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YouTube has launched YouTube Direct

YouTube Direct aims to make the rapport among media companies and citizen journalists easier.

The channel is gone live and has been tested by media companies such as The Huffington Post and the The Washington Post.

On the official YouTube blog, the video site’s News and Politics editor, Steve Grove, said: “As YouTube has become a global platform for distribution of 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 convey it to a larger audience.

“That's why we produced YouTube Direct, a new tool that allows media association to ask for, 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.