- About postgraduate study
- Part-time study
- Courses
- Order a Prospectus
- Faculties & Departments
- UK students
- EU students
- International Students
- How to apply for your course
- Handy Hints
- Open Events
- Student Recruitment
- Money Matters
- About Us
14 Dec 2005 17:40:40
One of the BBC’s top bosses visited the University of Luton last week to talk about how interactivity has changed the face of the BBC.
Pete Clifton, Head of BBC Interactive, was invited to speak to staff, Media Production students and postgraduate research students, about the growth of the BBC’s news site, bbc.co.uk, and the importance of turning news around quickly, particularly in the wake of the July 7 bombings.
He said: “July 7 was a turning point when an unprecedented number of people logged on to our site. People were obviously very distressed and wanted to know what was happening.
“We couldn’t register the hits after a certain point but we estimate that 200 million people from around the UK, Europe and the world chose to log on to the BBC web site.”
The former journalist, who originally comes from Northampton, went on to describe the impact that citizen journalism - a term used to describe members of the public who partake in news reports via e-mails, text messages and video clips - had on the way events were reported on July 7.
“In less than 24 hours we received 20,000 e-mails, 1,000 still images, 3,000 text messages and dozens of video clips from mobile phones,” he said. “All these pieces were vital because they helped us to disseminate news reports quickly using eye-witness accounts.
“Once verified, our team was able to pass these accounts around the BBC to our colleagues in radio and TV.”
Since the tragic events in London, the BBC has expanded its interactive team to speed up the process of gathering and reporting news, and to deal with the expanding role that members of the public are having in shaping news reporting. A special team now deals exclusively with e-mails, text messages and video clips.
Mr Clifton added: “We know how important it is to get news to our audience quickly and the events on July 7 illustrated this.
“We also realise that as license fee-payers, members of the public feel their contributions should be considered. Technology is allowing us to do this as never before.
“The BBC recognises the value of their input so we are developing more public forums to allow the exchange of ideas with our editors. We are carrying out a number of changes to our service to deal with the demand for 24/7 news, and we will continue to hold public focus groups to gauge feedback.”
As well as overseeing BBC Online, Mr Clifton is in charge of Ceefax, digital text and Interactive TV.
In 2004, the University’s School of Media, Art and Design was opened by former BBC Director General, Greg Dyke.
To find out more about media and journalism courses at the University of Luton, call 0800 389 6633 or visit www.luton.ac.uk.
Latest news» 2005» Dec» BBC Boss Tells Luton About Growth of Online News
