Liveblogging, mobile journalism and verification

Paul BradshawCity University, UKPublisher, Online Journalism BlogFounder, Help Me Investigate.com

Instant journalism (just add water)Liveblogging, streaming, mobile journalism and verification

Video: Social Media & Student Protests (from 6mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8_i656bVyU

• Events and rolling journalism• Kit and infrastructure• Verification, ethics and law

3 themes

"The Continuous News Desk  is busier than ever with stories coming in all day from various desks. The sports editors, when they hear about a big trade, are pushing the reporters to file quickly and sending that story to CND. All of the desks are now doing that to some extent, and it’s being done more often, with more stories, every week.”."

- Editors Weblog, 2007

Dec 2008 & Feb 2009 http://www.rjionline.org/research/stories/24_7news-cycle/index.php

"The Telegraph will be "aggressive" in the mobile market in the next few months, following the appointment of Mark Challinor as director of mobile in August."

- Journalism.co.uk, Nov 2010

“The adrenaline was running by now. So I turned [the flash] on and took five pictures. I realised they were important and I saw another guy shooting video on his phone.“So I got him into a taxi and we went back to AP’s offices in Camden.”

- Matt Dunham, AP, in The Guardian

Events and rolling reporting

Video: live multiplatform election coverage (PBS)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQrH1OuhPjk

"We increased the reach of the NewsHour's live-stream by having it hosted elsewhere including the Sunlight Foundation and Huffington Post. We also hosted a map with live AP election data on our site and combined it with our map-centric Patchwork Nation collaboration. We used CoveritLive to power a live-blog of results, analysis and reports from the field. Extra, the NewsHour's site for students and teachers, solicited opinion pieces. 

"Many of the tools we experimented with to cover the 2008 election -- Google Docs, Twitter, Facebook -- have since matured as newsroom resources. Except for a few momentary hiccups, Twitter was as stable as we could have hoped on Election Day."

- Dave Gustafson, PBS

"On election night, more than a dozen NewsHour staffers worked in the same [Google] document in real-time -- filing reports from the field and transcribing quotes from NewsHour analysts and notable guests on other networks.

"When [Mike] typed a pound sign (#), that signaled the paragraph was ready and I immediately pasted it into CoveritLive. 

"In a different spreadsheet, staff kept track of which races were called by other news organizations and when. We also used the embedded chat feature in Google Docs to communicate while editing and adding information."

- Dave Gustafson, PBS

I venture to bet that we were the only network last night with an election graphics system running in Google Chrome.

Thanks to our partners at Ustream posting a giant promotion on their home page for a full day our election live-stream garnered more than 250,000 views.

We also notified our 73,000 iPhone app users of our special coverage plans. Our app download traffic tripled.

As for Facebook, we were blown away by the breaking news engagement we got. It has us reconsidering that strategy. A separate two-day effort targeting NewsHour ads on Facebook pages of specific political campaigns grew our fans about 7.3 percent in that short period.

• Twitter stream?• Liveblogging?• Photo updates and gallery?• Streaming video?• Google map?

Same choices, but faster and across multiple platforms.

• Document?• Aggregate?• Analyse?• Enrich?• Verify?

Where is the need?

• Use existing hashtag(s) - or start one• Engage all the senses - and media• Use direct quotes - or RT them• Write as if an intro summing up• Tweet when things change

Live tweeting tips

• Test, prepare, recce, schedule• Auto-tweet upon streaming• Steady camera• Narrate if sound is not close

Streaming tips

http://www.google.com/realtime

http://blog.ouseful.info/2010/12/09/an-appropriate-use-of-technology/

• Talk to the community, recruit contributors, set up lists, groups, photo pools, tags etc.

• Cover the lead up on multiple platforms• Where might you get video, photo, audio?• SEO/SMO - key phrases, ideas• What will the community need?• Do what you do best, link to the rest

Events: lead up

• Focus on achievable goals/results.• Identify key speeches worth your battery

power & editing time• Note times of key passages & edit down to

3 min videos• Arrange interviews & network

Events: lead up

Video: Some bullshit is happening somewhere (Onion) http://www.theonion.com/video/breaking-news-some-bullshit-happening-

somewhere,16928/

• Some regimes throttle broadband during protests

• Can also close parts of mobile phone network

• E.g. Iran, 2009; Myanmar, 2007

Tactics of repression

The mobile journalist

Too busy on social media http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8g3AFnT_Hk&feature=player_embedded

• Be creative with mobile - http://www.twitvid.com/457A8• The commuter (filmed on Nokia N8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ME5_ZzeKI

• Smartphone with good data plan• Flip or Kodak Zi8, etc. (not HD)• Digital dictaphone/Zoom• Portable mic and spoffle• Gorillapod or tripod• Bluetooth keyboard

Kit: hardware

• Batteries - including phone• Mifi unit (also tethering & Joikuspot)• Extra SIM cards - EyeFi?• Free memory - and extra cards• Extension lead & chargers• Power gorilla, solar charger

Kit: power & connectivity

• CoverItLive, Posterous• Qik, Bambuser, Ustream, Twitcam• Shozu, Pixelpipe, Ping• Twitvid, Twitpic, Flickr NOT Plixi• Evernote, Springpad, Dragon, Catch Notes• GeoTag, PlaceTagger, GeoLogTag• Google Maps, Storify, Audioboo

Kit: software

http://bambuser.com/

• Network: publish & distribute (RSS)• Contacts & website emails• Wifi map, 3G recce• Scheduled post with embedded viewer• Preparing users, tags, groups etc.• Geotagging• Plans B, C and Z - editing, streaming, etc.

Systems and habits

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/government_augmented_reality.phphttp://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/766 - from 3.10

• Be 'always-on' and catch the moment. Share first, report later.

• Try new tools & apps and integrate• Establish yourself in a network• Look with a MoJo's eye - recce places,

rehearse, prepare.

A mobile mindset

• @documentally• @ruskin147• @alisongow• @paul__lewis• @adamwestbrook• @ed_walker86• @darrenwaters

See how it's done

Verification and law

"People shouldn't see this as a Twitter mistake; rather it was a reporting mistake that could have occurred on any platform."

- Andy Carvin, NPR

Level 1: Content

Is it too good to be true? Bait?Style and personalityCan you verify each fact elsewhere?Frequency and recencyCloning and airbrushing

Level 2: Context

How long has the account existed?Who did they first follow? Who followed them first?Who has spoken to/about them online?Correlation with other identities? (Identify)Tools: PeerIndex, Klout. Speak to them.

Level 3: Technology

Domain extension - .gov? Check Whois recordsLast updatedPages linking to:Archives and caches; history & discussionSource code

Ethics

Is deleting an incorrect tweet after the fact a lack of transparency?Live tweeting: spammy?Taste & graphic nature: NedaNon-declaration (Mayhill Fowler)

Law

Streaming = broadcast (apologise), archived = publication (edit)Privacy and trespass Endangering sources: UGC and health & safety (e.g. Buncefield)

Links

OnlineJournalismClasses.tumblr.comDelicious.com/paulb/cityoj06Dan Gillmor and Stephen Quinn ebooksFriend & Singer: Online Journalism Ethics