Abstract
The news industry, perhaps, has been more strongly impacted both positively and negatively by the evolving interactive digital and social media in the past two decades than any other industry. Media organizations have struggled to transition to online formats, to find new business models, and to successfully incorporate content generated by citizens and provide 24/7 breaking news. The book Social Media at BBC News: The Re-Making of Crisis Reporting by Valerie Belair-Gagnon documents how user-generated content (UGC) transformed BBC’s (British Broadcasting Corporation) newsroom operations from 2004 to 2011 by taking the examples of crises that occurred worldwide including the London bombings, the Burmese anti-government protests, Haiti earthquake and “Arab Spring” and examining these within a socio-technological and politico-economic context.
The author, Belair-Gagnon has a PhD in sociology and global communication from City University of London. She is an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota, a research fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University, and an affiliated fellow at the Yale Information Project. Her highly readable book is based on observation of the BBC newsroom, interviews with journalists and senior managers, and document analysis of BBC reports, studies and websites of BBC News and the BBC Academy. Throughout the book, the author cites various sources to tell the story of BBC’s journey toward integrating social media and user-generated content into its news structures. The book is organized into five chapters not including the conclusion. A timeline of events examined in the book provided at the outset and a table showing BBC Media Logic pre and post July 7, 2005, are examples of organized information that help readers understand the transformations that have taken place at the BBC over the 7-year period examined in the book.
Belair-Gagnon has systematically documented BBC’s move toward becoming a leader in the digital journalism realm. Referred to as “Auntie” especially in the 1950s, BBC had been criticized for not listening to its audience. Although audience involvement always existed at the BBC, the rise of the social media heralded an era where audience members worldwide became generators of content initially by emailing with photo attachments and later by using smart phones, tweeting and sharing information via Facebook and other means. The author provides examples of news and information that has been shared by audiences during times of crisis from places where journalists were not present. The Asian Tsunami of 2004 is considered as a major turning point in audience involvement. The tsunami impacted Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and numerous other countries, and the BBC depended on information received from people at affected sites who emailed, blogged, and used their mobile phones to enable the world to understand the gravity of the situation. Inundated with emails, the BBC woke up to the fact that user-generated content needed dedicated spaces, and they had to explore innovative ways to accommodate audience interaction and sharing of information. The informal “UGC Hub” that was set up in early 2005 was formalized in the aftermath of the London Bombings of July 2005. In 2008, the UGC Hub became integrated with the main multimedia newsroom, demonstrating a structural change at BBC. They also created social networking guidelines during the same year.
The book is about BBC’s struggles to manage user-generated content and its challenges in embracing such content without sacrificing accuracy and objectivity. In addition, as a public broadcaster the BBC had to maintain its authority but continue to be accountable to its public that pays a license fee. BBC not only involved citizens in storytelling but also used crowdsourcing to seek verification of information shared via social media. However, BBC’s adjustment to the social media environment could be the story of any news organization during this period of dramatic technology evolution and dependence. A difference is that privately owned media organizations had to also focus on finding a business model that worked for online and social media formats.
Changes in media technologies and multimedia platforms created the need to have different approaches to communicating with audiences. Strategic use of different platforms as well as technical skills began to play an important role. BBC began placing emphasis on journalistic training by establishing the BBC College of Journalism following the recommendations of a 2004 report to strengthen journalistic skills and ethics. Although tech-savvy journalists and citizens began playing an important role, the author states that traditional journalistic practices continue to exist: “ . . . Most journalists I interviewed,” she writes, “emphasised—even romanticised—traditional journalistic practices . . . By combining new approaches with old principles, the public broadcaster is able to retain its institutional and cultural significance in the new media logic.”
This book provides an in-depth understanding of how a revered public broadcasting institution made numerous changes related to digital and social media within the organization based on lessons learned during international crises situations. Although the book looks at a limited time frame spanning 2004-2011 out of two decades of rapid media technology evolution, it is also when social media reached a crescendo with the emergence of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. As technologies continue to evolve and newer applications, particularly those relating to mobile technology, flood the market, media organizations will continue to adapt. Hence, this book has historical significance.