How 'You' have changed the BBC’s journalism

Daniel Bennett was given access to BBC journalists and the BBC newsroom in London to research his book Digital Media and Reporting Conflict: Blogging and the BBC’s Coverage of War and Terrorism. In addition to his main focus, he was able to study the changing attitudes and techniques of BBC News as it adapts to the age of ‘mass self-communication’.

The Media Guardian’s recent top 100 list of the most powerful figures in media had an unusual new entry which claimed top spot: 'You'. The judges’ choice reflected the fact that “everyone can be a broadcaster-publisher in the digital era, as the unfurling of the horrific events in Woolwich, east London - and the Boston marathon bombings - demonstrated.”

The emergence of 'You' - a digitally connected and media-producing audience - as such an important player in the media landscape has had profound consequences for traditional media organisations. They have had to adapt to an online news environment which has become characterised by immediacy, transparency, the curation of digital material, instant collaboration and interactive engagement.

The BBC is no exception, but has faced unique challenges given its long-standing editorial commitment to accuracy, impartiality and ‘objectivity’. So what impact have 'You' had on the BBC’s journalism?

In order to harness the potential of content produced by 'You', the BBC’s working practices have had to become more collaborative. The London newsroom itself is more internally networked, particularly evident in the positioning of the User-Generated Content (UGC) Hub at the centre of the BBC’s operation since 2008.

The UGC Hub scours blogs and social networks for potential news stories, verifies the accuracy of audience material and distributes it to news programmes around the BBC. Since January 2010, the Hub has been managed by a social media editor - a new editorial role.

As the rise of online ‘mass self-communication’ has increased, the demand for sifting, organising, aggregating and curating material has grown. The significant staff resources that the BBC dedicates to these tasks is an acknowledgement that UGC is ‘here to stay as a major component of news coverage’.

The BBC has also adopted some of the publishing practices of some of 'You' - mainly early bloggers - in its presentation of the news; evident in reporters’ blogs or correspondent pages, live text commentary of major news events and the adoption of Twitter by BBC journalists. These developments have led the BBC both to reconceive aspects of its approach to journalism and also reaffirm its commitment to traditional editorial standards.

Accuracy has been pressurised by ‘live-blogging’ the news and near immediate online publishing in much the same way that it has been by rolling television news. A move away from verification before publication online in favour of ‘publish first, verify later’ was reconciled with the BBC’s commitment to accuracy through the practice of extensively attributing information to sources.

New opportunities to include a variety of sources in a larger online news hole mean impartiality at the BBC is increasingly conceived as presenting a variety of perspectives rather than an emphasis on balancing a few alternatives as dictated by the limits of broadcast news.

The BBC’s ‘objective’ approach to journalism is now complemented by one which combines authority and expertise with a willingness to explain the editorial quandaries and limitations of the journalistic process. This openness was partly a response to bloggers’ conscious embrace of subjectivity and their recognition of the value of revealing your own biases and limitations.

Where questions were raised by critics over the extent of editorial oversight in a new fast-paced digital media environment, the BBC emphasised that online content was no different to any other piece of ‘broadcast journalism’, with rigorous editorial procedures including running a ‘second pair of eyes’ over material prior to publication and a blog team to check copy.

It explains why former director-general Mark Thompson once maintained that a BBC blog post is a ‘carefully balanced’... ‘piece of, essentially, broadcast journalism’ - ‘fact-checked’ by a ‘senior editorial manager’.

And yet Kevin Marsh, the former executive editor of the College of Journalism, claimed that ‘blogging has done more to change the way in which journalists work… than possibly anything else thus far.'

Taken together these two statements take us to the heart of the impact of 'You' - a digitally connected and media-producing audience - on the BBC’s journalism. The emergence of 'You' has both transformed the BBC and at the same time has been made to fit into the BBC’s long-standing aim of producing accurate, impartial and ‘objective’ journalism.

This paradox is regularly being worked out at the BBC and the tensions between the publishing practices and values of 'You' and the BBC still remain.

Publishing information at speed tests the BBC’s commitment to accuracy. Reporting ‘objectively’ in a personal tone cannot lead to the subjective reporting available in the blogosphere. Developing trust in the BBC’s journalism is dependent on a balancing act between a new transparent approach and its journalists continuing to conceal their opinions on matters of public controversy.

How the BBC negotiates these tensions in the future will continue to influence the way the corporation’s journalism is produced in the 21st Century. But 'You' will certainly having a big say.