World Digital Publishing Conference: BBC's integration of the interactive newsroom

Posted by John Burke on October 30, 2006 at 11:13 AM

The BBC is often cited as one of the traditional organizations that has taken advantage of the Internet to expand its already monumental influence. The company’s head of News Interactive, Pete Clifton, detailed his employer’s strategy when it came to developing its internationally acclaimed website at the World Digital Publishing Conference.

Readers want to be involved and to have more control in news 2.0, said Clifton. “They want greater involvement, the news they want when they want it, to recommend content, they want to hold us to account but at the same time they still expect the same quality journalism. In that, news organizations need to be more flexible in how they present the news.

The BBC began by redesigning the front page to include more video and audio. Today, text reporting still beats video on the site by 20 to 1, but Clifton is sure that will change. In the UK, the Beeb now allows readers to customize their own site and has implemented a live stat box which delivers realtime info about what the most looked at stories are around the world. This helps the public trust to understand what the audience really wants before it undertakes any radical changes.

The Beeb has also realized that “Somebody somewhere will know more about the story than you.” The organization gets tons of emails from readers everyday whose information is verified by a team of journalists who check it and share it with the public as quickly as possible. Eventually, Clifton said they’re toying with the idea of a portal page that would show the best of what their readers are sending in.

Blogs have also become an integral part of the BBC’s strategy and they have “gotten some really good ones off the ground in recent months.” For example, the political editor has learned to interact with readers and updates his blog several times a day, responding to questions. The Beeb has also launched a blog for senior editors where they go to discuss ideas and complaints and where the audience can follow the inner workings of the organization and leave their own suggestions.

For other organizations, Clifton recommended that they:

make more of their content available on different platforms
be ready to innovate with different approaches
be mindful of what audiences want
and when they make a mistake, Clifton said they should admit it, scrap the project and move on to other things.

When they do this, which Clifton sees as inevitable, he doubts that there will even be a department in news organizations called “interactive.”

Also, check out some video clips from the conference grâce à Robb Montgomery and Visual Editors (here and here).

Posted in :