Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014 Session: Trust and the Changing Face of News Gathering
For this year’s Frontline Club session at Sheffield Doc/Fest, we bring together a panel to discuss Trust and the Changing Face of News Gathering on Monday 9 June from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM at the ITV Town Hall Reception Rooms.
In many areas of the world it is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous for foreign journalists and filmmakers to gain access and cover stories as they unfold. Today, thanks to user-generated content these stories no longer remain unreported. With pressure to bring viewers the news as it is happening, is there enough time to verify the material? How does this uncorroborated footage affect the contract with the viewer?
This panel will address the technology and the techniques used today, looking at how content is verified, and how you can empower people to tell their own stories and distribute it to local and international communities.
Matthew Eltringham is an RTS award-winning journalist and editor of the BBC College of Journalism, the body responsible for training the BBC’s 6,500 journalists. He was the founding editor of the BBC’s user generated content team that has transformed the way the BBC uses social media in its daily journalism. He has worked across TV, radio and online in his 19 year career at the BBC.
Rina Tsubaki leads and manages the Verification Handbook and the Emergency Journalism initiatives at the European Journalism Centre in the Netherlands. While the Verification Handbook provides step-by-step guidelines for how to deal with user-generated content (UGC) during emergencies, Emergency Journalism brings together resources for media professionals reporting in and about volatile situations in the digital age. Her previous work focused on the role of citizens in the changing media landscape.
Malachy Browne is news editor with Storyful, the first news agency of the social media age. Headquartered in Dublin and with staff in Asia and the US, Storyful helps its news clients discover, verify and distribute the most valuable user-generated content on social media platforms. A coder turned journalist, Browne takes an interest in the confluence of technology and journalism.
Fergus Bell is the international social media and UGC editor for the Associated Press. He leads the operation to source and verify user-generated content so that the AP can acquire and publish this content across formats. He also trains and advises AP’s global staff in UGC acquisition and social media monitoring. In 2013 Fergus co-founded a committee for the Online News Association that looks at the ethics and standards of UGC and digital newsgathering in the news industry.
