CNN/Youtube censored video replies on CNN debate
Wed, 12/05/2007 - 19:24 — admin
I've sent messages to both "YTDebates" and "citizentube" (Steve Grove, YT's political editor) and neither have replied. I tried to add the videos back as replies, but they didn't appear in the list of selections.
Any author, of course, has the right to delete replies. However, considering that my videos were directly related to the respective videos to which I replied, there appears to be only one explanation: either Youtube or CNN didn't want to give a platform to criticism of their handling of the debate.
While I'll continue to upload videos to Youtube, I suggest just making them an alternative and also uploading to chbn.com, liveleak.com, and the many other similar sites. And, I also suggest avoiding giving Youtube word-of-mouth publicity; suggesting that someone might see something "on Youtube" is becoming a popular cliche much as "sell it on eBay" was a few years ago. I suggest using "video sharing sites" instead of short-cutting that to "Youtube". Note that I've also put nofollow tags on the links to the videos above.
[1] User "YTDebates" is located at youtube.com/user/YTdebates and lists their website as youtube.com/debates. They're listed as the owner of the two CNN/Youtube debates (youtube.com/contest/DemocraticDebate and youtube.com/contest/RepublicanDebate). The first videos added by that user feature Anderson Cooper and were probably produced by CNN themselves (youtube.com/watch?v=orBHS8AH81Y and youtube.com/watch?v=dz4RarJaAZE). It's unclear exactly who "YTDebates" is, but I assume it's a joint venture between CNN and Youtube.
Youtube and/or CNN censored the list of video replies to their raw footage of the recent CNN/Youtube GOP debate.
On November 29, 2007 I uploaded two highly critical videos about the previous night's debate, and added them as replies to two of the CNN/Youtube-provided videos. My videos were in the list of replies for between one and three days, but then sometime on or before December 1 were deleted from the list. (Note: the videos themselves weren't deleted; they were only deleted from the list of replies). Each of the video replies was directly related to the video to which it was attached, so there appears to be no reason for them to be deleted from the reply list other than an attempt to squelch criticism of the way that CNN and Youtube handled the debate. The first video is called "CNN/Youtube Debate Debacle: 11/28/07 GOP version, Part 1" (link), and it was a reply to "question 2" (link). The second video is called "CNN/Youtube debate debacle: 11/28/07 GOP version, Part 2" (link) and it was a reply to "question 4" (link) The "question 2" and "question 4" videos were uploaded by user "YTdebates", which I believe to be some sort of joint venture between Youtube and CNN [1]. For those not familiar with how these replies work, the circle in the graphic below shows the area where my videos appeared and then later disappeared:
I've sent messages to both "YTDebates" and "citizentube" (Steve Grove, YT's political editor) and neither have replied. I tried to add the videos back as replies, but they didn't appear in the list of selections.
Any author, of course, has the right to delete replies. However, considering that my videos were directly related to the respective videos to which I replied, there appears to be only one explanation: either Youtube or CNN didn't want to give a platform to criticism of their handling of the debate.
While I'll continue to upload videos to Youtube, I suggest just making them an alternative and also uploading to chbn.com, liveleak.com, and the many other similar sites. And, I also suggest avoiding giving Youtube word-of-mouth publicity; suggesting that someone might see something "on Youtube" is becoming a popular cliche much as "sell it on eBay" was a few years ago. I suggest using "video sharing sites" instead of short-cutting that to "Youtube". Note that I've also put nofollow tags on the links to the videos above.
[1] User "YTDebates" is located at youtube.com/user/YTdebates and lists their website as youtube.com/debates. They're listed as the owner of the two CNN/Youtube debates (youtube.com/contest/DemocraticDebate and youtube.com/contest/RepublicanDebate). The first videos added by that user feature Anderson Cooper and were probably produced by CNN themselves (youtube.com/watch?v=orBHS8AH81Y and youtube.com/watch?v=dz4RarJaAZE). It's unclear exactly who "YTDebates" is, but I assume it's a joint venture between CNN and Youtube.