Youtube as a news release channel

Very interesting to see this video posted on Youtube: it’s a one-minute statement from SNP leader Alex Salmond delivering a Halloween warning that ‘the ghost of Iraq is going to haunt Tony Blair’. Of course, Salmond isn’t the first politician we’ve seen on Youtube… but this is the first instance I’ve seen of (effectively) a ‘video news release’.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/w/?v=5vAdK7eYLBo]

It’s very much a ‘today’ video. It’ll be old news by tea time, in all likelihood. But the easy access to cheap technology – clip mic, camcorder, editing software, hosting provider – makes this sort of thing possible and practical. Another example of ‘guerilla media’ tactics from the Celtic parties, and one to be (broadly) welcomed.