“I had no idea you could live-tweet it. I had no idea I'd get all these followers... I only got in by the skin of my teeth because Nick Davies [Guardian special correspondent] told me you needed a ticket. So I applied and got the last ticket into the annex. None of this had been planned. I had no idea I'd be doing this for seven months."
This is interesting from a journalistic standpoint in that Jukes is also helping create a new form of reporting. One in which live details, (but no evidence) is being disseminated almost instantly to the public. But also a stream of information that is miniaturised to fit into the social media timelines of the audience. Tweets are limited to 160 characters and reporting the news in this way was unique and accessible allowing a new audience for this sort of, often boring, trial information.
As the trial trudged on, (deliberate tactics of the News International lawyers who, due to teh lenght of this trial, went on to record the most expensive case in British legal history), Jukes needed to find a way to raise some money to cover his costs. He apparently missed his mortgage payment for the first time as a result of the trial consuming all his time and resources. After tweeting out an almost jokey, half hearted tweet for funds which he thought sounded like begging, a random donor sent him £20 via paypal. This then sparked Jukes to create an indiegogo crowdfunding page which raised and exceeded his initial total in just 6 days. (Darren Boyle, 2013)
“I initially set a target of £4,000 but I managed to secure £6,362. I am absolutely astounded by the generosity of people, some of whom I know and some I have never met. (Boyle, 2013)
Aside from the change in journalism stylistics this is also interesting as a model that allows the Journalist particular freedom. The concentration and focus around a subject matter and reporting style that was clearly niche allowed him to get closer access to the subjects of the trial and also to increase the speed of reporting as he was acting independently and didn't need clearance or checks done by an organisation. He was the first to break many pieces of new information about the trial.
“One that went viral was just a little bit of evidence, a receipt from the News of the World to Glenn Mulcaire [private investigator]: ‘Milly Dowler – paid in full’. It's quite upsetting, actually. Suddenly moments like that you realise, there's this machine that is paying out money. I've never thought that emotional before, this is the first time ever, but that went viral. . . I noticed Alan Rusbridger [Guardian editor] retweeted that. . . It is chilling.” (Chakelian, 2014)
As a case study for my research project I find this fascinating not only for the organic and spontaneous way it was created and how it has become a recognised and substantial payment model for a new journalism but also that it seemed to challenge the dominant hierarchies within the industry
“I was interested in a kind of open market, free markets in culture. So when the Murdoch thing came out, this was another example like the BBC. . . There must be a better way than these huge, crumbling, old, industrial hierarchies, which are well-intentioned but there are so many layers between the decisions made and the ground that there must be a better way, and I think that's part of the story of what went wrong at the News of the World – it was an industrial machine.”
What he is saying here is that there is, at least in part, a huge pressure from a 'culture industry' as Adorno would say at large in journalism and the wider Media landscape. His method or receiving payment meant that he could circumvent entirely the pressures and confines of this industry and effectively become his own free agent acting in an independent way, or at least in the interests of his subscribers. The Industry was not only ignored and escaped but also challenged. As Jukes' tweets became more and more popular and trended more globally the existing newspapers who couldn't compete with the speed and accuracy of his tweets had no choice but to follow and retweet this coverage. The 'outsider' ended up delivering content and driving the discussion within the industry. This is a fantastic example of how the Hegemonic forces can be challenged and taken apart by a new model of doing things.
The British press is still an incredibly powerful weapon. Often opinionated and used as propaganda this top down information dissemination must be confronted and challenged if we are to have a more enlightened and aware public. The Murdoch empire of papers knows this and uses smear tactics to belittle and damage opponents wherever possible. This is just one example of how necessary and timely the crowdfunded model of free market investigative journalism started by Peter Jukes could be in the future when seeking to de-power the existing hierarchies of media ownership within the British press.
Links and references :
http://www.newstatesman.com/media/2014/06/why-and-how-peter-jukes-live-tweeted-entire-phonehacking-trial -Annosh Chakelian, 2014
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/how-blogger-peter-jukes-crowdfunded-his-way-cover-hacking-trial - Darren Boyle, 2013
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/28/phone-hacking-trial-has-anything-changed-rebekah-brooks - Tim Adams, 2014
https://twitter.com/peterjukes?lang=en
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