Big Idea 3
Live blogging
16:00 Big Idea 3: Conversation with Richard Sambrook (BBC)
-interviewed by Andrew Nachison (Media Center)
Question: Have you heard anything here that has opened your eyes to send you thinking in another direction?
RS: We easily get trapped in either/or mindset: MSM vs. Bloggers, get over it. We live in a remixed mash-up world.
All of us here at the conference are connected somehow, there are others not here who are not wired and their voices are not being heard. There are social gaps as well and how we plug those gaps is the big issue.
AN: The world is already flooded by info. What happens when that explodes with even more info?
RS: Success is traditionally measured by numbers. In an on-demand environment, appreciation is valued.
AN: New objectives?
RS: BBC must be about appreciation. We are all in this 24 hour world and the immediacy of the internet, but we must provide depth.
AN: How you provide content? Looking at it from the bottom-up perspective, how does this fit?
RS: Citizen journalism can be broken down into eyewitness, blogs and opinions, breaking news, and “Dan Gillmor” moment, as there are experts out there. How to reach and enable the public to improve our service?
AN: How is the conversation within the BBC?
RS: We’ve made big strides. 2005 was a watershed year, recognizing availability and value. This year we must talk about how to access depth of expertise.
Question: Definitions of citizen journalism. Totally missing is small j journalism. What is your definition of citizen journalism?
RS: We are never going to arrive at a agreed-upon definition, I personally don’t like the definition. Citizen media or user content. There are some blogs that want to be about journalism and others about their cats and many in between. Embrace diversity of viewpoints, for example Global Voices.
Question: Audience being more knowledgeable than journalists. To what extent do the language you use to describe content provider and audience is outdated? Does it still hold value?
RS: Everything in between is possible. It is still in play, many just want to consume. For those people that want to do it themselves, fine. There is a mass audience, some want to play and others want to just consume.
TAG: wemedia
If the Net was a real revolution it would, of course, simply destroy Old Media.
One key trend is now obvious – the more partisan the medium, the more likely it is that the Net will kill it. National newspapers – already terminal. The BBC – trusted to a degree, but a narrow, heavily edited, output means it will never be unassailable.
Beware: Evolution can be rapid, there is no time to prevaricate. Met any nice Neanderthals lately?
The World is not flooded by information. The World is flooded with people who want to know everything, who think it is possible to know everything, who think that knowing everything is helpful… One day they will realise that they can be happy with just the Net and a life of their own. Then the information they need and want will be there, waiting for them. The rest they will ignore. That’s the price of freedom and power – you learn what you don’t know, and you live with it.
Citizen journalism does not need to be broken down into categories. It’s this simple: There are those who want to chip in, and there are those who want to listen, and there are those who don’t want to know. Chip-In Media (CHIME) is flexible.
If I want to chip in on brain surgery I will be ignored – I have no reputation.
When I want to chip in on the the subject of the Net people listen. My reputation is still uncertain – but I am informed, I offer insight, I give value. I sow the seed of reputation. Recognition will follow.