Video is a powerful tool for news stories, enabling journalists to convey the intensity of events and engage audiences on a deeper level. Its multi-sensory appeal – it combines visuals, audio and motion – is particularly effective when capturing the urgency of breaking news or evoking emotion around a tragedy.
A growing number of people are creating their own online news channels and posting videos about topics that interest them. This trend is changing the way people consume news, putting pressure on traditional news outlets to adapt their business models and produce more video content.
YouTube is a popular platform for new media, with some channels affiliated with traditional news organizations, and others created by independent individuals. In our survey, channels that are associated with news organizations accounted for 22% of all popular YouTube news channels. These include national news networks like CNN and Fox News, local TV stations in markets across the country such as WXYZ-TV Detroit or CBS News Los Angeles, and television shows with a news focus such as The Daily Show or Last Week Tonight.
In general, these channels tended to focus on political issues, and their videos were more likely to mention or have as their main topic the set of conspiracy theories known as QAnon. Moreover, they were more than twice as likely to publish videos with a negative tone toward their main subjects, while less than 4% of their videos had a positive tone.