Website Reaps Rewards From Video

A regional news site in the US has shown the value of video clips after one of its freelancers filmed the now notorious taser incident at the University of Florida.

The Gainesville Sun has attracted more than 20,000 users to its website to view footage of student Andrew Meyer being arrested and tasered by campus police at a forum where defeated presidential candidate John Kerry was the guest speaker.

Serving the north central zone of Florida, the daily publication has also massively boosted its national and international profile after the video was posted on YouTube, where it has attracted in excess of 840,000 hits.

Gainesville Sun executive editor Jim Osteen told Editor and Publisher: “The thought there is - if it is on YouTube, it brings traffic to your site because it says it is from the Gainesville Sun. There is a certain strategy there.”

He added: “We staffed it and we did shoot video of it and we got the incident that has taken on an interest beyond anything we could imagine.

“It is the most-watched video we’ve ever done and it had the entire incident.”