The BBC has long been leading the way in user-generated content, using photos and videos from the public in its reporting. It has just launched two new participatory journalism initiatives.
One is the appointment of an Interactive Reporter, Siobhan Courtney. On the BBC Editors blog, Matthew Eltringham, explains her “beat is simply all the content you’ve been sending in to us.”
The appointment is welcomed but it is simply newsgathering by another name. The journalist retains the traditional role of the gate-keeper.
CBC in British Columbia has a similar project, called Go Public, with reporter Kathy Tomlinson investigating story tips sent in by the public.
But the BBC’s other initiative is far more innovative. For the US presidential debates, it has opened channels on video services Qik, 12Seconds and Phreadz. Some of the videos were subsequently edited and posted on the BBC News website.
The purpose, explains Eltringham, is “to join in conversations wherever they were happening rather than expect people to come to us and host them on the BBC’s platforms.”
This is a major change in the BBC’s approach to user-generated content. It signals a shift away from the idea that the BBC should host the conversation.
Instead it reflects an acknowledgment that the conversation is taking place all over the web and the BBC’s role is as an enabler.
Hi Alf!
I’m hoping (and preparing for) a lot more of this sort of thing for News orgs. It seems everyone wants a piece of the social media action – across mnay different social media platforms/systems, so the great thing about Phreadz as that it supports just about all of them, making it easy to ‘bundle’ and ‘package’ up conversations and content from all the places it comes from – in one place.
Cheers!
Kosso
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Hi Alfred,
Great to see the BBC reaching out and deploying some strategic tendrils in other conversational hubs. As you rightly surmise, it’s an important step – an equalising tip of the hat that recognises and respects that sometimes, the grass is greener, and it’s ok to hang out in the neighbours yard.
But as far as the business of journalism and news reportage goes, I believe it’s critical that gatekeeper role remain. Citizen journalism is wonderful, but it needs to work in concert with the professional reporting world – bolster and enrich it, not supplant it. Citizen journalism is just as vulnerable to special interest (albeit more individualised), and inaccuracies as professional journalism – arguably more so, as there’s limited rigour of protocol and process.