Police Brutality and YouTube

Earlier this evening, a friend of mine posted this transparency report from Google on his Facebook page. I was extremely intrigued when I read one of the bulleted items on the page:

Observations on Content Removal Requests

• We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove. Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal of videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. We did not comply with those requests, which we have categorized in this Report as defamation requests.

The fact that YouTube did not comply with law enforcements' requests is a huge victory for independent journalism. We've already heard cases this semester of citizen journalists capturing unethical or illegal police behavior; YouTube was often responsible for bringing the travesties to light. Kudos to the video-sharing website for protecting citizen and independent journalists over government and law enforcement agencies. Let's hope that these priorities remain even after YouTube begins offering mainstream-like television on its website next year.