to prevent attack:
Western mainstream media has picked up on some of B’Tselem’s footage (see this NBC Nightly News piece about the organization) but much of it - like this video uploaded in January, which documents teens working under poor conditions in the Rafah Tunnels, a main passageway for food, medicine and weapons into Gaza due to border restrictions - have received less widespread attention.
For more footage from B’Tselem, please see www.youtube.com/btselem.
All of the entries for Round 1 of Project: Report are in, and a panel of judges from the Pulitzer Center have chosen the top 10 semi-finalists. We saw terrific submissions from around the country, each telling a powerful story of an individual through a day in his or her life. Now you can vote for which Round 1 submission you think should win the Community Award.
Below is a list (in no particular order) of the 10 Round 1 winners who will proceed to the second and final round of Project:Report. The grand prize? One of five $10,000 travel fellowships to work with the Pulitzer Center on an international reporting project.
Report on a compelling topic or subject of any nature which you believe has not been sufficiently and/or accurately covered by the national media. All entries must be less than five minutes long and shot in High Definition.Submissions are due by 12 p.m. ET on April 4, 2010.
