16. 05. 2011

YouTube launches memorial channel for journalists

Washington, May 16, 2011. (journalism.co.uk) - YouTube has launched a memorial channel for journalists who have been killed while reporting from around the world.

The Journalists Memorial Channel is being launched in conjunction with the Newseum in Washington DC, a museum dedicated to the news industry.

Google, which owns YouTube, is inviting people to submit videos to the channel that "profile or represent the work of all journalists who have risked or lost their lives doing the important work they do".

The channel is intended to be a digital version of the Newseum's own Journalists' Memorial, which features the names of 2,007 individuals from around the world etched on the glass panels the two-story structure. The memorial is rededicated each year to add the names of the journalists who have lost their lives in the preceding year.

The memorial will be rededicated again today to add the names of 77 journalists who died during 2010. Krishna Bharat, the founder and head of Google News, will give the keynote address at the ceremony.

In May last year the names of 88 journalists who died in 2009 were added to the memorial, along with six journalists from previous years whose deaths were brought to the attention of the Newseum during the year.

According to a 2010 report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Pakistan remains the deadliest country for journalists, with 13 killed there in the 13 months leading up March 2011.

Earlier this month, RSF published a list of 38 "predators of press freedom" to coincide with World Press Freedom Day.