( CNN ) -- YouTube : It 's not just for cute cats anymore . The Web 's leading video site is now the home of a new kind of interactive visual journalism , where `` citizen witnesses '' are reaching millions of people with the news of the day , according to a new report from the Pew Research Center . A prime example was the tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011 . In the week following the earthquake that caused the deadly wave , the 20 most-watched news videos on YouTube received 96 million views , according to the report . Most of that footage came not from professionals but from users who were in the middle of the disaster that killed more than 18,000 people . `` Citizens are creating their own videos about news and posting them , '' read the report released Monday . `` They are also actively sharing news videos produced by journalism professionals . And news organizations are taking advantage of citizen content and incorporating it into their journalism . `` Consumers , in turn , seem to be embracing the interplay in what they watch and share , creating a new kind of television news . '' In effect , Pew describes an emerging partnership of sorts between traditional media outlets and citizen journalists . While many of the tsunami videos were user-generated , they received most of their views after being shared by professional outlets on the site , the report said . CNN has officially embraced citizen journalism since 2006 with CNN iReport , which encourages users around the world to share news , opinions , images and video on a wide range of topics . The second annual iReport Awards this month honored an iReporter 's eyewitness footage of the 2011 Indiana State Fair stage collapse , among other video clips . The Pew Research Center 's Project for Excellence in Journalism studied 15 months ' worth of news videos between January 2011 and March 2012 , tracking the five most popular videos each week in the `` News & Politics '' channel on YouTube . `` The data reveal that a complex , symbiotic relationship has developed between citizens and news organizations on YouTube , a relationship that comes close to the continuous journalistic 'dialogue ' many observers predicted would become the new journalism online , '' the report said . Among the study 's findings : . • Video of natural disasters tends to draw the most attention . • News events outside the United States topped the list . The three most-viewed topics were the tsunami , Russian elections and unrest in the Middle East . As Pew notes , 70 % of YouTube 's traffic comes from outside the United States . • More than one-third ( 39 % ) of the top videos were clearly citizen-generated and another 51 % -- making a whopping 90 % of all videos studied -- came from news organizations but included some user-created content . • Personalities do n't seem to be a big deal for YouTube news seekers . No individual appeared in more than 5 % of the top news videos , with President Barack Obama topping the list by appearing in 4 % . While the numbers are impressive , they still pale in comparison to the number of viewers of traditional television news . The report compares the 96 million-view week for tsunami videos to the roughly 22 million people who watch network news shows each evening . ( That 's 154 million over a seven-day period , and does n't include cable or local news . ) The difference , Pew notes , is that sites such as YouTube provide for `` a la carte '' news , letting users choose their own programming . The report does note one potentially troubling aspect of YouTube news sharing . Giving credit for videos , the report said , can get blurry , a problem stemming from a lack of clear ethical guidelines . Researchers found instances of traditional news sites apparently using citizen-created videos without clearly attributing them as well as citizens posting copyrighted material without permission . `` All this creates the potential for news to be manufactured , or even falsified , without giving audiences much ability to know who produced it or how to verify it , '' the report said .
Report : YouTube is becoming home to a new kind of visual journalism . Pew Research Center says news events are some of YouTube 's most popular clips . Score: 6 Japanese tsunami , Russian elections and Middle East unrest were big on the site .