Investigative journalism gets the YouTube treatment

This is very interesting. The Centre for Investigative Reporting (CIR) has launched a YouTube channel in partnership with some of the biggest players in the media industry.

An initiative of the Knight Foundation, the IFiles will be curated by the CIR and will feature content from the likes of the BBC, the New York Times, Al Jazeera, and the Investigative News Network (INN). Independent filmmakers and freelance video journalists will also get a chance to have their work featured on the channel.

The CIR, which has been around since 1977, produces its own investigative content and invests in promising investigations at their early stages. Its stories appear on the likes of 60 Minutes, 20/20, ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, PBS Frontline and Frontline/World, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and U.S. News & World Report.

According to The Next Web, the debut of IFiles will feature 10 investigative videos and a handful of playlists.

“The IFiles is poised to make investigative reporting more web-centric, vibrant and social, in a way we hope attracts more viewers and interest for the enterprise journalism communities depend on,” says the Knight Foundation’s vice president for journalism and media innovation Michael Maness.

The foundation is providing a US$800 000 grant for the initiative. The CIR meanwhile is reportedly launching the IFiles Future Award, that will give US$2 500 to the best piece of work it receives from a journalism student.