YouTube announced that it is launching a new service called YouTube Newswire with social news agency Storyful. While the two companies have been working together in different capacities since the Tahrir Square protests in 2011 (and News Corp.-owned Storyful was contextualizing YouTube videos even before that), the new service plans to provide a curated and verified feed of newsworthy global events published on the video site. The goal is to help provide journalists with additional resources regarding breaking news, including first-hand eyewitness accounts.

In 2011, 48 hours of videos were uploaded to YouTube per minute. Today, 300 hours are uploaded every minute.

According to a statement from Storyful: “The noise and the need for curation have never been greater  —  and neither has our team’s commitment to creating the best social journalism.”

“YouTube Newswire will feature both global and regional feeds, and will be available online, on Twitter, and as an email newsletter,” explains TechCrunch. “Its feed will include videos focused on news, weather and politics.”

Storyful teamed with Facebook last year on FB Newswire, a similar initiative designed to vet user-generated content and help journalists embed that content into their news stories.

YouTube and Storyful have already partnered on channels such as CitizenTube, YouTube Human Rights and YouTube Politics.

“In addition to YouTube Newswire, YouTube is also launching two other efforts aimed at supporting and verifying news videos posted on its site,” notes TechCrunch.

“One is The First Draft Collection, a group of social media journalism experts who will team up to develop a new website launching this fall dedicated to video verification resources… YouTube is also launching the WITNESS Media Lab in partnership with WITNESS, to produce a series of in-depth projects that focus on human rights struggles.”