ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the case studies of the 2011 Japanese quake, the 2013 Moore tornado and the 2013 Vauxhall helicopter crash to look at how user-generated content (UGC) was used by mainstream media organisations—and how those whose content was used felt about it. It looks specifically at the Guardian and BBC liveblogs of the 2011 Great East Japan quake, to analyse how much of this UGC comes from the ‘diverse voices’ that early researchers envisaged, and how much content via social media comes from opinion formers, authority figures and other media.
Twenty seven creators of UGC were contacted for this chapter and asked about whether permission was sought for the use of their content, their feelings around the use of such content and what consequences there were for them. It introduces the concept of the ‘virtual doorstep’—how some creators of UGC have found themselves hounded online by journalists, and the ethical considerations that should be taken into account not only when journalists approach disaster survivors in person but online, with lessons for the future outside the boundaries of humanitarian disasters (such as the recent Manchester attack).
It then discusses how some creators while not seeing themselves as journalists started to go beyond an eyewitness role and participate in what could be called ‘acts of journalism’, in particular focusing on the examples of the Gakuraman blog and ‘Quakebook’ publication.
