This interactive workshop will explore the pitfalls, the logistics, the security issues and ultimately, the impact, of using hidden camera footage in documentary filmmaking. We will discuss its role as an advocacy tool and what responsibility, if any, filmmakers have to distribute this sort of footage beyond the scope of the film.

The workshop will feature a conversation between Oren Yakobovich, co-founder of Videre, and Orlando von Einsiedel, director of Virunga. They will share their respective experiences of working with communities to gather undercover footage of human rights violations and corruption; discussing the process in its entirety from initial scoping through to effective distribution.

The workshop will be moderated by Jess Search, chief executive of BritDoc.

Spaces are limited. To apply to attend this free event please send an email to info@videreonline.org with your name, credits (if applicable) and a brief (no more than 50 words) answer to the following question:

Why are you interested in knowing more about hidden camera footage? If your interest relates to a specific project, please tell us about it.

https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/the-changing-face-of-news

In more and more places around the world it is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous for foreign journalists to gain access and cover stories as they unfold. In the past, this often meant that events would remain unreported. This is no longer the case. User generated content (UGC) – and the innovative ways in which it is used – is creating a new way of seeing the story on the ground.

We will be joined by a panel working on the edges of the news to get the stories where conventional means have failed. They will be talking about the technology and the techniques that they use, looking at how content is verified, and how you can empower people to tell their own stories and distribute it to local and international communities.

Chaired by Richard Pendry, a lecturer in broadcast journalism at the University of Kent, where he is currently researching non-traditional news gatherers working in areas of conflict.

The panel:

Eliot Higgins is author of the Brown Moses Blog, which specialises in analysing social media produced from the conflict in Syria. His work has included uncovering smuggled Croatian arms in Syria, and in depth investigations into the August 21 sarin attack in Damascus. Twitter: @Brown_Moses

Malachy Browne is news editor with Storyful. Prior to that he created and edited Politico.ie, an Irish political website and news archive. He worked for the Irish political magazine, Village from 2006 to 2008 and was editor of the magazine’s website, Village.ie. Twitter: @malachybrowne

Videre’s head of operations, an international charity founded in 2008. They work in partnership with local activists in hard-to-access areas giving them equipment, training and support to gather visual evidence of human rights violations and other abuses. This captured footage is verified, analysed and then distributed. Twitter: @_videre

Trushar Barot is assistant editor at the Social Media and User Generated Content hub at BBC News. He has worked in the British media for the past 15 years, across newspapers, TV, radio, online, social and digital. Over the past four years he has helped develop and implement BBC News’ social media strategy, as well as helping to maintain the UGC hub’s work as an industry-leading team in social media news gathering. Twitter: @Trushar

Photograph: 1000 Words / Shutterstock.com

"An extraordinary time to be a journalist"

All the panellists expressed their excitement at covering the Arab Spring. Tom Coghlan began by comparing the limitations on his reporting from Afghanistan over the last four years with the "fabulously unrestricted" nature of his reporting from Libya.

Covering the conflict from the perspective of the rebels, Coghlan noted that it was "completely chaotic" and journalists were welcomed by Libyans who were keen to tell their stories to the world. 

He said it was a "fantastically optimistic" story to cover with "ordinary people" doing "extraordinary things". 

Lindsey Hilsum described 2011 as "the reason" she "went into journalism". She said it was amazing to have access as a journalist to what was happening at Tahrir Square and the aftermath of Gaddafi’s departure from Tripoli.

In Libya, she said journalists benefited from the fact that battles took place on main roads – journalists could drive up, film the story and then retreat from the front line to file.   

Hilsum believed that for all the dangers and risks of reporting the Arab Spring, her generation of reporters have been "very privileged". 

Lyse Doucet agreed: it is "an extraordinary time to be a journalist". But she observed that the story of the Arab Spring, which began with great "excitement and euphoria" was now entering a new stage.

She said that there were parts of the story that were causing "awe and anguish" as the ‘revolutions’ faced opposition and challenges in the aftermath. 

Reporting Syria

In particular, there was concern on the panel for what was happening in Syria.

Tom Coghlan described his six days reporting from there as exceptionally unpleasant and said the risks that Syrians were taking meant he had not been able to report a single name of anyone he had interviewed.

He revealed that The Times would now only send journalists into Syria with bodyguards.

The role of "citizen journalists" and "activists" in accessing the story from Syria was also discussed.

Coghlan was impressed by the innovative and clever use of online tools by activists, while Lindsey Hilsum said news organisations are developing increasingly sophisticated techniques to verify video material coming out of the country.

Interestingly, an example Hilsum gave of trying to verify a video from the Free Syrian Army included an appeal to Twitter users to see what they made of the footage – effectively crowdsourcing part of the verification process to a networked audience. (Although it should be noted that this was just one of several verification strategies.)    

Nevertheless, prompted by a question from the chair Richard Sambrook, the panel emphasised the importance of "objective", independent reporting and "bearing witness".

Lindsey Hilsum said it was difficult for governments outside of Syria to formulate a policy towards the country, but she argued that it would be even harder if journalists were not going there to gather news and information.