Hot Issues,Trends,Discussions: YouTube launches citizen journalism channel

YouTube launches citizen journalism channel

YouTube has launched YouTube Direct, a dedicated channel for citizen journalism, in an attempt to better connect news organisations with user generated content.

YouTube Direct aims to make the relationship between media companies and citizen journalists easier.

On the official YouTube blog, the video site’s News and Politics editor, Steve Grove, said: “As YouTube has become a global platform for sharing the news, media organizations have been looking for a good way to connect directly with citizen reporters on our site so they can broadcast this footage and bring it to a larger audience.
“That's why we created YouTube Direct, a new tool that allows media organisations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.”
The channel is built from YouTube’s APIs and is an open source application which lets media organisations “enable customised versions of YouTube’s upload platform on their own websites”.
He added: “Users can upload videos directly into this application, which also enables the hosting organization to easily review video submissions and select the best ones to broadcast on-air and on their websites.”
Mr Grove said that YouTube Direct was also aimed at businesses to try and find promotional videos and not-for-profit organisations to ask for user-generated political adverts.