Further to my Rupert and the genie post the other day, about how Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is said to have dropped the ball on social media, the BBC is taking a different tack.
BBC news journalists have been told to use social media as a primary source of information by Peter Horrocks, the new director of BBC Global News who took over last week. He said it was important for editorial staff to make better use of social media and become more collaborative in producing stories.
The Guardian, which is obviously taking a keen interest in the relationship between mainstream and social media, goes on to say that the BBC is doing its best to adapt to the changing technology and the way that people interact with media.
Following the creation of a social media editor post in October, this marks another fundamental change in the Beep’s attitude towards social media.
I note that Fairfax in NZ recently appointed a social media editor. Good on them.
My point is that no matter what the organisation, the ability to understand the reality of changing human behaviours and methods of communication is critical to any business model. Adapt or die? And then there’s innovation and good ideas.
Goes for political parties too.
It all sounds fine except for the part about the BBC jounalists using social media as a primary source of information. – Is social media a reliable source of information? Scary.
Spud, it is if you know how to filter it and cross check the information.
What social media offers in terms of information gathering is speed and proximity to the news itself as well as a means to disseminate information in varied ways.
Perfect examples of the strength of social media have been the Mumbai attacks, the Iranian protests and Haiti – in each of those incidence’ social media provided a means for information to be spread at a speed and closeness to the event that traditional media can only dream of. The ability of MSM to move with that, but also add value (filtering and adding depth) is crucial to its survival.
I agree with most of what you’re saying, definitely, but I’m not sure about it as a primary source of information. I agree that it has its place.
And what do you cross check it against Frank?
You follow up the story – use the cues in social media sources as a cue and go to the source… investigative journalism
… apologies for the double use of the word “cue” there.
Sigh I wish we had more than an occassional piece of evidence that investigative journalism even exists anymore. Everything is “reporting”> News rooms are shrinking and ever reliant on press releases to meet their myriad deadlines.
Tracey,
I hear you… which is why the other discussion going on around cutting the RNZ budget is so critical to the health of NZ media… we can’t let it happen.
Come on democracy!
We need a strong, modern public media service. Radio NZ with its benchmark quality broadcasting standards is the cornerstone. We msut fight attempts to erode our public broadcaster. As a start, you can go to facebook and join the group Save RadioNZ http://tinyurl.com/yjdtfrt
Thanks for pointing out the Facebook page, Clare. It’s great to see the activity!