I've been a journalist now since I was about 17,

現在從事這行很有趣

and it's an interesting industry to be in at the moment,

因為正如各位所知道的

because as you all know, there's a huge amount of upheaval

這個世代的媒體型態已有了很大的變動

going on in media, and most of you probably know this

在座的各位大概都知道

from the business angle, which is that the business model

以商業的角度來看，這個産業已經玩完了

is pretty screwed, and as my grandfather would say,

正如我爺爺所說的，利潤都被谷歌(Google)吃吞噬掉了

the profits have all been gobbled up by Google.

所以現在從事記者這行變得很有趣

So it's a really interesting time to be a journalist,

不過在這遽變中，我比較感興趣的不是輸出端

but the upheaval that I'm interested in is not on the output side.

而是輸入端

It's on the input side. It's concern with

也就是我們取得資訊和新聞的方法

how we get information and how we gather the news.

因為新聞媒體和觀眾之間的力量消長

And that's changed, because we've had a huge shift

已經有了大幅的改變

in the balance of power from

所以一切都變得不一樣了

the news organizations to the audience.

過去長久以來

And the audience for such a long time was in a position

觀眾無法影響新聞或做任何改變

where they didn't have any way of affecting news

因為觀眾無法與媒體取得聯繫

or making any change. They couldn't really connect.

不過現在已經産生了不可逆的轉變

And that's changed irrevocably.

我第一次聯繫新聞媒體是在1984年

My first connection with the news media was

當時BBC的員工罷工一天

in 1984, the BBC had a one-day strike.

當時我很不滿、很生氣，因為我看不到卡通

I wasn't happy. I was angry. I couldn't see my cartoons.

所以我寫了一封信

So I wrote a letter.

信件的結尾我是這樣寫的：「4歲的忠實觀眾Maekham」

And it's a very effective way of ending your hate mail:

我覺得這招真很有用，現在依然管用

"Love Markham, Aged 4." Still works.

我不知道我對那天的抗議事件是否帶來任何的影響

I'm not sure if I had any impact on the one-day strike,

不過我知道的是，三星期後他們才回我的信

but what I do know is that it took them three weeks to get back to me.

這就是信件往返的時間

And that was the round journey. It took that long for anyone

一般人要花這麼久的時間才能産生影響力和收到回覆

to have any impact and get some feedback.

不過這一切已經改變了

And that's changed now because, as journalists,

因為身為記者，我們的互動是即時的

we interact in real time. We're not in a position

我們的角色不再是等待觀眾的反應

where the audience is reacting to news.

我們要反應觀眾，因為我們依賴觀眾

We're reacting to the audience, and we're actually relying on them.

觀眾幫我們挖掘新聞

They're helping us find the news. They're helping us

幫我們找到報導的最佳角度，以及他們想要聽到的東西

figure out what is the best angle to take and what is the stuff that they want to hear.

這就是即時性，迅速且同步

So it's a real-time thing. It's much quicker. It's happening

身為記者就是要捕捉這些訊息

on a constant basis, and the journalist is always playing catch up.

舉個例子讓大家知道我們有多依賴觀眾

To give an example of how we rely on the audience,

9月5日哥斯大黎加發生地震

on the 5th of September in Costa Rica, an earthquake hit.

地震規模7.6，相當大

It was a 7.6 magnitude. It was fairly big.

震波經過60秒後

And 60 seconds is the amount of time it took

抵達250公里外的馬納瓜

for it to travel 250 kilometers to Managua.

從震央發生地震到馬納瓜開始晃動隔了60秒

So the ground shook in Managua 60 seconds after it hit the epicenter.

而推特(Twitter)在地震後30秒就出現了地震的消息

Thirty seconds later, the first message went onto Twitter,

有人發文"temblor"，意思就是地震

and this was someone saying "temblor," which means earthquake.

震波以物理的方式傳遞

So 60 seconds was how long it took

需要花上60秒的時間

for the physical earthquake to travel.

而地震的消息只花了30秒的時間

Thirty seconds later news of that earthquake had traveled

便同步傳遍世界各地

all around the world, instantly. Everyone in the world,

理論上每個人都有可能得知

hypothetically, had the potential to know that an earthquake

馬納瓜發生地震的消息

was happening in Managua.

這情況之所以會發生是因為這個人習慣作記錄

And that happened because this one person had

也就是更新個人的最新狀態

a documentary instinct, which was to post a status update,

就像現在大家都會更新個人狀態一樣

which is what we all do now, so if something happens,

不論發生什麼事，我們只要更新狀態、上傳照片和影片

we put our status update, or we post a photo,

這些資訊便不斷的透過雲端更新

we post a video, and it all goes up into the cloud in a constant stream.

這代表有很多的資料

And what that means is just constant,

無時無刻在更新

huge volumes of data going up.

我們看看這些數據的確很嚇人

It's actually staggering. When you look at the numbers,

每分鍾有72小時的影片

every minute there are 72 more hours

上傳到YouTube

of video on YouTube.

也就是說，每秒鐘有超過一個小時的影片上傳

So that's, every second, more than an hour of video gets uploaded.

圖片方面，每秒有58張照片上傳到Instagram

And in photos, Instagram, 58 photos are uploaded to Instagram a second.

有超過3500張照片上傳到臉書(Facebook)

More than three and a half thousand photos go up onto Facebook.

從我開始演說到結束這段期間

So by the time I'm finished talking here, there'll be 864

YouTube會多出864小時的影片

more hours of video on Youtube than there were when I started,

臉書和Instagram上會多出250萬張照片

and two and a half million more photos on Facebook and Instagram than when I started.

所以投入記者這一行很有趣

So it's an interesting position to be in as a journalist,

因為我們應該有管道可以知道所有的事

because we should have access to everything.

我應該可以即時得知世界各地發生的大事

Any event that happens anywhere in the world, I should be able to know about it

這一切不用花到半毛錢

pretty much instantaneously, as it happens, for free.

在座的各位也辦得到

And that goes for every single person in this room.

問題是，當訊息太多時

The only problem is, when you have that much information,

要在這麼龐大的資訊量裡

you have to find the good stuff, and that can be

要找出有用的訊息實在不容易

incredibly difficult when you're dealing with those volumes.

最明顯的例子就是颶風桑達(Sandy)

And nowhere was this brought home more than during

桑達是個超級颶風

Hurricane Sandy. So what you had in Hurricane Sandy was

這個百年難得一見的超級颶風

a superstorm, the likes of which we hadn't seen for a long time,

讓蘋果的股價嚴重受創（笑聲）

hitting the iPhone capital of the universe -- (Laughter) --

我們看到很多從未看過的媒體資訊

and you got volumes of media like we'd never seen before.

這表示記者得去求證

And that meant that journalists had to deal with fakes,

我們必須分辨那些照片是舊照重新上傳

so we had to deal with old photos that were being reposted.

那些是借用先前的颶風照片

We had to deal with composite images

合成出來的圖片

that were merging photos from previous storms.

像是這張借用「明天過後」的照片（笑）

We had to deal with images from films like "The Day After Tomorrow." (Laughter)

我們也得處理一些看起來非常真實

And we had to deal with images that were so realistic

很難確定是否為真的照片

it was nearly difficult to tell if they were real at all.

（笑）

(Laughter)

玩笑歸玩笑，這張出現在Instagram的照片

But joking aside, there were images like this one from Instagram

讓很多記者爭論不休

which was subjected to a grilling by journalists.

沒人能確定，所以Instagram過濾了這張

They weren't really sure. It was filtered in Instagram.

有人質疑光影，幾乎每樣東西都有人質疑

The lighting was questioned. Everything was questioned about it.

結果後來發現這張照片是真的

And it turned out to be true. It was from Avenue C

這張是曼哈頓C街淹水的景象

in downtown Manhattan, which was flooded.

這張照片之所以認定為真

And the reason that they could tell that it was real

是因為他們找到照片的來源

was because they could get to the source, and in this case,

這張照片來自紐約的美食部落客

these guys were New York food bloggers.

這群部落客很有名，頗受尊重

They were well respected. They were known.

這張照片不是假的，而是經過證實的

So this one wasn't a debunk, it was actually something that they could prove.

記者的工作就是過濾訊息

And that was the job of the journalist. It was filtering all this stuff.

記者的工作不是找資料

And you were, instead of going and finding the information

不是提供資料給讀者而已

and bringing it back to the reader, you were holding back

還要把可能造成負面影響的東西剔除

the stuff that was potentially damaging.

所以追朔可信的來源變得越來越重要

And finding the source becomes more and more important --

很多記者從推特(Twitter)尋找來源

finding the good source -- and Twitter is where most journalists now go.

如果運用得當，推特等同可靠的新聞網

It's like the de facto real-time newswire,

因為上面有非常多的訊息

if you know how to use it, because there is so much on Twitter.

2011年的埃及革命是個很好的例子

And a good example of how useful it can be

讓我們知道在推特上獲得訊息的優點與困難

but also how difficult was the Egyptian revolution in 2011.

身為來自都伯林(Dublin)的局外人

As a non-Arabic speaker, as someone who was looking

我不會講阿拉伯語

from the outside, from Dublin,

推特清單(Twitter List)有很多不錯的訊息來源

Twitter lists, and lists of good sources,

有很多可靠且重要的人可以加入清單

people we could establish were credible, were really important.

那我們要如何從無到有建立一個清單？

And how do you build a list like that from scratch?

這不容易，因為你得找對方法

Well, it can be quite difficult, but you have to know what to look for.

有位名為André Pannison的義大利學者

This visualization was done by an Italian academic.

將訊息的聯結視覺化

He's called André Pannison, and he basically

他將穆巴拉克(Hosni Mubarak)下台那天

took the Twitter conversation in Tahrir Square

來自解放廣場(Tahrir Square)的對話集結起來

on the day that Hosni Mubarak would eventually resign,

圖上的點代表推文

and the dots you can see are retweets, so when someone

當有人推一則訊息時，兩個點之間會産生聯結

retweets a message, a connection is made between two dots,

如果越多人推這則訊息

and the more times that message is retweeted by other people,

則産生的點越多，於是聯結就形成了

the more you get to see these nodes, these connections being made.

這種將對話視覺化的方法真的很神奇

And it's an amazing way of visualizing the conversation,

可以從中知道那些人的推文比較有趣

but what you get is hints at who is more interesting

那些人值得調查

and who is worth investigating.

隨荖互動越來越密集

And as the conversation grew and grew, it became

狀態變得越來越熱絡

more and more lively, and eventually you were left

最後你就可以從中找到很多有規律的線索

with this huge, big, rhythmic pointer of this conversation.

你可以從點開始

You could find the nodes, though, and then you went,

然後想：「嗯，我想調查一下這些人，

and you go, "Right, I've got to investigate these people.

這些消息看來很可靠，

These are the ones that are obviously making sense.

我們來看看這些人是誰。」

Let's see who they are."

在一片資訊洪流中

Now in the deluge of information, this is where

這即時訊息網站對記者來說很有趣

the real-time web gets really interesting for a journalist like myself,

因為我們更勝以往

because we have more tools than ever

擁有更多調查的工具

to do that kind of investigation.

當你著手調查訊息來源的時候

And when you start digging into the sources, you can go

你可以做到更深入的程度

further and further than you ever could before.

有時你會遇到很吸引人的題材

Sometimes you come across a piece of content that

你非常非常想用

is so compelling, you want to use it, you're dying to use it,

可是你無法百分之百確定是否能用

but you're not 100 percent sure if you can because

因為你不曉得來是否可信

you don't know if the source is credible.

你不知道訊息是否完整，是否為重新上傳的舊聞

You don't know if it's a scrape. You don't know if it's a re-upload.

所以你要做調查工作

And you have to do that investigative work.

接下來我要播的影片

And this video, which I'm going to let run through,

是我們幾個禮拜前發現的

was one we discovered a couple of weeks ago.

影片：才一秒鐘風就變得很大

Video: Getting real windy in just a second.

（實際風雨聲）

(Rain and wind sounds)

（爆炸聲）哇哩咧！

(Explosion) Oh, shit!

Markham Nolan：如果你是新聞製作人

Markham Nolan: Okay, so now if you're a news producer, this is something

你一定會想播這段，因為真的很精彩

you'd love to run with, because obviously, this is gold.

你知道嗎，這個人的反應實看來很真實

You know? This is a fantastic reaction from someone,

看起來真的是在自家後院拍的

very genuine video that they've shot in their back garden.

不過你如何知道這個人是真是假？

But how do you find if this person, if it's true, if it's faked,

或者是不是舊影片重新上傳？

or if it's something that's old and that's been reposted?

所以我們就去研究這段影片

So we set about going to work on this video, and

我們唯一的線索是YouTube上的使用者名稱

the only thing that we had to go on was the username on the YouTube account.

這個帳號只有上傳一支影片

There was only one video posted to that account,

使用者名為Rita Krill

and the username was Rita Krill.

我們不知道Rita是不是確有其人，或者只是假名

And we didn't know if Rita existed or if it was a fake name.

不過我們仍藉由免費的網路工具尋找

But we started looking, and we used free Internet tools to do so.

我們首先使用Spokeo來尋找Rita Krills這個人

The first one was called Spokeo, which allowed us to look for Rita Krills.

我們搜尋整個美國，結果發現紐約、

So we looked all over the U.S. We found them in New York,

賓州、內華達州、佛州都有人叫作Rita Krills

we found them in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Florida.

所以我們接下去使用第二套免費工具

So we went and we looked for a second free Internet tool

叫作Wolfram Alpha來查詢氣象報導

called Wolfram Alpha, and we checked the weather reports

看看是否和影片拍攝上傳時的天氣吻合

for the day in which this video had been uploaded,

我們查詢這幾個州的天氣

and when we went through all those various cities,

結果發現佛州當天有發生大雷雨

we found that in Florida, there were thunderstorms and rain on the day.

接下來我們打開電話簿

So we went to the white pages, and we found,

搜尋所有名為Rita Krills的資料

we looked through the Rita Krills in the phonebook,

結果我們找到了幾個地址

and we looked through a couple of different addresses,

接下去我們用谷歌地圖(Google Maps)找到了一間房子

and that took us to Google Maps, where we found a house.

這間房子有一個游泳池

And we found a house with a swimming pool that looked

看起來和影片中的很像，所以我們回頭看影片

remarkably like Rita's. So we went back to the video,

找尋可能的線索交叉比對

and we had to look for clues that we could cross-reference.

影片中這裡有個雨傘

So if you look in the video, there's the big umbrella,

泳池中間有張白色的氣墊床

there's a white lilo in the pool,

泳池的邊角是圓角

there are some unusually rounded edges in the swimming pool,

而且後院有兩棵樹

and there's two trees in the background.

回到谷歌地圖拉近一點

And we went back to Google Maps, and we looked a little bit closer,

的確有張白色的氣墊床

and sure enough, there's the white lilo,

有兩棵樹和一支傘

there are the two trees,

這支傘在圖片裡是收合狀態

there's the umbrella. It's actually folded in this photo.

巧合的是泳池的邊角也是圓角

Little bit of trickery. And there are the rounded edges on the swimming pool.

所以我們就打電話給Rita

So we were able to call Rita, clear the video,

確定影片是由她所拍攝的

make sure that it had been shot, and then our clients

結果她很開心，因為不用擔心別人的懷疑

were delighted because they were able to run it without being worried.

尋找真象的過程中

Sometimes the search for truth, though,

態度嚴謹一點會帶來理想的結果

is a little bit less flippant, and it has much greater consequences.

我們一直對敘利亞很有興趣

Syria has been really interesting for us, because obviously

因為當你想要揭露真象

a lot of the time you're trying to debunk stuff that can be

挖掘戰爭罪行的可能證據時

potentially war crime evidence, so this is where YouTube

YouTube可以讓我們知道世界上發生的事

actually becomes the most important repository

儼然成了重要的資料寶庫

of information about what's going on in the world.

這段影片因為內容太血惺

So this video, I'm not going to show you the whole thing,

所以不全部播出來，不過仍可以聽到聲音

because it's quite gruesome, but you'll hear some of the sounds.

影片來自哈馬(Hama)

This is from Hama.

影片：(叫聲)

Video: (Shouting)

在完整的影片裡可以看到

And what this video shows, when you watch the whole thing through,

這些人將一具血跡斑斑的屍體從貨車上搬下來

is bloody bodies being taken out of a pickup truck

然後丟到橋下

and thrown off a bridge.

據說這些人屬於穆斯林兄弟會(Muslim Brotherhood)

The allegations were that these guys were Muslim Brotherhood

他們正把敘利亞官員的屍體丟下橋

and they were throwing Syrian Army officers' bodies

他們不斷的用褻瀆的言語辱罵

off the bridge, and they were cursing and using blasphemous language,

不過也有人針對他們的身份提出反駁

and there were lots of counterclaims about who they were,

認為他們並不是影片中說的那樣

and whether or not they were what the video said it was.

所以我們問了幾位住在哈馬的人

So we talked to some sources in Hama who we had been

我們之前常常在推特上往來

back and forth with on Twitter, and we asked them about this,

因為那座橋可能是線索，所以我們很有興趣

and the bridge was interesting to us because it was something we could identify.

三個人有三種不同的說法

Three different sources said three different things about the bridge.