Following the unfolding story of the recent terror attacks in the UK, it is striking how much of the photos and video of the events came from the public.
TV reports of the attack on Glasgow airport were dominated by shaky footage of the burning Jeep taken by a member of the public and sent to news organisations. The BBC alone received more than 70 photographs and videos of the burning vehicle. This is understandable as the airport will have been full of holidaymakers with their still and video cameras to hand.
This material is usually labelled as user-generated content, an awkward term that is not much better than citizen journalism. Regardless of what we call this, it is clear that the public knows it has a role to play in recording the news and sharing that material with the world.
While many offer the material for free, a lucrative industry has developed in selling photos and video. For example, the first photograph of the failed carbomb attack in London’s city centre, a grainy and blurred image of the Mercedes, is said to have made the 17-year-old who took it some £20,000.
It is clear that the public, rather than professional journalists, are increasingly recording the first draft of history. News organisations have accepted that user-generated content as a role to play in the reporting of key events. The terror attacks of the past few days demonstrate the widespread acceptance of user-generated content by professional news organisations.
This material can also help a news organisation make sense of a major event, such as the flooding in parts of England. By midday on Friday last week, the BBC had received more than 7,000 stills and videos from members of the public. According to one of the editors of BBC News 24, the torrent of information from the public also helped shape the coverage:
News 24 was able to interview several people trapped last night by floodwater in Sheffield – particularly in the Brightside Lane area, in Rotherham and elsewhere simply because they’d contacted US in the first place. Their personal stories made compelling viewing, and also guided our decisions on where to send our own journalists and camera crews.
This demonstrates the real power of having a public engaged in the newsgathering process. By working together with the audience, professional journalists can enhance their reporting.
UPDATE: BBC Scotland’s Continuous News editor Mark Coyle adds: “Much of the BBC’s coverage was driven by user-generated content in the form of still pictures and video clips taken on mobile phones and e-mailed to us. Yet again, we saw how technology has changed the way news is reported.”
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[...] BBC’s investment in user-generated content is paying off, as the public response to the events of last week in the UK [...]
One of the problems, though, is that of veracity – it surely won’t be too long before we see people modify and manipulative user-generated media in order to fool the greater media world at large. It doesn’t have to be anything on an overt scale – but remember how the Serbian government fakes anti-West protest images for newapaper publication. So not only could UGC be manipulated for fun and fraud, but also for political ends. 2c.