So why did i, a news cameraman, attend the BBC Social Media Summit, at BBC White City? I’m not a journalist but as a dedicated tech head and news junkie, i have now firmly entrenched myself within social media in many spaces, platforms and applications that have engulfed the web over the past few years. With ongoing refinement i have limited myself to a few blogs, webpages and microblogs on which i share my online life, thoughts and news, sharing with those followers, readers and passers by that wish to engage with me.

My initial thoughts on arrival at white city was the amount of discussions surrounding the use of social media, instead of the actual use of the platform. Major media outlets such as the BBC and others, were still playing catch up in my mind. Al Jazeera, in a later discussion, proved that i had misplaced that theory and were actively involved in the curation and dissemination of User Generated Content on a much larger scale than our domestic news gathering organisations, much to the chagrin of a BBC Journalist who suggested that they placed their informants and suppliers at risk. Risk, in many places ruled by dictators, is something that local people will always take when uprisings occur to inform the world of their plight. So Al Jazeera, in my opinion are right to use these means when mainstream news gathering becomes impossible. That’s not to say that sources shouldn’t be checked and verified. Of course they should, disinformation and government propaganda play an important role to the other side of the social media coin as well.

But here is my point. Journalistic organisations, especially the larger ones, are often finding themselves in the role of playing catch up when it comes to breaking news stories. Often finding themselves reacting to a breaking story, rather than breaking it themselves. The whole point of social media is that the nearest witness, with the right equipment and motivation, can beat the large news organisations hands down, with the result that journalists are playing catch up.

To me, telling the story must come above all else. As storytellers, we must get the news out, spread the word and inform your audience. Only now, that story can be told by those witnesses and others on the ground in lightning quick time, by Video, Audio, Pictures and word. Often with as little as a mobile phone and a good 3g connection.

During the BBC Summit i found myself thinking that the people attending were only discussing what to do with the content that floods the twitter feeds and other online places when a news story breaks. And herein lies the rub. Traditional news outlets, the broadcasters, tv and radio, along with the newspapers, are no longer in control of the story. Before a journalist with the specialisation can get the facts together, the story has been twittered, blogged, photographed, filmed and shared around the world by those online, regardless of whether accuracy has been checked. The story is out. It’s gone, been consumed, swapped, embellished and shared by many thousands of people. I found the underlying discussions today at the summit was what the hell do we do with it then. Fact check it, curate it, Give it cohesion. But it’s still other peoples content. Content and news that the broadcasters and papers had no hand in finding, writing, and recording. Catch up.

Journalists can scream all they like about proper journalism, trained people who can muster the facts, talk to the right people, check the legality and the meaning behind the online content. But lets face facts, their story can only be told hours, even a day later. Yes, there is now 24 hour news and online news, but by the time they are ready with their fact checked, curated, and verified version of the news, the story has moved on, got bigger, changed or fizzled out altogether.

I believe that the large news gathering organisations must now curate and check not just the online content, but also the local people who supply the news. Local bloggers, local news websites, active online news gatherers at a more local level, at home and abroad.  All this takes pro active engagement with the people who consume your news. The phrase “The future of Journalism” is often bandied about, but in my humble opinion the future of the media is direct and ongoing engagement not just with your journalistic sources, but now also with your audience, readers and listeners.

Paul Martin is @ukcameraman on Twitter

www.media-attention.co.uk