Videos have become key weapon for groups to illuminate causes

When Michael Markarian watched video of workers at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino, Calif., jabbing cows with forklifts and shooting water up their noses, it wasn't just the images that gave him chills.

It was the cows' moans and cries, said Markarian, executive vice president of the Humane Society of the United States.

"Haunting," he said.

The visceral reaction that moving images can provoke is a reason why videos have become a key weapon of nonprofit and activist groups to illuminate causes.

And those videos can reach a much wider audience now because of the Internet.

The undercover Westland/Hallmark video has generated nearly half-a-million views since the Humane Society posted it on its Web site and on YouTube in late January.

The video prompted the largest-ever beef recall in the nation, sparked local and federal investigations and triggered a series of hearings in Washington over food safety, which are continuing.

Internet companies are making it easier for nonprofit organizations to send their messages. In September, Google-owned YouTube debuted a new section for nonprofits to showcase their videos. Visitors can also link to Google's "Checkout" feature, which allows them to donate directly to an organization.

Thousands of nonprofit groups -- including the Humane Society, Friends of the Earth, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations -- have joined, said Steve Grove, head of YouTube's news and politics division.

"This is grass-roots activism in the 21st century," Grove said. "All you need is a $150 camera and a free YouTube account and you can spread your message like you couldn't before."

Last fall, Jonathan Kaplan, chief executive officer of San Francisco-based Pure Digital Technologies, announced the company's plan to distribute up to 1 million of its Flip Video camcorders to nonprofits to put a "spotlight on problems that need to be solved, opportunities that need to be seized, abuses that need to be corrected and people who need to be extolled."

For $150 -- the at-cost price of one Flip Video camcorder -- nonprofit groups will receive two of them, the company says.

"Video storytelling, well done, can cause the tear in the eye, the belly laugh," said Marci Glazer, executive director of the program. "That feeling can be much stronger than reading a description."

An undercover Humane Society investigator worked at the Hallmark plant from October to November. Each day, he attached a small camera to a button on his chest, according to police reports. A wire concealed under his clothes was fed into a pocket with a switch to start and stop recording.

Undercover work has been a staple of Humane Society operations since its founding in 1954, Markarian said. But in the early days, cumbersome technology made it difficult to be stealthy.

The society targeted animal laboratories and puppy mills in the 1950s and '60s. Undercover operatives gained access by applying for jobs or pretending to be customers and then shot still pictures when no one was looking, Markarian said.

Other times, the operatives posed as photographers to expose abuse at rodeos and horse shows, including the deliberate injury of Tennessee Walking Horses' hooves to make the horses lift their feet higher.

When investigators started using video, it wasn't always easy to find an audience in the pre-Internet age. The Humane Society invited the news media to press conferences where photos and video would be on display.

"But you're relying on the stars being aligned," Markarian said. "Who knows what's happening in the news that day."

Today, videos can be quickly uploaded on the Internet for the world to see.

According to a report by the Pew Internet Project, 57 percent of adult online users have used the Internet to watch video and 19 percent do so on a typical day.

About two in three young adults who watch videos online share links to those videos with others.

YouTube isn't the only destination for nonprofits to post videos. MySpace, the social networking site, has created a section for nonprofit groups.

WITNESS, an organization founded by musician Peter Gabriel to expose human-rights violations around the world, also created a companion site, The Hub, that allows groups and individuals to post videos.

In order for a video to stand out, it has to be something people have never seen before, Markarian said. And it has to impact their lives.

The Hallmark video was "much more relevant to people, much closer to home in terms of the food we eat and what we feed our kids," he said.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)