Often editorial verification processes are too slow and unnecessarily slow down publication … even if ‘publication’ is just linking to existing information on the net. Perhaps BBC should consider expanding their ‘Related Internet Links’ sidebar on stories to be a little more wide ranging – a quick search of blogs, photo sites and YouTube?

My original impression was that services like Qik, the phenomenon of live internet news, and “web 2.0″ in general was that it could be used as an up-to-the-second communications tool. The idea of a news stoty breaking on cell phones before Fox get their paws on it is what the internet ought to be all about. Well… that, and pornography and MMO grindfests, apparently.

I suppose it is extreme optimism to assume that humans will use the web for actual interaction. Trolls are everywhere, and I know that whinging while anonymous is natural to some people, but let’s do skip it here. I like this blog. Go troll myspace or something.

They do encourage the public to send in their pictures and video, but distribution is still by TV – not on YouTube. But people are going to YouTube to find this information, sometimes instead of tuning in to the TV broadcast. So the point remains: an ordinary dude with a camera phone can broadcast footage as fast as the big guys. Sometimes that guy’s footage is newsworthy. And the audience is searching for it, not necessarily waiting for the TV broadcast. So as it stands, the big guys need a mechanism to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to citizen-produced media, and to get it out where the people are watching.

Nonsense! They have a dedicated channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BBC

Your otherwise interesting article about citizen journalism tainted by your neglect to check the facts before you proceeded to join a popular sport of bashing the traditional media.