into how newspapers cover islam. rizwana hamid is director of the centre for media monitoring, a project of the muslim council of britain. and we ll be talking to her later, too. but we ll start the programme with that question i posed at the top, the role that reader comments play in journalism. ian carter is editorial director at iliffe media, and, ian, before we get into your experiences last week, tell us more about the titles you ve got. because i think you re one of the last family owned newspaper groups. we are indeed. iliffe itself is a very long established publishing company. the family s run papers for centuries, but the titles we have now, newspapers include the kent messenger, the daily free press, the cambridge independent. we run lots of websites, kent online being our biggest one. and also radio stations down in kent. so, a real big media portfolio. fantastic, and rebecca whittington, i m going to bring you in here because you re
but, you know, it is a danger, and i think the job that rebecca is doing - is a very worthwhile one. isobel asher hamilton, does insider expect you to be on twitter? i think i would find it hard to do myjob if i weren t on twitter because i find it useful as a tool because so many of the figures that i follow, you know, tech ceos and people like that, use it as a very instantaneous pr service. there was never a point when the company i m at now sat me down said you have to have a twitter because the company i d been at previously, yeah, itjust hadn t been practical to do myjob without a twitter account. so, it s not something that the company forces you into, but it s kind of hard to do the kind of work that we do without it. ian carter, just a word from you, you know, at iliffe media, it s that difficulty, isn t it, protecting yourjournalists while at the same time wanting them to engage. how do you navigate that?
my view on it is, if we re not hosting these comments, these discussions will take place on facebook, and i would rather people were discussing these kind of topics in an area where they re surrounded by regulated content, as oui’ stories are. rather than off in a corner of facebook. and also, if they re discussing them on our websites, you would hope you re reaching a fully broader church and people might be challenged on their views, whereas if you re on facebook, you re going to be finding like minded people talking to yourself and creating an echo chamber. rebecca, readers writing unpleasant things in the comments is one thing, but part of your role as i understand is that you re also looking at the personal abuse that journalists now get, and in fact your editor said last month that it s become endemic, and i certainly feel, you know, in my own experience, i would second that. but what do you think this means in practice? well, i mean, reach conducted a survey earlier this year
you know, we shouldn t be letting these people in this country, everyone who arrives in the country is getting a free car by priti patel. some of the real nonsense you can see circling on social media. or even if people are entitled to hold some of those kind of views, it s the sense that, you know, they re revelling in people s deaths, a tragedy? actually because it was always my view that it s actually not the job of the press to police what views people hold, it is ourjob to present the facts and allow people to make an informed decision. rebecca whittington, i m gonna bring you in here. you re the new online safety editor at reach. does this sound familiar, this, you know, business about, you know, whether to have reader comments on, how people respond, you know, what to do in these sorts of situations? yes, actually. i mean, it s not a new problem unfortunately, and it s something that s. obviously an organic growth of digital has meant that there s kind of been lots of trial and
it s not about the bottom line. obviously it s beneficial for us to be centre of the debate. my view on it is if we re not hosting these comments, these discussions will take place on facebook, and i would rather people discussing these kind of topics in an area where they re surrounded by regulated content, as our stories are. rather than off in a corner of facebook. and also if they re discussing them our websites, you would hope you re reaching a fully broader church and people might be challenged on their views, whereas if you re on facebook, you re going to be finding like minded people talking to yourself and creating an echo chamber. rebecca, readers writing unpleasant things in the comments is one thing, but part of your role as i understand is that you re also looking at the sort of personal abuse that journalists now get, and in fact your editor said last month that it s become endemic, and i certainly feel, you know, in my own experience, you know, i would second that. but w