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Nik Gowing

Keynote speech

Nik Gowing

'Real Time Crises, New Real Time Tensions'

"No longer are the traditional 'media' the only bearers of witness in a moment of acute real-time crisis like terror attacks or natural disasters. The paradigm is shifting dramatically fast.

The new mobile phones with cameras, PDAs, broadband and 'blog' technologies have created a new breed of information doers, that even include terrorists and insurgents. Using new cheap technology and very low cost broadcast platforms the new breed of 'information doers' can challenge the gatekeeping obligations of traditional media and the credibility of politicians, governments and corporations alike.

Using video examples, NG will examine the new tensions of real-time information handling. In a time of acute national crisis like the insurgency or kidnappings in Iraq, or the threat of a terror or  WMD attack, or a flu pandemic, what are the new pressures that challenge the core credibility of newsrooms, governments, the military and security services, and major corporate organisations or all sizes?

Reputations can be shattered in minutes as public perceptions are shaped by what they see and hear by way of instant transmissions – however imperfect and incomplete the reports. But how well do government officials, the military and journalists alike appreciate the new, fast-changing information dynamic? Do they understand the new asymmetry in information handling where a digital camera can challenge the credibility of a government with its billions of dollars worth of information gathering devices? Are they well prepared? How well do they respond? Do they even understand the new media trend well enough to embrace it?

The challenge is starker than most are prepared to admit".