(Shock) 'links on blogging and the BBC' post

BBC bits and pieces

• In the first part of this BBC World Service documentary Michael Buerk talks to bloggers and commentators about citizen journalism. Includes sections on Burma, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and Sri Lanka. I remember somebody phoned me about this several months ago, and I can see now why they weren't particularly interested in my hole-picking of the term 'citizen journalism'. Didn't really a fit a narrative in which 'citizen journalism' was a given.

• Business Editor Robert Peston on the future of the media at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, including a section on his blog:

"For me, the blog is at the core of everything I do, it is the bedrock of my output. The discipline of doing it shapes my thoughts. It disseminates to a wider world the stories and themes that I think matter...It connects me to the audience in a very important way. The comments left by readers contain useful insights - and they help me understand what really matters to people. That is not to say that I give them only what they want. I retain an old-fashioned view that in the end the licence fee pays for my putative skills in making judgements about what matters...the blog allows me and the BBC to own a big story and create a community of interested people around it."

• North Caucasus through the eyes of bloggers.

• I love Rory Cellan-Jones' tweets for little institutional insights. Having a plethora of outlets to prepare material for sometimes leads to this:

"Day in the life of Rory: Madness this afternoon - TV 6, r4 1800, blog - and now tv editor says I'm banned from tweeting in the suite"

• Radio Five Live Drive Assistant Editor Liam Hanley on reporting from Afghanistan:

"Of course, being on a military airbase, on what's called an "embed" - a trip organised by the Ministry of Defence - gave us a particular perspective on the conflict, not the complete picture.

It didn't mean though that our editorial independence was compromised - we spoke freely to soldiers of many different ranks, and apart from things which may have jeopardised security, nothing was off limits.

Clearly, what we weren't able to do from where we were was to give any sense of how this war is affecting Afghans. That wider context was provided by our correspondents across the country."

• Bonus update a little later on in the day - Today presenter John Humphrys on Twitter.

Leftovers

• 'Friends not editors shape Internet habits' - Interesting piece in the FT on how a marketing executive's first port of call is Twitter and Facebook. Though it might be worth pointing out that his friends are probably selecting at least some of their material from material already selected by editors.
  

• Brazilian President starts blog. Aides surprised when they discover people want to read it.

Simon Jenkins on financial crisis: 'I'm glad it was Robert, not a blog that did what happened to Northern Rock"

Just finished watching the Treasury select committee on the media's role in the financial crisis.

It was a good display by the assembled journalists* though they might have had a harder time had they been grilling each other. And I was disappointed by the lack of discussion about Robert Peston's blog and indeed Alphaville, the FT's blog.

There was this nugget on blogging from Simon Jenkins. For context, Jenkins was describing how those involved in reporting this story were acting in a considered way in the public interest. He denied there was any reckless journalism going on here, though suggested a hypothetical situation where there might be. He concluded:

"I think one of the virtues, if I may say, of established news media organisations is they are, to a certain extent, trained to be responsible. I’m much more worried about the blogosphere. Anything could go out. I’m glad it was Robert, not a blog that did what happened to Northern Rock."

Yes...thank goodness Robert wasn't writing a blog, then he might suddenly have become a reckless journalist spouting all sorts....hang on. Sorry. Is it just me or was Robert's blog actually quite an important factor in all this. After all, Robert was using his blog to break a number of stories during the crisis. Or maybe I'm mistaken. Does Robert's blog exist outside the blogosphere and nobody's told me?

In fact, I was rather hoping the committee might actually really quiz Robert Peston on his blog and the editorial process behind blogging. How did it differ, if at all, from the stuff he was doing on TV and radio? Did the same standards apply? Where was he blogging? Did every last word he wrote get double-checked? What if any difference did reader comments make to the story? Etc and so forth.

But they didn't. Opportunity lost.

*Robert Peston, BBC; Alex Brummer, Daily Mail; Lionel Barber, FT; Simon Randall, Telegraph & Sky; and Simon Jenkins, Guardian.

Links for today: Blogging and the BBC

Blogging

• Paul Bradshaw is blogging a series on how journalists are using blogs. Which is the same as what I'm doing really. So pretty darn useful. Here's Part One and you can use your own Internet initiative to find the others.
• Using a quote designed for Search Engine Optimisation, Andrew Neil says blogs are 'print journalism pornography'. He also said blogs were "entertaining". But in the race for the spot in journalism.co.uk's headline, this quote was clearly never in the running.
  
• Shane Richmond at the Telegraph has been asking the website's bloggers why they don't engage in comments.
  

BBC

• John Simpson says the future of the BBC is bleak. But he is kind of fond of the place.
• Re: Peston and that pesky blog. We've been here before - I pulled this article out of the World Wide bag the other day.
  
• And while we're on the topic Peter Preston in the Guardian says danger is lurking for the BBC's bloggers.
  
• Alfred Hermida on the BBC reaching out in online conversations.
  

P.S.

• An entertaining photographic 'fisk' of the Daily Mail.

Links for today: The influence and history of blogging

Blogging - contributing to the crunch?

• Ok, so shares are tumbling, banks are being bailed out all over the world, and you really know there's a crisis when Iceland's economy is in meltdown. (Honestly, since when did Iceland become such an important cog in the global capitalist machine?) Anyway, I digress. When things go wrong, blame needs to be apportioned. So who or what to blame? Well what about Robert Peston's blog? This post apparently caused banking shares to fall the other day and here we see just how much influence Robert Peston has. (Take note of the tiny numbers on the graph).
  

A history of blogging

• Scott Rosenberg is writing a history of blogging. I'm looking forward to the publication and he talks to Mediashift about it here.

The Future of Journalism

• Dr Axel Bruns, an academic based in Australia, has been to a conference on journalism. He comes to a conclusion that could easily be misattributed to Jeff Jarvis:

"Overall, though, what also struck me during the event was the very blinkered vision of many in the mainstream industry. I got the sense that there's something not unlike Stockholm syndrome at work here - the longer you work in the industry, the harder is it to imagine any other way of working than by following the routines established long ago."