Google Inc announced today that it has partnered with social news agency Storyful to create a new video hub called the YouTube Newswire, which Google describes as “a curated feed of the most newsworthy eyewitness videos of the day.”

“Today, more than 5 million hours of news video is watched on YouTube every day, and the role of the eyewitness has never had a more vital place in the newsgathering process,” wrote Olivia Ma, Head of Strategy and Operations, News Lab at Google. “We live in a world where anyone can bear witness to what is happening around them and share it with a global audience, and YouTube has become a primary home for this powerful, first-person documentary footage.”

The new eyewitness video service is not the first time YouTube has partnered with Storyful. In 2011, YouTube brought on Storyful to curate videos for CitizenTube, a news and politics YouTube channel.

According to Ma, Newswire is intended to be both a platform for people sharing eyewitness videos as well as a resource for journalists covering those events.

“With the Newswire, we hope to provide journalists with an invaluable resource to discover news video around major events, and to highlight eyewitness video that offers new perspectives on important news stories,” Ma Wrote. “The Newswire will feature global and regional feeds that surface the most relevant videos in different parts of the world.”

She added, “We’re proud of the role that YouTube and its creators have and continue to play in the ever-changing, ever-expanding news and information ecosystem, and we hope that these new projects will empower more journalists to use powerful eyewitness video easily and responsibly.”

Newswire is already live, and it is currently featuring videos regarding the mass shooting that occurred yesterday at a church Charleston, South Carolina. Other coverage includes footage of flooding caused by Tropical Depression Bill.

This is the second new service announced from YouTube within the last week. On June 12, the video streaming site announced that it would soon be launching YouTube Gaming, and video game specific website and app that will feature Let’s Plays, game livestreams, and other content.

Photo by jm3