Artist's impression of the 'Houla Massacre'. Credit: Flickr/Surian Soosay
We are living in a digital world. The BBC, as the world’s biggest broadcaster, has had to adapt to that world, particularly across social and mobile platforms. That evolution looks set to continue as the ways audiences consume news changes, and breaking news is one of the best examples of this. During November’s Paris attacks, 80% of those accessing the BBC News’ updates and livestreams from the website were doing so via mobile.
There has been an increase in what Stuart Hughes calls ‘social media newsgathering’, with journalists scouring sites such as Facebook and Twitter for content, commentary and contributors, and this has been well documented. What has been examined less is how these digital relationships work, and how BBC journalists are engaging with people creating content found and distributed online.
