ITV News’ director of news gathering Tim Singleton has argued that traditional broadcasters are more vital than ever in the face of a rising swell of content from citizen journalists.

Speaking at a Smartphone Journalism: The Changing Face of News debate last week, Singleton said broadcasters were able to act as trusted gatekeepers as increasing amounts of user-generated content is distributed online.  

“As people are more aware of the uncertainty of the accuracy of information on the internet, actually we’re more important and as relevant than ever,” he said.

“It’s imperative that we continue to bear witness, to send, to have bureaux and to report around the world because we have to confront the fact that a lot of material on the internet isn’t reliable”.

Singleton said that while previously citizen journalists have been assets to news organisations, the increased ease with which viewers can distribute content themselves, “completely changes the concept of things.”

This editorial independence brings the credibility of news generated by citizen journalists under increased scrutiny, he added.

“There are a variety of ways in which things can be manipulated,” Singleton said, pointing to a Channel 4 report that revealed how a group of citizen journalists had faked a video of an attack by setting fire to tires.

Singleton said traditional broadcasters must maintain their integrity and not use unsubstantiated footage supplied by citizen journalists, only to claim afterward that the images broadcast cannot be confirmed as legitimate.

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