BBC NEWS EFFORT TRIES TO POPULARIZE NEW REPORTING METHODS, BOOST TRANSPARENCY

The BBC is more aggressively bringing “open source” reporting and efforts to expose disinformation to its day-to-day reporting, a move that signals a potential shift in journalism’s embrace of new technology.

The just-announced creation of a new BBC Verify unit is also an attempt by the news organization to be more transparent in its reporting, said Deborah Turness, BBC News chief executive officer.

Practitioners of open-source reporting go beyond traditional methods of interviews and examining public records to tell stories by using tools such as satellite images, mobile phone recordings, advanced internet searches and the like.

They have produced some compelling investigative reporting, but Turness is looking for more immediacy. For example, when Russia claimed a Ukrainian drone tried to attack the Kremlin, the BBC gathered multiple videos of explosions in the night sky, and quickly found video footage to map the actions of police in recent unrest at a housing complex.

The BBC has been using satellite photos in an attempt to document planning and movement by both sides in the Ukraine war.