Turkey experiment
- 25 Jun 07, 08:44 AM
This week we start some special coverage of Turkey in advance of the forthcoming elections. We have sent freelance journalist Ben Hammersley on a journey through Turkey to report on the issues and debate in the country.
But as well as conventional reports on BBC News 24, BBC World, the World Service and the internet he is also reporting unconventionally.
As an experiment, he will also be filing his impressions through a range of of other sites including his personal blog, Flickr - the photo site, YouTube - where you can already see some material, del.icio.us - the bookmarking site, and Twitter. The idea is to extend his reporting and possibly reach new audiences in new ways.
It's not something that every BBC reporter could or should do. Ben is particularly experienced at the use of the internet and social media sites of this kind. So it will be interesting to see what he is able to offer beyond normal news reporting in this way. He is also filing background material on how he has gone about his assignment - how he selected his interviews, what decisions lay behind his reports, and making his source material and notes available. We hope it will open a window on how international reporting is carried out. It won't be perfect, but it will be interesting and will break open the conventional mould of foreign correspondent. Take a look at what Ben's doing and let us know what you think.
Richard Sambrook is director, Global News
