Chris Brauer on BBC Newsnight
Filed under: Innovation
Smoothmedia Project Director Chris Brauer discussed social media and the popular political protests in the Middle East on Newsnight, the BBC's flagship news and current affairs program.
The programme, noted for its often robust cross-examination format, aired at 10:30pm GMT on 22 February, 2011 on BBC2 to an audience of over 1.2 million television viewers in the UK.
Chris argued that journalism as a profession has to learn how to lose control instead of fighting so hard to retain the previously privileged position journalists occupied as de-facto 'experts' broadcasting news and commentary to the public. There are many aspects of journalism that are changing as a result of the digital revolution in communications but journalism is not changing in a vacuum. As social, economic, and political life change, so does the role and relevance of journalism.
Credibility, transparency, reliability, and rigour remain paramount as differentiating professional journalism practices but we also see the increased relevance of considerations like sociability - how social is the story and how relevant is it to audiences.
In summary it is not the practices of journalism but the business models that are under threat from the emergent digital media and social network technologies for communication.
Journalism is healthier than ever because journalism has more opportunities than ever to explore the boundaries and opportunities of the craft.
