By Ryan G. Murphy, Digital Media Editor

If you participated in RTDNA’s first-ever webinar “Video-Free-For-All” on November 4, you may have heard one of our panelists, Olivia Ma from YouTube, mention a new feature that could potentially change the way many local news organizations approach news gathering.

“YouTube Direct” – a tool connecting citizen reporters to media outlets through user-generated content will be formally introduced on today.

The concept behind YouTube direct is much like CNN’s iReport, where citizen journalists can upload news content to the site and news organizations can decide how to use that video.

According to a New York Times report, YouTube has signed up NPR, Politico, The Huffington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle for YouTube Direct. Other media partners are in the works.

There’s no question that YouTube Direct may heighten the average consumer’s awareness that YouTube can be a viable source for citizen journalism. As was noted in the Times article, the site has offered newsworthy clips during breaking news events and during political crises, as in Iran’s disputed election this year.

As with most user-generated content tools, it seems that the possibilities with YouTube Direct are vast, but that needs to be shown in practice. In my experience, the biggest hang up with UGC is pretty basic – actually getting people to submit the content.

With organizations like CNN and NPR, where the potential for national exposure exists, the solicitation process is not as cumbersome. For local sites though, the solicitation needs to be very aggressive. Perhaps the YouTube brand will help draw in some news consumers who wouldn’t have submitted previously. It’s also a big help to local sites that good submissions will help carry the local brand on YouTube. There’s a lot of potential here.

As Deborah Potter reported on NewsLab, WHDH-TV in Boston is already soliciting content using the free tool.

Potter writes, “Anyone see a downside to this? It may be competition for citizen-journalism sites like iReport, but from a local newsroom perspective, it sounds like a plus. Sure, you wouldn’t have exclusive content because the video will live on YouTube where anyone can see it. But you’d know where it came from, you’d have the rights to use it, and you wouldn’t have to store it on your server.  Worth trying, don’t you think?”