Social Media at BBC News

Valerie Belair-Gagnon is Research Scholar and Executive Director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. She has written on media, technologies, and law, drawing attention to the issues surrounding changes in technologies and media norms and practices.

• Introduction 1. ‘Auntie’ Takes on Social Media 2. Tweet or be Sacked! 3. A New Order 4. New Structures, New Actors in the Newsrooms 5. The Connected Newsroom Conclusion: Global Crises, Local Responses

"Valerie Belair-Gagnon has provided a ground-breaking analysis of the impact of social media on the practice of journalism. Her book’s examination of the BBC offers a compelling look at how a global leader in journalism is adapting to the age of connected citizens." - John Pavlik, Rutgers University, USA"This book offers an important analysis of the practical and ethical issues for a global broadcaster embracing social media. It brings to life the opportunities and dilemmas for a traditional news organisation adapting to the open, collaborative digital age." - Richard Sambrook, Cardiff University (Former Director, BBC Global News)"Valerie Belair-Gagnon's work on the BBC offers the defining work on the world's premeire public broadcast institution as it attempts to reckon with the rise of user generated content. The text offers a fascinating detailing of the tensions between the institution's standards for accuracy and the new demands and perhaps uncertainty of verification for social media. Through intensive fieldwork, scholars and journalists alike should find an essential tale full of lessons from a formidable institution adapting to the social media age." - Nikki Usher, George Washington University, USA and author of Making News at The New York Times"While BBC News is a unique institution in its size and scope, Belair-Gagnon's account of the organization's adaptation to social media will be of interest not only to BBC watchers, media historians and researchers but also to journalists seeking to compare, understand and advance change in their own newsrooms. Overall it offers a well-informed analysis of how a famed journalistic powerhouse got to grips with a more open, networked and digital era, learning important lessons about itself and its audience along the way." - Rachel Nixon, former Senior Director of Digital Media for CBC News and Editor-in-chief of MSN News and Sports (US)