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I just had a chat with one of the BBC World Service news editors here about the value of the G20 bloggers and their role at the G20 Summit.
We were talking about what added value they are bringing to the table in the coverage for this huge news event.
I mentioned that there was this blogger – Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant who has been campaigning about tax havens on his blog. He managed to ask Gordon Brown a question.
He was interviewed about this later by Sam Graham-Felsen who blogged for the Obama presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008. He put out this, on the Huffington Post.
It seems Richard Murphy thinks that there is real change happening in trying to shut down tax havens.
So from this point of view, there are people who know about their subject, who care passionately about what they are talking about and this, from my point of view, is what makes them different and is adding value to the media news coverage to this event.
Daudi Were
Other highlights from the G20 bloggers – some nice posts from Kenyan, Daudi Were on his blog, mentalacrobatics.com who came onto the World Have Your Say programme. He says on tax havens ..
Coming from Kenya where our former president the dictator Daniel arap Moi together with his cronies and family looted Kenya for over 20 years stashing away billions in these tax havens, my position is not that surprising. One caller from a tax haven, The Bahamas, emailed the BBC show to disagree with me stating that many people in the Bahamas relied on the tax haven financial system for their livelihood.
The UK international development secretary, Douglas Alexander’s response during the G20 press briefing was to remind us that saving lives takes priority over saving livelihoods.
more about “Richard Murphy becomes the first inde…“, posted with vodpod
I went to go and meet the 50 bloggers who have been brought to London to cover the G20 summit by Oxfam. See the last blog post about who they are and where they’re from.
Cheryl Contee who worked with Your Story for Obama’s Inauguration, has been writing about arriving in London here.
She writes..
I walked the wrong way to the hotel and saw the entrance to G20 ground zero – the ExCel Centre.
There are a lot of cops around dressed in bright yellow plastic vests and funny shaped round black hats, but they are all very nice and quite helpful. Though like Obama’s inauguration, they are perhaps not as well trained as they might be given the circumstances. One cop whom I asked for directions shrugged his shoulders and good-naturedly exclaimed: “I have no idea. They brought me in from Bristol!” Right…
The bloggers have been meeting up today and talking about the things they care about. I also went along and spoke to the Saudi Jeans guy, Jessica from Mexico – vivrmexico.com, Daudi Were from Kenya, his blog is mentalacrobatics.com and Michael Kleinham from humanitarianrelief.change.org.
I’ve recorded some of their thoughts on what they think the G20 should be talking about and that piece is going to be broadcast on the World Today programme tonight.
G20 Finance Ministers Mar 09 - Photo by Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
I’ve been here at BBC World Service News, on the 3rd floor of Bush House, for about four years now.
During this time, high profile meetings involving heads of state and finance ministers – like the G20 summit - come around every year. Learn more about what the G20 heads of state will be talking about this week, here.
Most of the time these meetings are covered in a very straightforward and dare I say it, sometimes dull fashion. Analytical interviews with experts and ministers, although an important part of our coverage, can sometimes be an arduous listen. They are after all a collection of grey suits in a room (see photo).
So I was very pleased to hear that there will be an injection of colour this time round.
Blogger, Cheryl Contee just emailed me. Cheryl worked with Your Story as part of our Obama Inauguration coverage. She blogs at jackandjillpolitics.com – she’s an African-American woman, tech-savvy, smart and engaging.
She told me about G20voice.org. Oxfam are inviting 50 influential bloggers, to the G20 summit happening here in London this week and Cheryl is one of the bloggers they picked.
The G20voice.org website reads …
The UK Government recognises the growing importance of bloggers debating the issues around the G20 Summit and have allocated space and passes within the Summit venue.
The list of bloggers, will include 15 from the developing world, some focused on poverty, others on climate change. All are pretty high profile and eclectic people. You can see the selected bloggers and their latest posts here.
I think there’s potential to do something exciting here in how citizen journalism can add to our coverage of this G20 summit. I’ll keep you updated on this blog with what we plan to do.
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