Page 55 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 2 2011
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THE CHANNEL
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ISSUE 2 2011
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55
ANALYSIS
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THE CHANNEL
Summit used the equation:
(information – noise ) + context =
responsible journalism.
Yahoo! Maktoob, Yahoo!’s site in
the Middle East, tackles the issue of
the amount of background noise in
a different way. While not a
traditional broadcaster, Yahoo! has
agreements with broadcasters and
news agencies such as BBC, Al
Jazeera, Reuters and AFP, to
broadcast their news online and it
has a huge community of 50 million
users. In order not to be swamped
by the amount of user input, Yahoo!
have selected and trained 1000
volunteers to filter content for
them. Whether by working
outwards from a trusted group of
contacts or selecting suitable people
from applicants, NPR, France24, Al
Jazeera and Yahoo! demonstrate
different methods of verification
and sifting of content, all of which
rely on building a strong social
media network.
Reporting on the Arab Spring
has produced many great examples
of broadcasters adapting to the new
immediacy and flow of information
via social media while managing to
add validation, context, authority,
perspective and access. The most
innovative are using their stories to
engage their audience and to gain
further feedback. NPR’s Andy
Carvin demonstrated how
questioning elicits more insight to
help validation or to add depth.
Yahoo! by its very nature has
stories embedded within an active
community of users and it aims to
mesh content and user experiences.
“The new generation does not have
a strong affiliation to ideologies but
builds up relationships of trust
using social media” explains
Hosam El Sokkari, Head of
Audience, Yahoo! Middle East.
LIKELY TRENDS
The mix of social media and
broadcasting has had a profound
impact on the changes taking place
in the Middle East. The political
situation continues to evolve
rapidly in ways that are difficult to
predict, and it is almost as difficult
to predict how traditional
broadcasting and digital tools will
develop an even richer mix of
services for their audiences.
However we can suggest some
likely trends:
• Protestors will continue to find
ways round government
restrictions on free communication.
Although governments will become
more adept at closing down
particular elements of the internet,
protestors with outside help will
find new ways to set up do‑it‑
yourself internet services and to
encrypt their messages.
• Social media companies will
become more aware of their
influence on news and will
acknowledge more responsibility
for this “public” service.
• More and more professional
broadcast services will form
relationships with key bloggers or
influencers in social media, so that
they are linked in to changing
events on the ground as they
happen. They will provide training
to these contacts as Al Jazeera is
already starting to do.
• More tools will become available
for broadcasters to check the
authenticity of reports coming from
unknown sources. There will be
easily available tools for checking
that videos are original just as
existing tools like Tineye check
images against those previously
published online. We can also
expect more automated monitoring
of messages to check the overall
sentiment, as well as the use of
keywords.
• Broadcasters will increase
investment in the people and tools
to monitor social media traffic, with
research on stories being driven
more by inbound information.
The Arab Spring looks set to be
one of the pivotal events of this
decade and it also highlights some
of the trends that will drive
broadcasting during this time.
■
More tools
will become
available
for broad-
casters to
check the
authentic-
ity of
reports
“
”
▼
Left
Comparativementions of Syria
in English and Arabic on social media
▼
Advertisement fromFrance 24
campaign “The Birds”
w.aib.org.uk
Further reading on this subject and
links to websites cited in this article
can be found at
