Future of news organisations in a social world: the big guns discuss #smsnyc
David Hayward
is a video consultant. Twitter: @david_hbm
The irony was certainly not lost on David Carr, the New York Times excellent media columnist, as he introduced Peter Horrocks (@PeterHorrocks1), director of BBC Global News, Janine Gibson (@Janine Gibson), editor in chief of Guardian US and Mark Thompson CEO of the New York Times (and of course the former BBC director general).
However - country of origin seemed to be almost the only point of consensus for the panel. This was certainly not a session where everyone politely agreed with each other.
Understandably, the opening exchanges were all about the events in Boston that week. Each was asked what they had learned from the coverage in terms of mainstream news and social media.
Peter Horrocks began, saying you need to keep your head, make sure you get it right on all platforms. So @BBCBreaking is the same as any outlet. Mark Thompson noted that more people came to the New York Times that week through social media than any other means. For the first time, he felt, online feeds were a better way of keeping up with the story than rolling TV news channels. They were a more effective way of finding out what’s going on, and Twitter was always first.
From the Guardian US view, Janine Gibson said they tried to focus on being independent, to wait, get the best people, with the coolest heads running the output and say what they saw. She also said that despite huge criticism, the worst mistakes came from mainstream media mis-reporting the story - social media was not to blame.
Horrocks made the point that Google works very hard to aggregate the quality of news - not the case on Twitter, where there is no rating system. Could that damage news organisations and trusted sources? Thompson didn’t want Twitter to be filtered. The BBC Global News chief immediately responded saying “rated” - not filtered.
David Carr moved the discussion onto the type of social media platforms people use, asking why journalists default to Twitter when the world lives on Facebook.
According to Gibson, it’s because Twitter is immediate, it’s a journalist’s dream, it’s hyperactive and in your face. Facebook is sharing, it’s more appropriate for features - almost a Sunday magazine. Thompson agreed, it was down to Twitter being so fast - a massively useful feed into a newsroom.
And there was no doubt that Twitter was friend rather than foe, insisted Horrocks, but he also stressed how important Facebook is to BBC World Service. He used the powerful example of the Burmese service. There are now two ways of consuming content in Burma - shortwave radio and Facebook – and it’s the BBC best coverage for 40 years.
Back to Twitter. The Guardian US editor explained how important it is to news organisations that don’t have satellite trucks. In a wider context, technology now means that the Guardian can cover a live story like never before. From Boston, they had 12 reporters, providing 20 hours of live coverage, receiving 4000 comments.
For Thompson, this was more interesting than broadcasting - multi-media grabs diverse textures and experiences, putting lots of character into it, he argued. Social is personal. Questioned about video, he said he was not trying to turn the New York Times into TV.
Horrocks stepped in to champion broadcasting - a fantastic, powerful and live medium. It can deal with news as it happens and newspapers have a tougher time dealing with the scale and expertise that broadcasters have on hand. TV and TV skills are vital to the future of any news organisation, he said.
It was no surprise when Gibson expressed an alternative view. “I slightly - fundamentally disagree…the BBC does many brilliant things, but not because you have TV channels. The content is the important thing.”
The conversation inevitably moved onto the subject of money, each panelist representing different funding models. The New York Times has 640,000 people paying for access online. So does this work? Carr asked whether this was creating information haves and have-nots. Thompson didn’t think so. They took down the pay wall this week so people could follow the unfolding Boston story.
The importance of commercial activity to the global BBC was clear, Horrocks said. The Guardian made £50m from digital revenue last year and Gibson wanted a mixed economy, where there are many ways of making news and journalism pay: “We must all have faith that if you produce excellent material, there must be a way to finding funding”.
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