1 the bbc goes blogging: is ‘auntie’ finally listening? alfred hermida graduate school of...

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The BBC goes blogging: Is ‘Auntie’ finally listening?Alfred HermidaGraduate School of JournalismUniversity of British Columbia

Alfred Hermida

Graduate School of Journalism

University of British Columbia

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Points of View, BBC, 1962

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Points of View, BBC 1962

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AccountabilityBBC labeled as:

Bloated monolith

Monopolistic

Elitist

Complacent

Poorly managed

Photo: Joe Dunckley (http://www.flickr.com/photos/steinsky/)

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The J-blogNew form of journalism (Wendland, 2003; Singer, 2005; Wall, 2005)

Platform for accountability and transparency (Andrews, 2004; Glaser, 2004; Singer, 2003)

Photo: JKim1: (http://www.flickr/photos/jkim1)

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Methodology

BBC public policy documents

Internal BBC reports

Blog content on BBC and personal websites

Correspondence with senior editorial executives

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Newslog, BBC 2001

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Blogging the US election, BBC 2004

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Blogs?

Dissemination of information is great, but how much of it is trustworthy? They are an interesting phenomenon, but I don't think they will be as talked about in a year's time.

Mike Smartt, 2003

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Resistance“The latest Internet phenomenon of which much is said and little understood”

“Fears by some that a new openness would lead to embarrassing disclosures and uncomfortable headlines”

“Lots of grappling with very practical problems and frustrations”

“People who argued vehemently that it was not the route for the BBC to go down”

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The Editors’ Blog

“Explain some of our editorial decisions, our priorities, answer criticisms”

“Hopefully draw other parts of BBC News into the process as well”

Pete Clifton, 2005

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December 2005 - 1 blogNovember 2006 - 43 blogs

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Editorial values

Same rules apply as on air – impartiality is the watchword. Which means bloggers have to tread a careful line – they can be engaging and judgmental, but must not take sides.

BBC correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, 2008

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Journalistic voice

It allows us a different tone of voice which, being less formal, can convey more of an insight into the perspectives, predicaments and personalities of our reporters (and editors)

Rachel Nixon, BBC News website, World Feature Editor, 2006

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Repairing trust

We do have an interest in hearing the public’s views about our news coverage, so we run an Editors' blog and host discussions about that – an essential part of a push towards greater accountability and openness and a way of enhancing and repairing the damaged trust in the BBC

Peter Horrocks, Head of BBC Newsroom, 2008

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Limits of the conversation

Few links to other websites, including blogs

A one-way process

Demands on time

Unstable infrastructure

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Thoughts for discussion

A new openness

A more personal form of journalism

Journalistic authority

Questions over acceptance

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E-mail: alfred.hermida@ubc.caBlog: reportr.net

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