Loose Lips

On war reporting and social media...

Earlier this week, I got into what we can politely describe as a discussion on Twitter with Channel 4 News’ Chief Correspondent, Alex Thomson. I must start by saying that I have enormous respect for Thomson; he is one of the finest TV journalists around, being dogged in his pursuit of stories, careful and compassionate where needed, but also putting himself into places and situations where many others wouldn’t. Right now is one of those times: he is currently on the ground reporting on the sectarian violence and subsequent French military intervention in the Central African Republic. Our discussion was concluded amicably, but my wider concerns on the topic remain.

Live blogging and Twitter in particular have in recent times become significant elements in reporting on current affairs, and their application in situations of war and civil unrest is especially interesting, not to say worrying. The discussion I had with Alex Thomson arose from him posting tweets about French military activity before it had happened. My contention is that this practice could be dangerous, not to say irresponsible, potentially giving a “tip off” to factions involved in conflicts and lead to further unnecessary death and injury. In this particular instance, Thomson confirmed that he was only reporting information published by the French military themselves so no issues of wrongfully revealing intelligence, but I feel that remains a risk in the immediate, unedited world of social media.

A conspiracy theorist might speculate that the French military may have deliberately released information to cause unrest. There is certainly precedent for this. In 2012 the Israel Defense Forces live blogged military action in Gaza, posting pictures of “eliminated” Hamas leaders in video game style, and giving followers awards for sharing the stories. This appears to be a particularly hideous use of social media, turning real life death and destruction into a voyeuristic gaming-style experience, decried succinctly at the time by Daniel Flitton in the Sydney Morning Herald. Action like this surely serves nobody, merely inflaming the situation, inciting retaliation and escalation. Perhaps that was partly their aim.

Earlier this year in the Philippines, the battle between the military and a group of Muslim separatists was fought as much on Twitter as it was in the street. Back in 2011, the NATO commander in Libya apparently announced the end of the military intervention via Facebook. It could be argued that the social network is a good a place as any to make such an announcement, but among embarrassing drunken photos and Candy Crush Saga it seems a little out-of-place to say the least.

The media have had to adapt to this new world in order to keep pace and indeed relevance with the bloggers. Reporters use microblogging both to research and communicate news, and Daniel Bennett has written an excellent paper on this, A Twitter Revolution in Breaking News. It’s Bennett’s contention that most serious journalists will still rely on traditional methods, but no doubt see Twitter as a highly useful tool. But the live blogging of war is still something that makes me extremely uncomfortable. Clearly it’s important to report news as close to breaking point as possible; “current affairs” – the clue’s in the name.

But the scope for abuse of these facilities is enormous. Counter intelligence and false information can be spread, in the worst cases this could lead to serious consequences (we all saw the role social media played in the uprisings across north Africa, dubbed by many as a “Twitter Revolution”). The media you would say have some role in keeping a lid on these things, making sure that only the relevant verified facts are promoted and reported. Sometimes though it feels as though the sheer level of coverage and immediacy of reporting is getting saturating, verging on the unmanageable. How long before one of the more overzealous news agencies takes that final step into The Day Today territory and see life truly imitating art?