Category Archives: BBC

Vint Cerf on the BBC

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Vint CerfI listen to Radio 4 veraciously and I always tune in to their morning news programme, Today.

Recently two things have really annoyed me about the show. The first is the noise of people typing in the background as interviews take place. Are you listening or typing – you can’t do both!

The second and admittedly less grumpy reason, is John Humphrys’ increasingly oblique and monotopic questioning style.

So it was great to here Vint Cerf , Godfather of the Internet, interviewed today and respond in such a measured, informed and sensible way to and increasingly redundant set of questions from the Humphrys.

Vint has put the cat amongst the pigeons by, apparently, declaring TV dead in his speech at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. But on the Today programme, he was talking about regulation of the Internet versus freedom of speech. A topic that some may rightly question him on given his position with Google and their track record. But given that some of the points raised could have been batted around all day, I was impressed by how clear he kept his points.

My favorite ‘quote’ of the interview was a point he made about the internet being a reflection of society (one of those that could become a long debate). On regulating the internet to stop bad behavior in society, he replied (and I paraphrase): When you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see. You don’t regulate the mirror. You do something about that which is reflected in it.

Have a listen via the BBC listen again service (may not be available to some)

BBCi player – a prediction

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An (other) absolutely fantastic post by Martin Belam.

He gazes in to his crystal ball to bring us – BBC iPlayer launch: The first 14 days

With just ten days to go until the launch of the BBC’s much anticipated iPlayer software, I thought I would gaze into my crystal ball and predict what the first two weeks hold for the software…

One of my favourites is

Day #14: The Daily Express front page “Now Poles Steal Our TV” reports on how ‘hackers’ in Poland have managed to bypass the BBC’s GeoIP system and have downloaded and installed the iPlayer software on a computer in Gdansk.

Go and have a look

Shooting tips from the BBC

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The BBC’s religion and ethics show Heaven and Earth has launched a competition of sorts encouraging viewers to send video of their inspirational places to the show. The ‘novelty’ is that they hoping to do this via youtube.

You can see the appeal for films in the clip below which is worth a watch (no, honest, it is.) if only for the little segment by BBC camera person Sean, with tips on shooting. Little gems include hold the shot for at least 10 seconds – sound familiar.

Sean’s bit starts at about 1:20

Update: Apparently there is a problem viewing this video – I’m guessing if you are outside the UK. Thanks to Peter at Shootingbynumbers for the heads up on this. 

Use video when it works.

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One of our students, Nigel Barlow, linked in to my tips on shooting video and linked it with Pete Clifton’s comments about video on the BBC site. (reported on journalism.co.uk)

Interestingly whilst Andy is extooling the virtues of online video,the BBC strangely wants it journalists to cut back on the medium.

Sorry to disappoint Nigel but no disagreement from me. I think Pete makes a great point. But I don’t think he is saying video is ‘bad’. Just that it needs to be used in a different way.

On my video course for newspaper journos we spend a while talking about why we are doing video. From a business point of view there are many commercial reasons why but when it comes to editorial I like to switch the emphasis to when: when is the right time to use video.

I have always made a point of saying that I hate the way that most web site video is channeled away, hidden in a player in some other part of the site with no relationship to the rest of the content on the site. And there I find myself in good company:

“We should think more about what that page does in the round and come up with a piece of video that absolutely complements the text… we should do less video but be much more focused on how it works and give it a higher profile where it can work alongside the story.”

Amen.

Local is important but only the BBC can do it

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Simon Dixon gave me a useful heads-up to a very interesting snippet in Helen Boaden’s speech to today’s big Future Of News conference. Apparently the beeb have the go ahead for a project called My News Now.

This will be a service which allows highly sophisticated personalisation – so whatever your age or interests, you can get the subjects and the styles of news which you find attractive – when you want them, for the present moment or to download for later.

Simon thinks that the Beeb may be the only news organisation with the local resources to be able to do this properly.

Truly personalised news, down to ultra-local level, takes huge resources. If you’re going to offer news about my town, even my suburb, you need an organisation with someone in my town or suburb to report on it. With its local radio network, the BBC is the only organisation that comes close to this depth of coverage on a national scale.

I don’t agree. I think a lot of the regional media groups could give the beeb a run for its money in terms of content. But it does follow that the beeb are the only ones who could have the brand leverage to make it work across the uk and as wisely says:

Curiously, the only possible rival is the audience itself..?

Jeff Jarvis picks up on this point as he laments the ” long-time-coming closing of Backfence” and in explaining the necessity for sites like Backfence highlights a model for collaboration:

Newspapers will produce journalism, I hope. Individual bloggers will produce reporting, I hope. And people who are doing neither will want to contribute what they know to this pool of information without having to have their own sites. So we will need a combination of models and platforms: Newspapers will have local sites. Local bloggers will do their own thing. There is a need for group sites like Backfence or GoSkokie, which helped inspire it, where people can contribute. There is a need to organize all this; I hope Outside.in can do that (disclosure: I’m an adviser).

BBC local no threat to newspapers

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The regional media are lining up to put the dampeners on the BBC’s plans to roll out their BBC local TV.

According to journalism.co.uk Andy Griffe, controller of BBC English Regions, has been trying to persuade Regional newspaper execs that they can ‘co-exist happily’ with the beeb.

But, predictably, they don’t agree.

Mark Dodson, chief executive of GMG Regional Media, said he hoped that plans for the role out of the service could ‘be put quietly to sleep’ now that the BBC had received an unfavourable licence fee review.

Tim Bowdler, chief executive of Johnston Press, told the Forum: “The BBC should not be allowed to launch new services which compete in markets already well served by established commercial players.

“I have seen no clear evidence to suggest there is a massive unfulfilled public need requiring the BBC to launch ultra-local TV services. If they are permitted to do so commercial enterprises will undoubtedly be deterred from investing in such services.

“The BBC’s Where I Live websites are already attracting a huge audience. In part to the detriment of local newspaper websites.”

I’m not sure that I can agree that the commercial interests already serve the markets to the full. The ever present commercial drivers don’t always sit too well with that . But will the huge (compared to even the most forward thinking of print groups) financial and production clout that the beeb can wield coupled with a more robust brand be too much for a fledgling and patchy commitment by the print boys?

It’s already difficult to balance the editorial value of online (community, video, broader scope) with the fast-paced economics but the pressure of the Beeb entering the fray may be the nail in the coffin for digital investment.

I’m not convinced it’s all disaster. I’ve made the point before that I think the broadcast indusrty is still labouring (through size and lack of vision) under a shovelware concept of re-broadcast. But it would be a shame to see the newspaper hitch-up skirts and run now when they have come so far.