March 28, 2006
Citizen journalism story frenzy (part 2) - Turning the digital deluge into news
The UK Press Gazette has put together a special feature about citizen journalism. [via Scoopt Blog]
This is part 2.
Turning the digital deluge into news - "Last summer, the BBC created a dedicated department to filter and verify the mass of video clips and images sent in by the public. As Martin Stabe finds, the unit is already being expanded to cope with the volume of submissions.
... Whether it's a riot in Khartoum, an earthquake in Pakistan, or everyday life in Iraq, a witness with a cameraphone is rarely far from an unfolding event.
"Citizen journalism" is not a phrase heard frequently at the BBC. "User-generated content" is the preferred term in Television Centre.
Whatever the label, if anyone needs evidence that it is not putting trained journalists out of work, they need look no further than the busy newsroom of BBC News Online, where Nicola Careem, Felicity Cowie and Anna Stewart work.
Since last summer, the trio of broadcast journalists have formed the User Generated Content (UGC) hub, a dedicated BBC unit tasked with sifting though the deluge of material that the BBC's global audience contributes to the corporation by email and text message, verifying its authenticity and legality, and ensuring that it is swiftly passed on to appropriate BBC news outlets.
"You don't go into this lightly, thinking you can sack a few journalists and get the public to do our jobs for us. It's just not like that — it's quite the opposite actually," says BBC News interactivity editor Vicky Taylor, who oversees the hub.
"The main concern we have with this at the moment is the volume — it's only going to become more and we need to ensure that we have the systems in place to deal with this. It's incredibly resource-intensive. You need to have staff to look at all this material and decide whether to publish it or not."
Indeed, the UGC hub is expanding: next month three more journalists will join the team, allowing it to work longer hours in two shifts.
... The BBC aims to give a byline to anyone who sends a picture, but what they can't expect is any payment, says Taylor: "As a publicly-funded organisation, we can't pay people."
Other chapters from the special feature in the UK Press Gazette:
-- Using a cameraphone to cover Iraq for CNN
-- ITV welcomes the 'video witnesses'
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