As the shootings at Virginia Tech were occurring on Monday morning, Virginia Tech graduate student Jamal Albarghouti pulled out his cell phone and used it to capture video of police officers running toward Norris Hall. The footage Albarghouti captured is being called another indication that new technology has fundamentally altered news-gathering.
In 1996, Reader’s Digest declared that Blacksburg, Virginia, the site of Virginia Tech University, was “the most wired town in America.” Just two years later, Virginia Tech participated in an FCC auction and won the right to license a portion of the radio spectrum to provide wireless Internet services. Since then, the university has been at the forefront of communications technology.
Now, tragically, the university is demonstrating that its students also are on the leading edge of revolutionary changes in news-gathering and reporting. In the wake of the shootings that occurred on the campus on Monday, it is clear that what was once a centralized and filtered process is increasingly immediate, democratic, and chaotic.
Traditional media outlets still have enormous resources, of course, and a valuable role to play in providing in-depth analysis of the shootings. But print newspapers and even broadcast news outlets found themselves scrambling to keep pace with the flood of gripping images and reports released online by members of the wireless generation.
Real-Time News
“We’re right in the middle of a very complex evolution of old media,” said Jay Adelson, the chief executive officer of Digg. “What you’re seeing with Digg is this opportunity for users to discover and share information. It’s really about discovery of the news and the end of the traditional publication cycle, and what happens in between.”
Most compelling, of course, are the on-the-scene videos and instant messages created by people actually involved in a breaking story. As the shootings were occurring, Virginia Tech graduate student Jamal Albarghouti pulled out his cell phone and used it to capture video of police officers running toward Norris Hall, where 31 of 33 victims died. In the background can be heard repeated gunshots.
Albarghouti told reporters that he was a frequent visitor to CNN and was aware of the news outlet’s “i-Report” program, to which individuals can submit video clips of breaking news. CNN reportedly received over 100 submissions of Virginia Tech content, but Albarghouti’s cell phone video, while understandably shaky, was the most compelling. CNN paid Albarghouti an undisclosed amount for exclusive control of his video.
The CNN “i-Report” program is just one example of the efforts of traditional media outlets to collect the output of the tens of millions of consumer video devices. A few months ago, Fox News launched UReport, and ABC News invites submissions under its “Be Seen Be Heard” logo.
A Million Fact-Checkers?
Adelson said that while there is tremendous value to the editorial filtering that occurs in traditional media outlets, the entire news cycle often is not fast enough for rapidly moving events.
“Once you’ve created this vehicle for direct user-to-user collaboration,” Adelson suggested, “you’re filling a void for the desire of information after the publication cycle is complete.” Adelson said he does not view Digg as a replacement for traditional journalism, but instead sees it as a tool that can be used to supplement it.
There are, however, some potential problems with the rise of citizen reporters. Wayne Chiang, an Asian student with Virginia Tech ties, was falsely identified as the campus shooter during the collaborative rush to judgment. Adelson conceded that such mistakes are a risk for Digg and other similar sites.
“Yes,” he agreed, “there is a risk for the online collaboration world basically to disintermediate media to the extent that an individual acts as an information source without fact-checking.”
“What’s needed is a collaborative filter,” Adelson said. “In the case of Digg, it’s a million fact-checkers who look at submissions and help determine if they’re accurate. It’s not perfect but it does work pretty well.”
