Citizen-journalists will love this new YouTube app!

We wanted to pass this article on to you, published by the staff at AppScout, a site devoted to providing access to open source programs.

With the advent of "citizen journalism," anyone with a camera, an Internet connection, and a few questions can become a member of the fourth estate. But how do you know if this reporting is accurate?

YouTube on Tuesday introduced a new portal, dubbed YouTube Direct, intended to provide news organizations with a more organized way to find and use homemade videos about the day's major news stories.

Let's say a tornado touches down and wipes out a Midwestern town, a politician makes a newsworthy comment at a voter meet-and-greet, or a traffic accident has brought a major highway to a standstill. A news team might not be able to make it to the scene immediately, but you had your camera out and captured the action.

Now, through YouTube Direct, you can submit your video to the news organization of your choice and that station or Web site editor can choose whether to use or decline your footage via a private dashboard. The result? "Citizen stringers," YouTube said.

"Built from our APIs, this open source application lets media organizations enable customized versions of YouTube's upload platform on their own websites," YouTube wrote in a blog post. Submitted videos will remain live on the owner's own YouTube channel "so users can reach their own audience while also getting broader exposure and editorial validation for the videos they create," YouTube said.

The platform was built with news organizations in mind, but YouTube said it can be used for any organization looking to source video content. "Businesses can use YouTube Direct to solicit promotional videos, nonprofits can use the application to call out for support videos around social campaigns and politicians can use the platform to ask for user-generated political commercials," YouTube said.

ABC News, the Huffington Post, NPR, Politico, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, and WHDH-TV/WLVI-TV in Boston have already been using YouTube Direct.