when a tweet makes a difference

Here is an example of how a listening and conversing journalist can allow the public to make a difference. It may seem a small thing but I dont think so. It represents a shift in mindset, power and ownership. If we wish it to. And if we (journalists/news organisations) can let go.

The Birmingham Post ran a story on how voice stress technology is being used to combat alleged benefit fraud:

A computer listens in on a telephone conversation between a claimant and officials and checks for changes in their voice frequency as they are asked questions, to determine whether they are telling the truth or not.

The original headline - Phone lie detector caught 160 Birmingham cheats - was seen as misleading by a reader who tweeted it. This led to a Post journalist (not the story writer) entering in to a conversation with the reader, an interaction which led to a change in headline to one that more accurately reflected the story content - Phone lie detector led to 160 Birmingham benefit cheat investigations -.

As I said, a seemingly small thing, but indicative of a change in how audiences and journalists can work together to produce a higher standard of journalism.

 

The twittered conversation can be seen in the pics below.