The Drum Leveson Debate - Speakers John McLellan and Allan Rennie talk to The Drum about citizen journalism
Following The Drum’s successful Leveson Debate on Thursday 28 June we caught up with two of the speakers, John McLellan and Allan Rennie, to get their thoughts on ‘citizen journalism’, what it meant for the Scottish press and how the current press can work with this growing army of online bloggers and tweeters.
Former Scotsman editor, and new communications director for the Scottish Conservatives, John McLellan, told The Drum there was still an inherent “need for mainstream, trustworthy and reliable news.”
He added that despite the rise of the citizen journalist “a reliable source of news with filters through all that [information] has never been needed more.” McLellan dismissed the idea that citizen journalists could pose a threat to the mainstream media as it is “absolutely necessary for the public to understand what is reliable out there and what is not.”
In contrast, editor-in-chief at The Daily Record and Sunday Mail, Allan Rennie, told The Drum he thinks a mutual partnership between the mainstream media and citizen journalists is the best thing for all concerned moving forward, and how he doesn’t see it as an “us and them situation”.
When asked about being scooped to the Rangers Ticketus story by bloggers, Rennie explained: “If you actually count the amount of stories the Daily Record breaks in a year and then you actually compare it to social media we’re still miles ahead.”
He continued it was “clichéd” to “refer to us [mainstream media] as old media” as the mainstream media has mainly embraced the changes technology has brought to the industry, before adding: “The main message would be I have a lot of time and respect for the bloggers and citizen journalists…an equal partnership going forward [is what I envisage].”