For the last three years, I have operated a YouTube channel showcasing journalism which has hardly been shown elsewhere online from the BBC, ITV, Channel 5, Sky News and RT.
These weren't full bulletins, but largely 2-3 minute VT's largely from the London area, I also posted presentation clips for those interested in how television is put together.
Until Tuesday, I had no issues with YouTube, they said I was a good poster, so I continued to post clips. I also tagged the journalists featured on social media so they know what I was doing and that it was all positive promotion for their work. I received no funding for the work I did. Some of the journalists privately thanked me for my activities or retweeted their VT's that I posted online.
However, with increased pressure on the BBC, they have started to pro-actively complain to YouTube about content posted on the platform. Presentation YT channels have seen content removed and then my channel had over 30 copyright issues, all from BBC News.
They gave me two strikes. Fair enough, I'd continue with commercial copy only, yet on Wednesday, with no notification, YouTube deleted all of the over 1,000 VT's added to the platform since 2013, which included content from other channels.
The BBC is now desperate to maintain their copyright hold that they're removing history from YouTube. I can understand if someone uploads a sitcom or drama onto YouTube, but a short VT or business news bulletin which are hard to access unless you watch live or on live rewind on iPlayer or a clip of continuity on BBC One from 1978 is ridiculous.
The Corporation should post News Channel and BBC World News business bulletins for everyone to see. These are brilliantly produced bulletins which don't alienate non-City workers, which clearly explain why a business or the market is doing such a thing. It's real public service broadcasting. If they were promoted properly using the BBC's existing platforms or posted on YouTube themselves, it'd stop people like me sharing the content.
Ironically YouTube isn't deleting content from YT channels that only show BBC News content for sexual reasons. I found a video of a BBC Business presenter which was zoomed to only show their breasts over a blouse. This is a real abuse of content and copyright which neither the BBC or YouTube are pro-active in tackling.
So if you post copy purely for those viewers to perv over, it's perfectly fine, but a 9 minute bulletin of BBC Business or old continuity from the BBC is removed.
I had over 2000 subscribers to my channel, who will no longer see a daily digest of local news reports or business news, because the BBC doesn't have a filter to decide which copyright claims they should go for, while footage which is manipulated continues to be streamed for all to see.
