Chameleon PR

Last night while I attended a panel discussion at The Frontline Club on conflict reporting and social media, British special forces were preparing to storm a Taliban hideout to rescue Stephen Farrell, a New York Times journalist held hostage by Afghan militants for the past four days. Today we discover that Farrell was rescued but his interpreter Sultan Munadi and a commando were killed in the operation.

During the debate, Richard Sambrook, director of the BBC’s Global News division reminded us that two journalists die each week carrying out their work despite the ranks of ex-military advisors and local intelligence support on the ground. So can the meteoric rise of citizen journalism, blogging and user-generated content (UGC), especially in this challenging economic media climate, begin to reduce the need for reporters on the ground?

Adrian Wells, head of foreign news, at Sky News, spoke openly about his organisation’s Twitter experiment within the election in Iran after the news team was “asked to leave” by authorities. The posting of live feeds of ‘Iranian’ tweeters on the Sky News homepage became a story in its own right, but as Wells admitted to the audience, he was still not sure that the live feed was wholly accurate. Some tweeters were later identified to be based in the UK – possibly trying to Astroturf rallies, than ‘reporting’ from real ones.

Jean Seaton, Professor of Media History at the University of Westminster’s Communication and Media Research Institute, highlighted a fact that we regularly tell our clients, that despite the medium, the fundamental principles remain the same. She highlighted Tibet as an example where journalists struggle to balance each story with conflicting accounts while there are simply no Twitterers in Chad/Sudan.

News organisations are facing huge challenges, from net-savvy authoritarian governments to resource pressure at home, and are right to experiment in social media for on-going coverage. However, it’s vital that we remember that quality journalism requires rigorous understanding of balance and the ability to vet and qualify sources of information. That is why social media and UGC are not replacements for experienced, well-resourced, and downright brave journalists on the frontline.

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