Community Reporter’s Trip to the BBC

On Tuesday a group of us went along to the BBC to watch NorthWest Tonight being filmed
as part of the Community Reporter’s training programme.

For half an hour I sat up in the gallery in complete and utter confusion as somehow a televsion show was created out of what appeared to be the control system of the Starship Enterprise. 30 different screens, millions of flashing LCDs, all sorts of gizmical buttons and twiddly bits, people speaking into important-looking headphones (including a guy who, for some bizarre reason, insisted on repeatedly counting down from 20 even though no-one seemed to be paying him the slightest bit of attention). There was even a teleport machine standing in the corner.

Ok, no, there wasn’t. But the whole thing was very digital and space age. And as all these people fussed about millions of pounds worth of equipment, I couldn’t help chuckling to myself as I thought about the looks on their faces when they realised that they could actually film Gordon with a mobile phone. One day the light will dawn, and e-bay will be flooded with spaceship monitors. And that day is getting closer, if the BBC’s interest in social media continues. But until then, the power is in our hands.

“It is difficult, indeed dangerous, to underestimate the huge changes this revolution will bring or the power of developing technologies to build and destroy – not just companies, but whole countries.”

This musing on social media belongs to no lesser person than Rupert Murdoch – the media king himself. That Murdoch went on to buy MySpace shows just how serious he was.

As long as there is a way for ordinary people to tell and share their stories and experiences, this power will remain in our hands. The introduction of expensive equipment, as well as making media dependent on advertisers, was what destroyed a really vibrant working class press in the UK in the 19th century. People today have reclaimed that voice, and not just the working classes – every strata of society, the disabled, minority communities, the young, the old. We’ve all been given a voice by social media. And we should use it! Maybe not to take down countries, but to create positive change in things that are affecting us.

Get crackin!

PS Thanks for the photos TB!