The video sharing site Report.tv based in St. Louis has launched in alpha test this week. Its intent is to put the news in the hands of amateur anchorpeople reporting community-based news.

The site was created by Bruce Marler who is a 10-year veteran of the telco community having worked for AT&T and Ascend/Lucent on VOIP products and technology. He's made the move into online video with the belief that "video on the internet is where it's headed."

Marler wants content on Report.tv to be generated by people in their communities who aren't seeing the stories and events that affect them reported in the news. "As a person who travels a lot," he says, "you're not going to see what you want to see... or the repercussions of things in your community." Report.tv offers targeted channels for specific geographic regions in the United States and will allow for content to be uploaded from users into these channels.

Current.tv perhaps pioneered this idea, bringing together user-generated videos and video journalists offering their take on the news, both as a cable TV channel and online where users can create their own programming. Friction.tv, a destination for user-generated news and opinions in the U.K., formed a partner deal with Five News bringing its videos onto the evening news. The forthcoming Ctzn.tv will bring video journalists from around the world together on one site as well as accept submissions from its community.

Report.tv's specificity on community-targeted news could bridge the gap between the confusion of content on YouTube and the curated content on the aforementioned sites that end in .tv. But by focusing on UGC, Report.tv runs the risk of being bogged down by too much amateur reporting. There's a reason why tornado warnings aren't covered from a reporter entrenched in a suburban neighborhood: The details are just too mundane for most. "There's a true feel from amateur video as compared to someone sitting behind a camera," Marler contends.

Marler expects a wider launch in the next few weeks as the site works out its features. "We don't want to be everything to everyone," he says. But the value of targeted sites with niche values offers value all to its own. Or, in the words of Marler: "Your content, your way."

Report.tv will offer direct mobile video as well as picture and email uploads in the next month. It is a self-funded, one-man show at the moment, with advisors based in Silicon Valley and Research Triangle Park, N.C.

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