Your interview with Prime Minister Stephen Harper / Votre entrevue avec le premier ministre Stephen Harper

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

YouTube Interviews: Pelosi, Boehner, Reid answer your health care questions

For over seven hours yesterday, the nation's top leaders gathered in Washington for a unique conversation on the future of health care reform. Moderated by President Obama, the healthcare summit revealed disparate views on current legislation, with Democrats arguing for comprehensive reform and Republicans pressing for a more incremental approach (or for starting over entirely). We streamed the entire summit on CitizenTube, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader John Boehner, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid all agreed to answer some of your top-voted questions from our Google Moderator platform during the event. (We also offered the opportunity to Senator Mitch McConnnell, the Senate Minority Leader, but he was unable to participate due to a scheduling conflict.)

Though it's doubtful many of you were able to tune in to the entire meeting, the fact that it was broadcast online was an important aspect of the discussion. It spoke to one of the top concerns that YouTube users posed to President Obama in our YouTube Interview earlier this month, when they demanded that health care proceedings become more transparent.

We selected three top-voted questions and the two top-voted ideas that you submitted during the summit, and the lawmakers replied to the same five questions with the YouTube videos that we've embedded below, which are also posted on the YouTube homepage today.

Here are the questions and ideas that each leader answered. We'll leave the full list up on CitizenTube for the next few days:

1. What is the explicit reasoning behind mandating the purchase of healthcare services? - Chris, University of Florida

2. Do you believe that healthcare is a right, or that health insurance is a right? - Brian, Student

3. Thompson Reuters had performed a study in which they concluded that 40% of healthcare waste was from unnecessary care. Unnecessary care is primarily a result of a fear of being sued, aka malpractice. What is being done to address malpractice? - JatPat, Chicago, IL

4. Why not quit artificially limiting the market? Stop tying health insurance to employers and increase the market dramatically. Allow insurance providers to sell across state lines and increase it even more. The larger the market the lower the price. - crodgers1981, Lincoln, NE

5. All people voting on these bills should be required to personally read the entire bill before being allowed to vote on it. It is ridiculous that these bills are thousands of pages long. Bills should be written in clear language. - Blinn, Illinois

Here are Speaker Pelosi's answers:



Here are Congressman Boehner's:

And here are Senator Reid's replies:

YouTube has become the place where leaders can connect directly with citizens around key events in the political process. That opportunity for meaningful dialogue makes politics feel more personal, more democratic, and opens up Washington in exciting new ways. Stay tuned for more YouTube interviews, and let us know in the comments whom you'd like the chance to speak with on this platform.


Steve Grove, Head of YouTube News and Politics, recently watched "White House Health Care Summit Part I."

Win-a-Trip with Nick 2010

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof just announced his fourth annual "Win a Trip" contest, in which a lucky winner will get the chance to travel to Africa. Kristof will select one university student to accompany him as he embarks on a reporting trip for 10 days to a yet-to-be-disclosed location in Africa. The winner will write blog posts for nytimes.com as well as send video reports from the field that will be posted to Nicholas Kristof's YouTube channel.

So, if you're a student 18 or older currently enrolled in an American university, you're eligible to win if you write an essay and/or submit a video up to 3-minutes long. All videos must be attached as a video response to this call-out video (just click on the text "Post a Video Response" right above the comment section, or click on this link)

Read more about the contest and the official rules on Kristof's blog.

Blood on the Streets

This video shows a bloody scene on a sidewalk in Tehran. The injured person is no longer there, but the pavement is stained with bright red blood, and a young man - whose hands are also covered in blood - is on his hands and knees weeping.

Please use discretion before viewing this video as the images contained within may be disturbing.

A View from the Press Corp

Associated Press reporter Jason Bronis posted a video to YouTube offering a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like to traveling with Obama as a member of the press corp. In this video, Bronis covers the President's arrival in London for this week's G-20 summit.

Millions Watch Gordon Brown Scolded in Parliament

Daniel Hannan, a Conservative member of the European Parliament from South East England, posted a video to YouTube, in which he chastises UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown at a meeting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday. Hannan attacked Brown for how he's handled the economy crisis, and told the Prime Minster that he was "the devalued Prime Minister of a devalued government," among other strongly-worded statements.

The impassioned speech, uploaded to Hannan's own YouTube account, has nearly 1.3 million views and almost 9,000 comments at the time of this post.

Red River Rising

Citizens in the Red River Valley, which spans across North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana, have been preparing for massive flooding for the past several days. The Red River has a history of flooding -- the last major flood was back in 1997 -- and this year is expected to be one of the worst in history.

People and organizations on the ground have been posting videos to YouTube, capturing what conditions are like as the area prepares.

The American Red Cross produced a video for residents with advice for how to prepare safely for the flooding.



Senator Conrad of North Dakota posted a video asking citizens to get involved and help in the preparations:



Many of these videos show the efforts of citizens working together to build walls of sandbags to keep the water out. Officials in Fargo, ND say that at least 2 million sandbags are needed to protect the city.

User jennalee02 made a five-part video diary in Moorhead, MN showing the world what's going on there as residents prep their houses for the flood.




Minnesota Public Radio did an amazing time-lapse video of people sandbagging in the "Fargodome" in Fargo, ND.




And a Coast Guard helicopter posted a video on the official Coast Guard channel of their crew rescuing six people in Abercrombie, ND. (http://youtube.com/coastguardnews)



As the river rises there will surely be more video footage uploaded to YouTube, so stay tuned.

The New York Times is doing really cool stuff with video

The New York Times is doing really cool stuff with video

Just a quick hat-tip to the New York Times, which is really getting into a groove with its YouTube channel. Three highlights of late:

1) Nick Kristof launched his "Win a Trip" with Nick contest, which invited students to apply to accompany him on his next reporting trip and used YouTube as a submission platform. The lucky winner was announced a few weeks ago.

2) The Times started a series called "The New Hard Times," which is focused on collecting memories and advice from Americans who lived through the Great Depression. They are inviting the community to submit videos of themselves or friends or family sharing their experiences from the Depression and offering insight for how to deal with today's difficult economic climate.

Here's a video from June Reifstroffer Hammer, who was interviewed by her 13-year-old grandson, Samuel. Her account gets pretty emotional about 40 seconds in.



3) And finally, the Times did a "behind-the-scenes" look at President Obama's prime-time press conference from earlier this week. They gave those of us not able to attend the event in person a little taste of what it's like before the live, televised portion begins -- providing access where previously there's been none.




Definitely worth subscribing and keeping an eye on what these savvy video journalists and their editors are up to next...

Driving the Message Home

Great piece in the New York Times today about how a woman in Saudi Arabia used YouTube to post a video of herself driving a car - an act of civil disobedience in a country where woman are not allowed to drive. Wajeha al-Huwaider, a Saudi women's rights activist, illegally drove her car for one minute along a public highway to protest in honor of International Women's Day.

Check out the article for a full report and to watch the video.

Simulating the Hudson River crash landing

Check out this amazing computer animation that tracks the flight path of US Airways 1549 right before it crash landed in the Hudson River back in January. The actual air traffic control audio track overlays the animation to give you a vivid sense of what actually happened that day. Courtesy of TechCrunch:

Christmas in Darfur

After hearing celebrity after celebrity use his or her fame to raise awareness for the crisis in Darfur, Jason Mojica decided to spend Christmas there this past year. He wanted to see for himself what was happening on the ground. So he bought a video camera, read the manual on the plane ride over, and then made a short documentary of his experience. Here's a preview:

Abercrombie Announces Run for Hawaii Governor on YouTube

Congressman Neil Abercrombie, representative for the 1st District of Hawaii, announced his candidacy for Governor of Hawaii via YouTube last Friday.



He's already uploaded another video to his personal channel -- an informal address to his supporters bringing the message of hope and change from Washington D.C. back to Hawaii. Given his parallel announcements on Twitter and Facebook, it's safe to say Abercrombie is riding the wave of his state's hometown hero and taking a page from Obama's new media playbook.

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Dems "Glueing" Limbaugh to the GOP

Ever since Rush Limbaugh's comments last week that he hopes President Obama will "fail" in his efforts to revive the American economy, Democratic groups have been trying to portray the controversial conservative radio talk show host as the leader of the Republican party, which doesn't want to help America get back on its feet.

Watch the latest ad from Americans United for Change, a labor-affiliated group in Washington D.C. The Caucus blog on nytimes.com calls this "yet another step in a choreographed campaign to affix Rush Limbaugh (using cement glue) to the Republicans."

Supreme Court Using YouTube?

The New York Times has an interesting article on how video evidence is being used in the court of law.

The Supreme Court is entering the YouTube era.

The first citation in a petition filed with the court last month, for instance, was not to an affidavit or legal precedent but rather to a video link. The video shows what is either appalling police brutality or a measured response to an arrested man’s intransigence — you be the judge.

Definitely worth a read.

State of the Nation (Hip-Hop Interpretation)

For those of you who missed Obama’s recent address to Congress -- or don’t have 54 minutes to spare -- here’s Obama impersonator AlphaCat/Iman Cross’s 3-minute hip-hop interpretation:

Archbishop launches YouTube campaign to reach Catholics

According to the Associated Press: "To mark the beginning of Lent, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is launching a $75,000 marketing blitz using YouTube, a blog and advertising to reach lapsed Catholics.

"We wanted people to be able to ask questions," said Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the 580,000-member archdiocese. "Sometimes they're not ready to walk in a church door ... or they might be embarrassed to ask a question, or they might be worried that they won't be welcome."

Watch Archbishop Donald Wuerl's welcome video on the new Washington Archdiocese YouTube channel:

Video captured of Chicago cop aggressively removing man from public bus

From the Chicago Tribune:

The Independent Police Review Authority and Chicago police are looking into a video posted on the popular YouTube Web site that appears to show a uniformed Chicago police officer struggling with and verbally abusing a man who didn't heed the officer's order to get off a CTA bus.

The video, dated last Friday and apparently shot by another passenger, shows the officer getting on the bus in the 800 block of West Division Street and demanding the uncooperative passenger get off because he didn't pay his fare.


Watch the video:

Have Your Way With Goldman Sachs

In 2002, Goldman Sachs and two other private equity firms bought Burger King for $1.5 billion. According to a new video by BraveNewFilms, if you divided the 6.5 billion dollars in bonuses that Goldman Sachs paid out to its employees last year between all of the Burger King employees, you'd more than double each of their annual salaries. The average Burger King employee makes $14,000 a year - less than the federal poverty line for a family of three. The average bonus given to Goldman Sachs employees this year, after the company received a $10 million bailout injection from the federal government, was $210,000.

BraveNewFilms wants to send Goldman Sachs a message, and they're inviting you to submit your "creative, constructive, or comical ideas" to eliminate corporate greed and help address the global economic meltdown. They plan to send all of the videos to Goldman Sachs "as a reprimand for their wastefulness," and the winner will get his or her idea featured in the next BraveNewFilms video.



To enter the contest, visit their site: http://warongreen.org.

1998 YouTube video used as bargaining chip for federal funding

In 1998, San Francisquito Creek, a 14-mile waterway that originates in the San Francisco Bay and runs through the California Bay Area peninsula, flooded the region, destroying thousands of homes and causing $25.5 million worth of damage. All efforts to construct additional flood prevention measures have been halted, due to lack of funds, and local officials in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and San Mateo Country have been lobbying for the past two years for an additional $700,000 in federal flood protection funds.

This year, in an effort to make a stronger case for its funding needs, the San Francisquito Creek's board of directors is including a YouTube video in their pitch to California state representatives: Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and Palo Alto Rep. Anna Eshoo. This video shows the Palo Alto area's major highway and local airport completely submerged under water after the 1998 flood.

A Taste of Life in the Army Reserves

A few years ago, a sergeant in the US Army Reserves began toting a video camera around with him. Thus far, Sgt 1st class Chris Farley of the 88th Regional Readiness Command at Fort Snelling has created four seasons of his short episodic video program called "The Sight Picture," which gives civilians an insight into everything from what "meals ready to eat" really taste like to what it feels like to crawl through a muddy trench.

Farley set up a YouTube channel for "The Sight Picture," after sharing his videos with members of his Command group and getting lots of positive feedback. Episodes cover a wide range of issues, but aim to show the day-to-day experiences of soldiers serving in the Army Reserve. On the Sight Picture channel page, Farley writes: "The Sight Picture...serves as a channel for Army Reserve Soldiers to tell their story with their words and actions."

Take a look a the most recent episode: