YouTube Videos Shed Light on the Unrest in Honduras

On June 28, Honduran president Manual Zelaya was overthrown in a military coup and exiled to Costa Rica. Since then, impartial media coverage has been severely limited, making it difficult to understand what's really happening inside the country.  However, a few videos have been uploaded to YouTube by Hondurans documenting some of the demonstrations being held to protest Zelaya's expulsion as well as the new leaders' attempts to suppress the demonstrations.

This following video, En honduro no pasa nada, todo tranquilo (GOLPE DE ESTADO) --which in English is called "Nothing's Happening in Honduras", shows encounters between protesters and armed forces in the streets of Honduras - some of which appear to have turned violent. 

 

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.

Silent Protests Wage On, Police Hand in Hand with Protestors

Tensions continue to rise in Iran, five days after the contested election between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mir Hossein Mousavi. Earlier today, Iranian protesters staged a massive silent demonstration demanding an entirely new election, not just a recount as Ahmadinejad has offered. We've seen footage coming into YouTube today from these silent protests. This clip illustrates just how many Iranians - young and old - are joining together to fight what they believe to be election fraud and government corruption.



Mousavi himself called another large-scale protest for tomorrow - despite fears that the Iranian voluntary militia, the Basij*, might crack down even more harshly than they have to date if the demonstrations continue. Eight protestors have already been killed. But there are reports that factions are growing within the country's leadership and the Guard itself, so it's yet unclear whether the government will respond to the demonstrations with a more aggressive approach.

This is a surprising video, which may possibly speak to the rumors that there's not a unified police force against the protestors. The video is especially interesting because it was posted by user Mousavi1388, who has been uploading some of the most valuable raw video footage of the violent protests since the unrest began last Saturday. He has captured Iranian police and protestors standing side by side in a video he titled: "Police and Crowd Iran Hand in Hand - A CRUCIAL MOMENT". Take a look.



* Note: corrected from earlier post.

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...

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.

McCain Cribs Exclusive: We like to roll in style

Whoever said John McCain wasn't in touch with young folks clearly hasn't seen the latest video from his campaign, "McCain Cribs Exclusive: The Straight-Talk Express." A play off of the wildly popular television show MTV Cribs, which offers guided journeys through the sprawling mansions of the rich and famous, this video tour of McCain's campaign bus gives voters a behind-the-scenes look at the Senator's pimped-out ride. Davis White, McCain's Director of Advance, explains the bus's role in the campaign, while pointing out the vehicle's flyest amenities -- including the 36" inch flat screen TV and 22" inch rims.



It's clear that Justin Germany, the McCain team's video guru, did his research when putting this one together. From the bass-heavy hip-hop beats used in the intro title sequence to the camera angles and video editing techniques, the "McCain Cribs Exclusive" has the same look-and-feel of the real MTV cribs episodes that feature the bed and baths of stars like 50 cent and Snoop Dogg.

"When we roll into town," White explains in the video, "we like to roll in style."

UpTake to Stream the Minnesota State Democratic Party Convention

The Uptake, an organization dedicated to "advancing democracy through citizen journalism," unveiled its plans yesterday to dispatch its team of citizen reporters to Rochester, MN to cover the Minnesota State Democratic Party Convention. Kicking off with Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean's opening address on Friday June 6, the Uptake will offer the first ever live video streaming coverage of the state's Democratic Party Convention -- in its entirety. They also promise to deliver lots of behind-the-scenes interviews and special reports from the convention hall. Check out their official announcement on YouTube here:



The Minnesota Democratic Senate race between the two dynamic candidates, Al Franken and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, has drawn a great deal of media attention, and the Uptake plans to provide political junkies uninterrupted coverage of the convention on their website. Users will also have multiple ways to engage and participate in their live coverage at theuptake.org

The Verdict Is in: College Dem Superdelegates Endorse Obama

More than two weeks ago, superdelegates Lauren Wolfe and Awais Khaleel, President and Vice President of the College Democrats, created a call-out video on YouTube (our earlier blog post here), in which they asked for help in deciding who to support as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Big surprise: after receiving 5,000 emails, 1,000 Facebook messages and wall posts, and hundreds of comments from YouTubers in response to their video, Lauren and Awais announced their endorsement yesterday of... Senator Barack Obama.