Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Mr. Nik Keith Gowing, BBC World Presenter visits Hindustan University

Mr. Nik Keith Gowing, BBC World Presenter visits Hindustan University (One of the Best Chennai Engineering Colleges)

Courtesy: Chennai Engineering Colleges

Mr. Nik Keith Gowing is a British television journalist. He was educated at the Simon Langton Grammar School in Canterbury and Latymer Upper School in London, followed by Bristol University. At the time of the death of Princess Diana in 1997, Gowing anchored coverage for over seven hours, reportedly only having had 41.5 seconds sleep before jogging back to Television Centre to present. BBC World was being simulcast for the first ever time with the BBC domestic channel BBC One, making up a global audie

nce of around half a billion, to whom he announced her death. His coverage of the aftermath of the September 11th 2001 attacks won the 2002 Hotbird Award. He is also a Member of Council of the Royal United Services Institute.

Courtesy: Chennai Engineering Colleges

It was a great privilege for the students of School of Management Studies of Hindustan University, B.Sc (Visual Communication), Hindustan Arts and Science and National Institute of Management Studies, Karapakkam to interact with the famous British Television journalist.He is the World News presenter of The Hub , a news programme shown on the international news and current affairs channel BBC World News.Weekdays:1700-1900 hrs.

Courtesy: Chennai Engineering Colleges

Nik Keith Gowing gave a presentation titled, “ Sky full of Lies & Black Swans :Who controls shifting information power in crises?”. He also presented an overview of his peer-reviewed Skyful of Lies analysis. It confirmed how in moments of major, unexpected crisis the institutions of power - whether corporate, political, governmental - face a new, acute vulnerability of both their influence and effectiveness, with their legitimacy challenged. The presentation focused on the new executive fragilities and policy implications for corporate institutions from the new matrix of real-time information flows and transparency created especially by the explosion of social media. They are new game changers that challenge mercilessly the inadequacy of the structures of power to respond both with effective impact and in a timely way.

He informed the audience the new definition of media in an elaborate manner with illustrations and clippings of events world wide. The technology and use of cell phones by the public have revolutionized the media. He stressed on the urgent need of the journalists to be agile and alert presenting the news in the most challenging manner as the impact of the news is much greater if presented in the shortest possible time and it should be absolutely right and validated. The journalists should face such questions . Are you first in the field? Are you fastest in the field? Are you flawless?

What is meant by media?

The new definition of media :

  • Vulnerability, fragility, brittleness of power
  • New accountability
  • Deficits of Legitimacy

According to Nik Keith Gowing the spread of news is very fast as four billion people use technology. He gave instances of how several incidents were instantly uploaded in You Tube, Twitter, internet etc. He mentioned about the Twitter message of Shohaib Athar, IT consultant when he tweeted about the helicopter hovering above Abbotabad, Pakistan at 1.00 a.m as a rare event near Kakool Academy , the day when Osama Bin Laden was killed on 2nd May 2011. Nik Keith Gowing also presented several instances regarding the announcement on You Tube the natural catastrophes by common people. He also gave instances of drastic repercussions and impact of media news and footage that has resulted in debacle of men in power, as people wanted to know the reason and legitimacy and preferred for transparency in the government policies.

Nik Keith Gowing stated , “In no more than a few hours brands and reputation can be damaged and executive careers threatened or destroyed”. He mentioned the dramatic impact of corporate disasters for TEPCO in Japan or BP after the Gulf of Mexico explosion, plus the ongoing public pro-reform pressures in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, China and Burma along with protests exemplified by the current anti-corruption street mobilisation in India or the G20 and Student Fees violence in London.

He said, “ The questions must be asked: how prepared are you, and how well do you understand the relentless impact of both social media and the new, fast changing public information space?”.The professional implications are vital leadership issues. Corporate executives must understand how to embrace effectively the new realities of today's media environment. They challenge all the conventional assumptions of power.

Courtesy: Chennai Engineering Colleges

During the interaction with the students Nik Keith Gowing answered their queries regarding the duties of common man and journalists for publishing news in media. He answered that it is the duty of every responsible person to ensure that the news is absolutely right and validated. He also humorously mentioned that 4 billion pairs of eyes of public are better than journalists. He concluded his presentation stating that due to the advance in technology a new angle has emerged in the field of media and it is a real challenge for the journalists of this era.

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