By Greg Rosenberg
News executive Adrian Van Klaveren's opening keynote addressed the BBC's "Creative Future" vision of news that is tailored and responsive to readers across all media platforms.
The BBC will incorporate user-generated content - from cell phone pictures to webcam video blogs - into its on-demand broadcast news.
During the 2005 London bombings, readers sent more than 20,000 emails and several hundred digital photographs as the story broke, Van Klaveren said. The boom in reader submissions has not dropped off since then, as even the less sensational stories garner user content.
| BBC’s Adrian Van Klaveren talks to student Journalist Sara Spangler about what he thinks the quintessential media consumer needs most from their journalists today. Listen
What does Klaveren think will happen to newspapers and news broadcasts in the years to come? Listen Klaveren discusses what he thinks a citizen journalist is and whether or not that term is correct when it comes to user-generated content. Listen |
| Watch BBC Creative Futures Video |
He showed a futuristic video illustrating coverage of a London bombing in 2010. It depicted a young woman sharing video over the Web directly to the BBC news service. One news consumer, an elderly woman, gets word of the bombing through traditional radio and television, while an on-the-go businessman uses a cell phone and streaming video in taxicabs and on a train.
The ability of citizens to help cover the news means large media organizations such as the BBC "do not have a monopoly on truth," Van Klaveren said.
At the same time, news consumers have greater choice, less brand loyalty, greater opportunity for involvement, and more power to get the news when, where, and how they want, he said.
The BBC's mission is to be the global leader in 24/7 and on-demand news and current affairs. The competition for international English-language news is fierce, with broadcasts originating in non-English speaking countries, "but the local expertise still dominates," Van Klaveren said.
Broadcast media also face challenges from self-publishing Web sites like YouTube and Google Video, and from social networking sites like MySpace and Bebo. These sites initially attracted mainly teenagers, but now appeal to an older audience as well, he said.
Big media companies are increasingly working through third-party platform operators and aggregators to distribute their content. "Today we focus on packaging, making content work on all platforms. Tomorrow we'll focus on devices and distribution," he said.
The London bombings showed the BBC that successfully engaging an audience presents even more challenges, he said. E-mails came in at a rate of 80 per second in a peak period. The company had to sort through the material for what was newsworthy and publishable.
News providers must ensure that the content they offer is relevant to readers, Van Klaveren said. As an example, he cited a recent BBC package about what parents should pack in box lunches. While not a so-called hard news topic, the package generated significant feedback from readers and passionate online debate.
The media should "change to survive and not change for change's sake," he said. However, he later pointed out that "big media does not have a good track record with big innovations."
Iraqi blogger and ONA conference participant Zeyad Kasim said he agrees with Van Klaveren's vision for news delivery in the future. Kasim is a dentist and the author of the popular Healing Iraq blog.
"This is the way it should be, with a convergence of technologies helping to get the news on the road," Kasim said after the keynote. "You are showing them something real."
Van Klaveren is deputy director and controller of production for BBC News, with editorial, production and financial responsibility for television, radio and online news, and a particular emphasis on new services. He also oversees key technology projects across BBC News.
Van Klaveren has been with the BBC for 22 years, starting as a TV news and current affairs producer, then running the BBC's extensive Newsgathering operations in the UK and around the world. In recent years he's been instrumental in leading changes within BBC News to address the shifting broadcast environment, changing demands from audiences and new technological possibilities. While in Newsgathering, he introduced the use of video phones as a way of gathering news material, as well as the use of store and forward technology for delivering material from location. Recently, he's overseen BBC News' move into podcasting and video podcasting, and has developed its overall mobile strategy.
