We the media?

Ben Metcalfe just announced that my erstwhile employer the BBC has launched a blog portal.

Why does this make me feel uneasy?

Firstly lets be clear that the main blogs in the portal are written by BBC journalists and are not the same thing as the two hundred or so internal blogs that we got going while I was there nor are they the same as the hundred or so personal blogs written by people who work for the BBC but may not be journalists or presenters. These are the BBC exploring blogs as another output channel. Even Island Blogging which is included in the portal still doesn't feel like blogging to me but more like reality TV with the broadcasters still in control.

And there's the rub. In my last couple of years at the BBC I felt increasingly unhappy with the tension between mass media and the power of the individual voice in a blog. For me blogs have power because they are individual and not collective. If they achieve collective power it is through the coming together of ideas expressed by individuals. This sits uneasily with the branded, managed output of a big organisation like the BBC. The BBC is on the face of it better than most at managing creative individuals but it is still an organisation and its survival will take precedence over the individual every time - it has to - that is the nature of organisations.

Don't get me wrong. I know a lot of the guys behind this initiative and if any MSM org is going to get this stuff it is the BBC. But even if the journalists writing the blogs in this portal do "get it" they will inevitably be writing as BBC journalists and not as bloggers and I am not sure how that will work.

Comments

[Jon Husband]

does *erstwhile* mean *ex* ?

[Euan]

Bloody colonials ....

;-)

[Mark]

nah its consultant speak!! glad to have you back from the wilds!!

:->>

[k]

Amen.

[Jem]

Euan

I think this is a tough one for us (at the BBC).
I don't think its impossible for a personal voice to be expressed whilst within an organisation but you're right, it takes a hell of a lot of confidence and any organisation, by default can tend to neuter your thinking and your thought.(they pay your wages, they can sack you...)

We're going to launch quite a few of these things over the few months or so and i agree that the voice of journalists, djs, editors and (paid for) writers is not necessarily as powerful or as raw as the internal BBC blogs (that you help set up) or even (the hundreds of) BBC staff who blog alongside their work.

but 3 things.
Already i've seen in several of our blogs a genuine conversation with the user and an authentic, uncensored (internally i mean) voice and i think thats been encouraging Obviously the BBC is learning with this. Its a difficult skill. See Kevin for the best articulation of the hurdles to overcome. http://strange.corante.com/archives/2006/04/17/the_challenge_of_fostering_community.php
We are coming late to the party and know that (we hope) the strike rate is going to be low.
What this portal (its just a list and a way of using up the root URL after all) doesn't solve are 2 of the biggest challenges for the BBC as it attempts to engage with the blogosphere. This is something i referred to in the portals welcome post.
One is a) joining the conversations that are already going on about our programmes, our people and our stars and basically about what the BBC is for wherever they take place (and not just in the pages of the Guardian or Broadcast).As members of organisations its hard for us to join conversations especially when from afar they ften seem so hostile ;) and
b) reflecting and connecting audiences to to those comments, conversations and people who are already engaging with BBC programmes and *stuff* away from the BBC (of which a lot of this is going on via blogs but also via bookmark sites, forums, email lists etc etc..)

that really is hard. that really is the challenge.
and we're aware that that is really what the blogosphere is about. not as you say just an "output channel".

(Disclaimer: I work for the BBC and contributed to setting up the BBC blogs trial and portal. These views are my personal views and not necessarily those of my employer.)

from Jem (yr erstwhile colleague)!