The online journalism diploma module at JOMEC
Pete Clifton - My News Now
Pete Clifton, then head of BBC News Interactive, championed the idea of the news you want when you want it. And he certainly practices what he preaches. The BBC News website, for example, can be personalised in terms of location. There are plans in place to go further: readers will be able to pick the areas of news they're most interested in to appear on their front page.
My favourite (and at the same time most hated) part of the BBC News website is Have Your Say (HYS). I was very interested to hear Clifton's views on the subject. Had my waving hand received a welcoming nod during the Q&A session I would have liked to have asked him whether the BBCi team picked subjects deliberately designed to rile the Middle-Englanders who post on the forum.
A quick browse around HYS might make you wonder if the majority of the BBC's online audience are reactionary, ill-informed and ever so slightly racist. A look at Speak You're Branes a "blog dedicated to the dribble-spattered lunacy of BBC HYS discussions," may confirm your suspicions.
What's more these comments are moderated. Clifton asserted that libellous and deeply offensive posts are not accepted. However beyond that they are not censored, and that is only right, but I wonder if it might be sensible to have a few moderate, tolerant people employed to post some sense, and attempt to diffuse the you-ignorant-tory vs it's-the-pinko-liberals'-fault arguments that seem to erupt on almost every page.
My favourite (and at the same time most hated) part of the BBC News website is Have Your Say (HYS). I was very interested to hear Clifton's views on the subject. Had my waving hand received a welcoming nod during the Q&A session I would have liked to have asked him whether the BBCi team picked subjects deliberately designed to rile the Middle-Englanders who post on the forum.
A quick browse around HYS might make you wonder if the majority of the BBC's online audience are reactionary, ill-informed and ever so slightly racist. A look at Speak You're Branes a "blog dedicated to the dribble-spattered lunacy of BBC HYS discussions," may confirm your suspicions.
What's more these comments are moderated. Clifton asserted that libellous and deeply offensive posts are not accepted. However beyond that they are not censored, and that is only right, but I wonder if it might be sensible to have a few moderate, tolerant people employed to post some sense, and attempt to diffuse the you-ignorant-tory vs it's-the-pinko-liberals'-fault arguments that seem to erupt on almost every page.
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