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The BBC goes blogging: Is
‘Auntie’ finally listening?
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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Accountability
BBC labeled as:
Bloated monolith
Monopolistic
Elitist
Complacent
Poorly managed
Photo: Joe Dunckley (http://www.flickr.com/photos/steinsky/)
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The J-blog
New 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 blog
November 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.ca
Blog: reportr.net
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