His thinking, published yesterday, focuses on what needs to be done if the BBC's international news services are to reach a (Tony Hall) target of 500m users worldwide by 2022. There's little coded about "It is impossible to escape the conclusion that the BBC is punching well below its weight in the digital world." Imagine what Big H said in plain language to Harding as he handed the report over.
Why, with all the resources at its disposal, is the BBC news new media portfolio lagging behind Buzzfeed, the Daily Mail and many other sites internationally - having squandered what looked like a winning lead set up by Birt's coldwar warriors ?
My analysis: process, culture and money.
Process. In the bid for "long-tail" hits, and quantity of output, the BBC online decided on command and control through a single, rather inflexible content production system, while latecomers adapted, changed and now look altogether more interesting. Changing the system is a big deal, and people are reluctant to bet the bank on a refresh, in case they chose the wrong direction - or the wrong system. While the long-tail might be important in acquiring hits from news junkies, surfers have made friends with other sites and social media tools that feel more relevant to them for their daily news fix.
Culture. For all the noises the editorial leadership make about the importance of mobile, they obsess with the Today programme 0810 lead, the Ten O'Clock bulletin and who should replace Jeremy Paxman. Internally, if you're working in Five Live, World Service, BBC World, any local or regional station, you know that you have no regular daily listeners/viewers at the top level of the BBC. There's an inquest if tv news is beaten substantially to the punch by ITV, Channel 4 or Sky; I've no evidence of regular comparisons with the new competition. The followers of BBC Breaking News on Twitter are indeed impressive - but Harding needs to get interested in how many of those stories were delivered elsewhere first.
Money: It follows culture. You will earn more as Editor of Newsnight than as Editor of, say, the User-Generated Content Hub. You will earn more as Editor of PM than Controller (if there were to be one) of BBC Africa. You can run a department charged with delivering 500m users - but you don't get to sit even close to the BBC's top table.
Why, with all the resources at its disposal, is the BBC news new media portfolio lagging behind Buzzfeed, the Daily Mail and many other sites internationally - having squandered what looked like a winning lead set up by Birt's coldwar warriors ?
My analysis: process, culture and money.
Process. In the bid for "long-tail" hits, and quantity of output, the BBC online decided on command and control through a single, rather inflexible content production system, while latecomers adapted, changed and now look altogether more interesting. Changing the system is a big deal, and people are reluctant to bet the bank on a refresh, in case they chose the wrong direction - or the wrong system. While the long-tail might be important in acquiring hits from news junkies, surfers have made friends with other sites and social media tools that feel more relevant to them for their daily news fix.
Culture. For all the noises the editorial leadership make about the importance of mobile, they obsess with the Today programme 0810 lead, the Ten O'Clock bulletin and who should replace Jeremy Paxman. Internally, if you're working in Five Live, World Service, BBC World, any local or regional station, you know that you have no regular daily listeners/viewers at the top level of the BBC. There's an inquest if tv news is beaten substantially to the punch by ITV, Channel 4 or Sky; I've no evidence of regular comparisons with the new competition. The followers of BBC Breaking News on Twitter are indeed impressive - but Harding needs to get interested in how many of those stories were delivered elsewhere first.
Money: It follows culture. You will earn more as Editor of Newsnight than as Editor of, say, the User-Generated Content Hub. You will earn more as Editor of PM than Controller (if there were to be one) of BBC Africa. You can run a department charged with delivering 500m users - but you don't get to sit even close to the BBC's top table.
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