Goodbye, Lebewohl, Adiós, Afscheid, Pożegnanie, Hwyl fawr.

This is it, the blogging is over. Now is the time to reflect on all that we have learnt over the past four months, since starting this blog.

The question was: How can the quality and diversity of news and current affairs output be maintained in the digital age?

We’ve all been researching, reading articles, watching videos, listening to podcasts, conducting interviews, tweeting…in an attempt to come to some sort of conclusion. Its been tricky as, unfortunately, we are not mind readers (life would be so much easier if we were), but we can take a stab at ‘guessing’ how the quality and diversity will be maintained.

Speaking with Tim Hubbard, form BBC Cornwall, he assured us that the BBC have a very rigorous and strong filtration process in place to prevent the material being broadcasted from exaggerating or losing the standard of BBC quality. He does believe that more and more content from the public makes the news richer and more diverse. He goes on to say that perhaps at a less funded news organisation there could be a danger of compromising quality in order to be diverse.

I am someone who is not shy to admit that I am sceptical over the whole Twitter phenomenon. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy tweeting and communicating via Twitter, but to a certain extent I feel as though Twitter and ‘news gathering’ should be kept quite separate. Apart from in breaking news scenarios, when yes I agree it can be very useful.

I fear that ‘real’ journalism will deteriorate and we will all become a nation of bloggers and tweeters and eventually lose the ability to communicate and actually go out and get our own interviews – OK so thats probably taking it too far, but you get my point. The other side of Twitter which worries me greatly is only being able to communicate via 140 character. Yes, it teaches us to write concisely and to the point, but I have seen numerous occasions where many well respected journalists have compromised their quality of grammar and spelling to fit their message into the 140 characters.

Sorry to pick on Jon Snow (@jonsnowC4), but here are three genuine tweets by him:

Exceptionally hard to reas Libya tionight: Gaddafi killing his people..but not in the numbers one woudl expect from vast tank presence..

Shd have read:Gadaffi manifestly not in caracas, even if conceivanbly crackers..seems to accept he’s being beaten

Wakened up in Delhi,here for a three day conference:teeming culture shock never dims:1st time I ever came here I drove here frm UK in a bus!

I don’t even need to pick out the shocking spelling mistakes and shortening of words to fit what he wants to say into one tweet.

OK, so I know this is probably an extreme example and you are probably all reading through this blog post now trying to find mistakes (and I’m sure there are plenty), but my point is that many younger followers of Jon Snow (and thousands of other celebrities who tweet) will think it is OK and the norm to shorten words. Our English vocabulary and diction could all change drastically in the next decade, all because of Twitter. Scary isn’t it.

So, what I am trying to say is that the BBC needs to be very careful to maintain their top standards during this time by using their strong filtration system they have in place. I feel as though we are at a tipping point as far as the digital media goes. We could fall either way and very soon. I only hope that we fall to the side where it is possible to maintain quality as well as keeping a diverse and culturally rich output.

We have touched upon so many different elements of the question throughout this blog and I am not going to analyse all of them here. But I feel as though, us four, as a group have grasped the question and all have a clear understanding as to how public service broadcasting can maintain its quality and diversity throughout the digital age. By keeping this blog and preparing for the presentation we have become aware of different aspects which we, as future journalists, should bear in mind in order to keep our content diverse, yet rich with quality.

BBC news

Twitter

BBC Guidelines

Tim Hubbard interview

So, thats it from me. After all I’ve said about Twitter, I’m going to take this opportunity to promote my personal Twitter feed: @lucybickerton

Bye!

All good things come to an end… (even this blog)

As we near the end of this blogging experience its time to sum everything up, wrap it up in a parcel and put it to bed.

However before we do I want to leave you with a rather funny set of blooper reels. Yes, we have been discussing how quality and diversity of public service broadcasting will be maintained in the digital age. We expect news at our fingertips 24 hours a day, so this said, mistakes are bound to occur – and they do… take a look at these spectacular, laugh out loud BBC bloopers -

The end of the line

So in a couple of days this whole assignment will be over. I thought it would be a good idea to reflect on how it’s gone and what conclusions, if any, I’ve come to.

First of all, I wont lie, it has been tough to keep a blog going and to keep coming up with ideas whilst doing so much other stuff. But we’ve managed it.

I think we addressed the question in a well-balanced, structured way. We outlined what we thought the question meant and all the implications of the words. Then moved on to what the challenges were for each section.

Hopefully our presentation was the point that we reached a conclusion.  We decided that UGC is here to stay and that might cause a challenge to quality, but certainly not diversity. However, we think that if the BBC keeps its filter systems and ‘quality’ firmly at the heart of its programming, then they can maintain quality and diversity in the digital age.

I think if we’d have had more time, we could have gone into PSB in other countries but then I think our coverage of all would have been thin. I think we’ve delved really deep into the debate with the BBC. Our posts have generated discussion and disagreement, and hopefully made people think a little more about the topic.

I’ve enjoyed reading other people’s blogs too. Some posts were particularly interesting and I think press freedom and impartiality were rather difficult topics to write about and explore.

All in all, I think a good job has been done by all. Many of the topics, including ours, were difficult to come to conclusions about….but I think in the process of trying to… we learnt a lot.

Radio 4: too old, too white, too southern?

Radio 4 has been criticised for not appealing sufficiently to young people, northerners and ‘those from ethnic and minority backgrounds.’

The BBC Trust has said that BBC Radio 4 needs to appeal to younger audiences.

In response to this, Victoria Coren recently wrote in The Observer saying, “Hurray! Radio 4 is to get younger, cooler, more regional, more ‘ethnic’ and totally different in way.”

This quote has angered a part of me which believes in not pandering to EVERYONES needs.

In my opinion, why should the BBC create radio stations where everybody is made ‘welcome’. So what if Radio 4 seems a little too middle-aged and middle-class for the average Radio 1 listener. That is precisely why the BBC have more than one station – to have something unique for everyone. This is the way it should stay.

In response to the BBC Trust report, Rod Little in The Sunday Times wrote: “Isn’t it about time Radio 1′s bangin’ DJs Fabio and Grooverider attempted to broaden their listenership and reach out to an older, whiter and more middle-class audience?”

Don’t get me wrong, I am your average Radio 1 listener and that is the exact reason why I feel as though I have the right to comment on the quote by Victoria Coren.

I think her view can be classified as ‘diversity’ gone mad. This is a true example where the BBC will be prepared to lower the quality of their output to please the masses.

Our presentation

How can the quality and diversity of the news output be maintained in the digital age?

Question Time Moves To Glasgow

Cuts across the board have apparently prompted the move of Question Time to Scotland. Now this to me seems a little odd given all the work they must have to do at Westminster.

Is this an aim for diversity? Is it the rules gone a little mad? Or, is this a good move?

Article in the Guardian on Question Time.

Question Time is produced by an outside company but it’s staff report to the BBC.

The History of Social Media

BBC ran a radio series on social media….where it came from and where it’s going….and here it is…..

BCC Radio 4: The Secret History of Social Networking

Get the lowdown on what the BBC thinks of this form of digital media…

Citizen’s Coalition for Public Service Broadcasting

A ‘broad mix of  civil soci ety groups, char i ties, com mu nity groups, unions and arts organ isa tions who believe pub lic ser vice broad cast ing is a pub lic good.’

http://www.publicservicebroadcasting.org.uk/

 

 

Reshaping BBC online

How the BBC keep up quality and identity on their online presence. http://bbc.in/e0NTuw