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BBC hits all-time record high with 42,000 user submissions during heavy snow

Posted: 05/02/09 By: Judith Townend

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BBC News hit an all-time record high for user-generated content (UGC) during this week's heavy snowfall in the UK.

Stills and video were submitted to the broadcaster by 42,000 people, Peter Horrocks, head of the BBC newsroom, told Journalism.co.uk.

Earlier in the week Horrocks heralded the record for both 'the sheer number of pictures and almost certainly for the size of the audience response to a news event in the UK'.

Last month Journalism.co.uk reported that US-based National Public Radio collated 40,000 multimedia submissions - including 30,000 Twitter updates, thousands of Flickr images and hundreds of YouTube videos - in its coverage of Barack Obama's inauguration as President.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk, Horrocks said while it is difficult to establish a record for user-generated content submitted for one event to a news organisation, he is yet to find a bigger previous response.

"The biggest issue is assessing material and then being able to use it," he said, adding that the snow coverage signified a shift to an 'expectation' that users will gather material and send it in.

"It is not about citizen media content overwhelming the journalism," he said, explaining that user-generated content is very much seen as a source, rather than a replacement for journalists gathering their own material, Horrocks added.

During the snow coverage submissions were 'integrated into' journalists' coverage, in online stories and television packages, he said.

Whereas a story like the snow did not provide many editorial issues - other than making sure people had not put themselves in danger - Horrocks said that UGC for political issues and events would need different treatment.

"The general approach is to use it as a source. [UGC shouldn't] cloud what came out from other sources," he said.

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