Two, trainee journalists furiously peck out and publish their notes straight to Twitter. They’re sat in a civic society meeting in the Llandaff ward of Cardiff. Advertised on the High Street notice board, the sign read open to everyone. So they paid the £1 donation to get through the door of the parish hall. They introduced themselves to members of the society, identifying who they are. Now, they sit in the back of the hall, listening intently and tweeting.
Once upon a time, publishing wasn’t so accessible. Now journalists in training can publish their work without spending a pound. In fact, anyone can publish without spending a pound. But should they be publishing a summary of events directly as they unfold on Twitter for anyone to read?
The president of the Llandaff Society thinks not. But then, he’s not entirely sure. He didn’t ask them to stop tweeting. ”We’ve never had to deal with this before,” Geoffrey Barton-Greenwood tells me a week later.
The Society is a membership group organised under the Civic Trust in Wales — not a community council. Once a month, it meets — usually in the parish hall with a community speaker — with an open invitation for non-members to attend. So if anyone can come to the Llandaff Society meeting, why can’t a journalist report on what happens there? For that matter, why can’t anyone report?
“You’re a guest of the Llandaff Society,” Barton-Greenwood says. Perhaps, but you’re not discriminating on who can be a guest. Anyone can come and hear what you have to say within the walls of the parish hall. So why can’t anyone unable to make it to the meeting read about what happens on Twitter or another website?
The Llandaff News, or any hyperlocal blog, must strike a balance within this argument. Because the Society — composed of many members unfamiliar with social media — has not yet had to cope with scrutiny in the digital age. As Barton-Greenwood tells me, the Society does many good works within the area, such as commemorating Roald Dahl. But it also ruffles feathers and wrinkles noses, stopping building plans and asking neighbours to paint their house an acceptable colour. Society members would rather people think of the former before they recall the latter. What group wouldn’t? When journalists suddenly begin posting bite-size chunks of information in 140-word headlines as events happen, it’s like having a hidden camera writing down their every move.
The expectation is traditional: collect information, organise it, edit it, then publish it. Read the story the next morning; watch it at 6 pm; or listen to it in the car later. It’s tradition, and the Llandaff Society tends to like it. With a mobile phone in hand, this process shrinks in time, cost and location. Traditions are flying out the window.
But you can’t ram the new order of transparency down people’s throats. Privacy still exists. And Barton-Greenwood has a point. The Llandaff Society easily can begin to close its meetings and restrict access to journalists. After all, it’s not a community council and owes nothing to the new order. This live tweeting stuff can tempt its members to retreat. And I doubt that’s what they want to do; and I know it’s not what I want to do. So what do we do?
Do we wear a board around our neck with the words “Live Tweeting” screaming to everyone in the room? Or how about showing the Society every tweet before we hit the publish button? Should Society members simply be cautious with what they say, knowing journalists are in the room listening and reporting? Or should we scrap this Twittering and go back to what’s familiar?
Hyperlocal blogs and community groups generally share a goal: making the community a better place. Informed residents are part of that process, and somewhere in the murky world of new media meets old, an understanding is forming. But some people, such as Barton-Greenwood, are unfamiliar with Twitter and tweets, or Facebook and fans. Compromise, patience and education are in order. Perhaps the next Society meeting should meet the Llandaff News: “Social Media 101″ anyone?
UPDATE (10 pm, 2/2/10)
Tonight, I spoke at the Llandaff Rotary Club — another membership club in the community — about where the news media is going in Cardiff. Geoffrey Barton-Greenwood, who is also a member of this club, attended with another member of the Llandaff Society. They asked some excellent questions, and expressed similar concerns to those recounted in the post above. They also pointed out that the trainee journalists did identify themselves, but not their intentions to tweet live from the meeting. Because previous students often have not published what they reported, the assumption was that this trend would continue. Twitter and other social media is new territory for local clubs and societies, as Barton-Greenwood said, raising more and more questions. The Llandaff Society certainly seems open minded towards finding answers.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I can sort of see their point, it’s not nice to feel exposed in a way you can’t control. The media can’t really be trusted to give a lovey-dovey spin on things… So for me personally it would be a worry about how things were being relayed during live tweets and with what spin… If it was a live video I think it would be a lot more acceptable because it’s a live accurate portrayal so people can make their own minds up whilst viewing… But with the Live Tweet thing you are sort of left at the mercy of the journalist to look favourably upon you!
Poor Llandaff Society, to have to had to deal with guests trying to Tweet every utterance of its members! I’d have considered it bizarre and pretty rude, I suppose, but then they should be flattered that someone thought their meeting Twitter-worthy as well as being bemused.
I wonder how many generous ‘journalists’ Tweet all their information away before actually doing what journalists do (hint: write articles in which information is set in context rather than fired off in a meaningless soundbite, and keep their job by ensuring their employer has the news first).
Daniel above mentions a live link up to avoid being at the mercy of journalists, but anyone can Twitter, so people (including those chairing the meeting) have as much power when it comes to Twitter as a journalist without a publication.
The students identified themselves as journalists, what more does the Llandalf Society want? If you agree to speak in front of a journalist, you agree to being on the record. That’s what journalists do, and they can’t be expected to accept post-meeting micromanagement from whatever organization or subject they’re covering. The onus lies with Llandalf society to either restrict journalists from their meetings or discuss in advance the story they will be using the information for. What is unfair is for the Llandalf Society to openly accept journalists into their meetings and only to cry foul because they’re practicing in a medium which is unfamiliar to them.