How Should the U.N. Talk to Blogs?
Image: The audio console in a U.N. press room. The big cup with the wire is the headphone. It doesn't have much to do with what's below, but is where I'm sitting now.
The U.N. would like to pretend it doesn't understand blogging. Last night, over drinks and dinner, members of U.N. organizations asked us about blogging and internet publishing, stressing their desire to participate in the conversation, but only if it didn't waste their time. "How do we tell who is legit and who is a looney?" asked Stephane Dujarric, Deputy Communications Director, Office of the Secretary General. Pretty much all the bloggers assembled reminded him that without actually getting to know the writers in question, you really don't—just like with mainstream outlets.
But Dujarric knew the answer before he asked the question, I suspect. It's clear that the U.N. would like to use blogs and other internet publications to promote their messages—and they're pretty good messages!—but they also don't seem to want to be bothered to actually participate online, rightfully afraid that their limited time and resources would be diverted from the traditional media outlets that have served them so well for so long.
After Nick Nuttall, spokesperson for the United Nations Environment Program, blustered that the assembled bloggers didn't seem as passionate about the issue of climate change as he'd prefer, many bloggers blustered right back, saying that they did care, but that they didn't really feel like the High-Level Event—essentially a meeting to prepare for a meeting—was going to have much effect, especially on our own American politicians. (Almost all the bloggers assembled live and work in the U.S.)
What the bloggers might not have caught as they argued was Nuttall tipping back in his chair to wink to his compatriots at the end of the table, pleased at how successfully he'd riled the bloggers. Nuttall and Dujarric, both former working journalists, know how to get what they want—it's easy to get blog coverage, especially if you give bloggers press access; we're often desperate to prove that we're cut of the same cloth as other journalists—but it's a cheap trick. (Even if it is working, obviously.)
The U.N., like so many other large organizations, wants to be talked about, but isn't sure it wants to actually do much talking.
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Other blips of note from the dinner: Nuttall questioning why a blogger who said he would appreciate direct contact from the U.N. didn't contact the U.N. first, instead. A fair response, but again antithetical to the "How do we work with these here blorgs?"
Yvo de Boer, executive director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), saying that he is "not a huge fan of Star Trek." Don't expect the U.N. to change to the United Federation of Planets while he's around.
Also, de Boer, a Vienna-born, dyed-in-the-wool diplomat, smokes hand-rolled Drum cigarettes. Take note for your next diplomat impersonation.
Taiwanese journalists are the only ones whose national press accreditation is not acknowledged by the U.N. in deference to China.
During the High-Level Event (which I swear keeps making it feel like there is a comet heading straight for Milwaukee) "lunch" will be referred to as "lunchtime," in deference to those observing Ramadan.
The High-Level Event is a preparatory summit, the largest yet of its kind about climate change, for an upcoming event in Bali later this year.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is here to give a speech about climate change. (I've got the transcript right here. It's nothing special. Sadly we're off in the press room, so we don't get to see the Governor in person.)
I've already met tons of smart, engaged people who, despite any pessimism I may have about the U.N.'s approach to bloggers, have already helped me check my head about the importance of the issue.
The United Nations Foundation has a blog where both original and linked content of the High-Level Event will be assembled.
Almost all the U.N.ers use Blackberries.
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Re the "How do we tell who is legit and who is a looney?" question, I don't think it is quite the same process for bloggers as it is with print journalists, and maybe they were just too polite to mention it.
A large number of journalists come pre-vetted by their publications: it's a pretty safe bet that a journalist from the Washington Post or the Economist, for example, will be pretty competent, so no filtering is required. A personal knowledge of the individual is only required when you're dishing out leaks and exclusives.
The truth is that bloggers will be treated like the rump-end of journalism, the freelancers, or even some lower life-form, until they've been around long enough to develop a reputation the way mainstream titles do.
@JHudson: That's a good question and one we're still working out. That sounds like a blow-off, but it isn't meant to be. We just don't know what we're going to do yet.
@Tubman: Fair point, but I don't think it repudiates mine, either. The only way those big orgs gain credence is by being read by those with whom they're trying to broker access. If the U.N. doesn't read that bloggers they're inviting, they're missing part of the process.
> Just a little observational feedback... are you guys not allowed to cross-post?
Please, no more cross-posting! Boing Boing is already the single biggest contributor to my daily RSS feeds. BB is more than 50% of my feed, even though I have over 30 subscriptions. Every time I login to Google Reader, I consider dropping Boing Boing, despite the fact that, as JHudson said, it's all good stuff.
Please, once and once only!
Joel, that's true but it's only one side of the equation, and probably the harder side of the equation to solve at that. I suspect if they'd asked the same question of a bunch of print journalists, the print journalists might have come up with a handful of names who they broadly agreed would definitely be worth talking to on the basis of experience, Pulitzers won, etc, whereas the bloggers collective answer really meant "you should be talking to me". I think the real question was, "What can bloggers collectively do to separate the wheat from the chaff within their own ranks so we don't have to?"
The UN has been used to dealing with a relatively limited number of mainstream media, and now they're also supposed to get used to the idea of dealing with a much larger number of bloggers with no easily determinable qualitative hierarchy, an inscrutable readership, and a good chunk of whom may give it all up to go and do something else in three months?
Sure, they want to tap into the blogosphere, but if they have to do it on the same terms that they do with freelancers, then they'll give as much time to bloggers as they do to freelancers, which is to say pretty much none even though bloggers collectively have more to offer them. My guess is that unless you give them a way to make the selection process easier they'll just go with some shorthand cop out like favoring cross-over blog/print journalists and people they meet at parties.
@Tubman: I get what you're saying, but you have to realize that I'm balancing "you should be reading the blogs you want to invite" with "not invite any bloggers at all." Both are reasonable and valid options.
I mean, first of all, it's the freakin' U.N.; the security here is tight and there are already some 1,500-odd journalists fighting for space and internet access. Second of all, I'm not sure how much work there is for bloggers to do here, especially those that work in the sit-and-record school of blogging. At least as my very limited experience is showing, this whole event is mostly an opportunity for diplomats to give speeches, working up the choir for the big finale in Bali.
I'm sure other events have more debate and discussion, but when most of the information is public—speeches are handed out to the press before they are given—it's not like enhanced access is really giving much more informationally.
(What access does provide, of course, is access. I've met several interesting people already who will probably end up helping me find stories more in my space; that's worth a ton, but is more of a side-effect of this particular circumstance.)
Anyway, I think we basically agree. I'm sympathizing with their plight. What I think might serve them just as well as giving bloggers physical access would be to revamp the way their information, agenda, and statistics are presented to the world at large. Their web site is a bit of a lump. Why bother clearing a couple dozen bloggers for access when you could make the same effort to relay all the goings-on in lucid, extremely accessible ways? (Warning: I'm talking out of my ass, as I've barely used the UN.org site before today.)
On the other hand, how hard can it be to work with a couple dozen bloggers, build a relationship, and let them in with the rest of the press? If they fuck it up, give 'em the boot.
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