#polis2014: A few final thoughts on robot journalism, Durex and James Bond
Cathy Loughran
is an editor of the BBC Academy blog
Now the dust has settled on what some of the media’s great and good had to say at this year’s #polis2014 conference on transparency - Alan Rusbridger on there now being “no more confidential digital information”, Michael Crick on British journalism being “no longer too supine” - I thought I’d whittle out some passing gems that were shared away from the main stage at the LSE last week.
As is often the case at such events, some of the most intriguing and entertaining information surfaced in sessions about the nuts and bolts of journalism. Here are a few nuggets that made me sit up straight on a stuffy Friday afternoon:
Currently involved in a huge piece of research at Columbia University into how broadcasters use social media, she revealed that only 13% of user-generated content aired by the main international broadcasters in her study was given any on-air credit. Although rarely a deliberate decision by the broadcasters - more a failing of news management systems, she said - it gave pause for thought. Other stats she flashed up included the fact that al-Jazeera uses on average 51 items of UGC a day, while the BBC, for instance, screens about 12 a day.
The man whose organisation checks facts in real time for a living had a big concern about the rise of infographics over hyperlinks and what that meant for transparency. “Hyperlinks let you check sources - here is the source, now make your own mind up. But hyperlinks are disappearing and infographics leave users high and dry. When you publish a photo it gets a credit or has a watermark. With a graph it’s just not the same.” That was a challenge to overcome, he warned.
Paul Myers, BBC internet research expert
A regular College of Journalism blogger, Paul’s contribution to a lively social media session included tips on how to use Facebook Graph Search to find, say, “Conservative-leaning doctors who work for Shell” or “Catholics who ‘like’ Durex”. Bound to come in handy some time. Another handy hint was on how to use LinkedIn to track down people with fake degree qualifications (he explains more in this blog). He also let slip that he has a habit of speaking his internet passwords out loud as he is typing them in. Very web sleuth.
Not for the first time, Lewis was asked why BuzzFeed uses so many numbered lists - admittedly to great effect. So here is the definitive answer: “It signals to the reader that this won’t take long to read, it helps with clickability and shareability.” A case of “number six is so you…”
In a session (admittedly in the main auditorium) examining whether Edward Snowden’s publishing of state secrets was justified, the German broadcaster’s longstanding London correspondent admitted that the reaction of the UK media had taken her by surprise. Whereas in Germany Snowden was feted as a hero, in the UK it was almost the opposite, she said. “Here you have an almost romantic relationship with the security services. In Germany it’s totally different - and for good reason. We had the Stasi, not James Bond.”
Eric Newton, Knight Foundation
Contributing to a session on innovation, Eric Newton made a convincing case for journalists to embrace technology and coding to do justice to their profession and rise above ‘robot journalism’. “Part of transparency [in journalism] is to understand how algorithms and open source code work,” he said. And if “people with journalistic souls don’t crawl inside this stuff and bend it to their needs” we’ll all go to hell in a handcart.
Will Moy agreed. “Bilingual journalists” who could both write and code had no more that “basic literacy in the digital age”. To lack those skills was “like being on a typewriter 20 years ago and only able to type 20 words”, Moy said.
Last word to Newton. On predicting the future, he ultimately disagreed with “the technological determinists”, having faith that, even 20 years from now, it will be “the humans who decide” what’s written and published - not the robots.
Polis 2014 conference speaker interviews
College of Journalism blogs by Paul Myers
