Richard Sambrook on User Generated Content

Follow the media has an interview with Richard Sambrook,BBC's global news Director.

This is what he says about User Generated Content

“I don’t believe news will be fully disintermediated – I think there will continue to be a strong role for professional journalists and news organizations, but it is changing. We are no longer gatekeepers to information who can say to the audience “sit down at 6 o clock and we’ll tell you what we think you need to know”. Information is now commoditised and widely available. So our role is to add value through analysis, explanation, verification and by reporting from places that aren’t easily covered. We also have to host a conversation about the world, incorporating public views and material alongside what we generate.
“We can maintain that role by having clear editorial values and staying true to them – which is where I think the LA Times went wrong. By allowing the public to play around with their editorial they were undermining the core of what they can offer. It is important to provide a framework and to protect your brand – in the new information world, if you lose your brand, you lose everything.
“I think there is a strong and important future for news and journalism – but it will be different from role we played in the last century. The internet is producing social and technology changes that will profoundly affect what we do. We are only at the start of a long journey!”

So Richard agreeing that whilst it will have a role to play,the profession of journalism is safe by:

1. Adding value
2. Providing explanation
3. clear editorial values
4. reporting from places where information is not easily acquired.

Whilst agreeing with the principle,his last concept is not that clear.Bloggers have opened up these inaccessible areas .Look at the example of the Baghdad blogger.

Richard qualifies what he says on his own blog

"I think what's happening in the media is the same as in
other professions - but the risks are not recognised in the same way. Any GP
will tell you that many patients now arrive having already diagnosed their
symptoms via the internet. But clearly the risk of relying on that and doing
away with doctors is very high. You can now invest online and conduct many
financial transactions - but unless you really understand finance, the risk of
cutting out professionals altogether could be ruinous. You can conduct many
legal transactions on the internet with no legal training - but again the
consequences of getting something wrong are obviously so high that most people
will still use lawyers for key transactions. "