The future of BBC journalism
The BBC College of Journalism recently published 'The Future of Journalism’, a document aimed at BBC journalists addressing how the media industry should best approach the challenges presented by advances in technology. The essays range from the pragmatic to the speculative, but they are all infused with the sense that these rapid changes cannot be ignored. But what are the most important issues to emerge from this document, and what potential impact might they have on the BBC’s reporting of the Middle East?
User generated content
In ‘The Audience and News’, Matthew Eltringham discusses user generated content (UGC), whereby non journalists contribute to news by submitting comments, pictures and mobile phone footage to media outlets to be included in news reports. He states that ‘it’s become de rigeur to use Twitter in any breaking news environment’. This was a highly prescient observation, given that it was made prior to recent events in Iran, where opposition supporters utilised the social networking site to convey their version of events to the outside world.
Alongside blogs, new formats such as Twitter and Facebook have become invaluable sources of UGC. Just Journalism has written on the implications of this new facet of news, particularly in the context of ‘citizen journalism’. However, as Paul Hambleton of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation highlights in ‘User Generated Content: Is It Worth It?’ UGC is not without its problems. First, he highlights the inherent difficulty involved in moderating user comments on websites. He gives a recent example in Canada of aborigines pushing for hate charges to be brought against CBC on account of offensive user comments published on its website. Similar controversies are liable to occur whenever commenting on Middle East related content is encouraged. This concern is reflected on The Guardian’s Comment is free website by the fact that most Israel-related articles are heavily moderated.
Hambleton goes on to highlight how user generated content can over-represent polarised views. He cites an experiment by CBC, Facebook and Student Vote which sought to generate debate about the issues students find important. Instead of fostering a broad discussion, the websites involved ended up being dominated by two rival camps fixated on the subject of abortion. Regarding how news consumers feel about UGC, interestingly Hambleton reports that when surveyed, audiences are far more likely to place traditional concerns, such as ‘presenting all sides,’ well above UGC.
In ‘Death of The Story’, Kevin Marsh argues that ‘The Story’ as a distinct unit, has been made redundant due to technological developments. The ubiquitous nature of the internet, and the evolution of rolling news channels such as CNN, Sky and BBC News, mean that audiences are constantly updated and that media outlets need to work harder to engage their audiences – hence the drive to encourage audience participation via discussion boards and other user driven content.
Maintaining impartiality
The primary challenge faced by the BBC is to find ways of engaging with an increasingly tech-savvy audience whilst retaining its commitment to impartiality. For example, as Just Journalism has written about here, the BBC Charter states that audiences should not be able to tell from its journalists’ reporting what their personal opinions are. However, as is clear in BBC World Service Director Peter Horrocks’ essay, ‘The End of Fortress Journalism’ it has now become standard for journalists to have their own blogs. In fact the document under discussion was posted on Horrocks' own BBC blog, 'The Editors'.
Throughout ‘The End of Fortress Journalism’ there are references to the need for the BBC to diversify and share its output. Horrocks mentions that the BBC has been criticised for adopting ‘group-think’ when reporting stories and advocates a more networked approach: ‘By having a wider range of voices internally, welcoming in a wider range of contributors and linking out to a greater diversity of news views and sources, the BBC can adopt the permeability and plurality which the modern audience requires.’ Of particular note to those interested in Middle East coverage is his suggestion that the BBC could partner ‘non-media organisations such as NGOs.’
In conclusion, technological developments present a wealth of opportunities for journalists to both gain access to cutting-edge material for reporting, and to present and share their findings in a more appealing fashion. Nonetheless, the BBC should be wary of the pitfalls that diversification might present. As an organisation, it is committed to impartiality and objectivity – factors that audiences still value – and in trying to fully integrate itself into new multimedia avenues, it must make sure its core values are not compromised.