The power of mass self communication in national disaster
1. Citizen Journalism and the Rise of
“Mass Self-Communication”:
Reporting the London Bombings
by Stuart Allan
Qingqing ZHANG
2. Mass Self-Communication is defined as “the
diffusion of internet, mobile communication,
digital media, and a variety of tools of social
software has prompted the development of
horizontal networks of interactive
communication that connect local and global in
chosen time”.
3. the London bombing of July 2005
On the morning of July 7 2005, four ‘suicide
bombers’ donated their explosive devices on
three London Underground trains and a bus in
the centre of the city, killing themselves and 52
other people, and injuring over 700 others.
4. • Eyewitnesses were able to capture the scenes
using their mobile phones.
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_466
0000/newsid_4663200/4663207.stm?bw=nb
&mp=rm&news=1&bbcws=1
• People were sending images and videos within
minutes of the first explosion, before the
mainstream media even knew there was a
bomb.
5. Why people feel the need to record
the bombings
• They get used to creating pictures and videos
on their phones in normal life.
• They happened to be there and they are
involved in this world event.
• Some of individuals thought they were going
to be late for work and wanted something to
show their boss.
• Very few of them thought themselves as
journalists. (different to citizen journalists)
6. BBC News – London Explosions: Your
accounts
• BBC News was amongst the first to break the
news online.
• BBC News has created spaces for ordinary
citizens to bear witness.
• It has received more than 1000 pictures, 20
pieces of amateur video, 4000 text messages
and around 20000 emails in the first hour of
the explosion.
7. Implications
• This is the first time mobile phone images
have been used in such large numbers to
cover a national event.
• It shows how this technology can transform
the news-gathering process. It provides
access to eyewitness images at the touch of a
button, speeding up the reaction time of main
stream media to major breaking stories.
11. Ade Oshungboye:” I was on a bus in front of the
one that exploded. All of a sudden I heard a noise
and passengers started shouting and trying to get
out. I saw a lady with her clothes torn off and a
body lying on the floor.”
12. Why do you think some photos and
videos taken by mobile phones which are not
of good quality, but can be more effective and
powerful as images than the superior quality
of professional cameras
13. Risk 1
One concerned the need to attest to the
accuracy of the image, in case of potential of
hoaxes being perpetrated.
• Ensure that the image had not been digitally manipulated or
doctored so as to enhance its news value
• Attest to the source in a straightforward manner (this photo
by XXX)
14. Risk 2
A further risk is that rights to the image may be
owned by someone else, which will raise
potential problems with respect to the legality
of permission to use it.
• Trust is the central issue where gathering material from citizen
journalists is concerned.
• People trusted the BBC to treat the information respectfully
and, where appropriate, to pass it on to the police.
15. Ethical considerations
“I find it astonishing – not to say macabre – that virtually
the first thing a lay person would do after escaping injury
in an explosion in which dozens of other human beings
are killed or maimed, is to film or photograph the scene
and then relay it to a broadcasting organization.”
-- John Naughton, writing in the Observer newspaper
The issue of taking photos and videos of victims who
are at their most vulnerable and posting them to the web
16. • Do you think it is OK to use your phone to take
pictures of people in public and post it to the
web for anyone to see?
• Do you think it is OK to photograph victims of
crimes – when they are their most vulnerable?
Is it OK to post them to the web? What are
the benefits and drawbacks of doing so?
