video and photos, and it is quite incredible what can be located.d Geolocation is always more difficult, however, when the imaging is out of date, for example in Syria, subject to damage from bombs or shelling, or on Long Island after Hurricane Sandy. Activists who are aware of the challenges of verification often pan upward before or after filming some footage to identify a building that could be located on a map, whether that’s a tall tower, a minaret or cathedral, or signpost. This is partly a result of news organizations’ asking activist groups to do this,e as well as activists themselves sharing advice about best practice17 when uploading UGC. Verification as process Unfortunately, people often see verification as a simple yes/no action: Something has been verified or not. In practice, as described above and in subsequent chapters, verification is a process. It is relatively rare that all of these checks provide clear answers. It is therefore an editorial decision about whether to use a piece of content that originates from a witness. Two recent academic studies performed content analysis of output on the BBC and Al Jazeera Arabic. They found that while these verification checks are undertaken by editorial staff, and considered absolutely necessary, the results of the checks are rarely shared with the audience. As Juliette Harkin concluded in her 2012 study18, “[n]either BBC Arabic nor Al Jazeera Arabic explicitly mentioned in any of the programs or video packages that were evaluated whether the sources were verified or were reliable. The common on air explanation of ‘this footage cannot be verified,’ was absent in all the content evaluated for this study.”f There are recent moves to increase transparency with the audience about the verification checks made by journalists when a piece of UGC is used by a news organization. The AP and BBC are both working toward making their verification processes clearer; in August 2013, the BBC said19 that since a comprehensive study into the use of UGC during the Arab Spring20, “the BBC has adopted new wording for all user-generated footage where independent verification has not been possible,” letting its audience know what it knows. It is likely that within the next few years, a new grammar of verification will emerge, with d See this post about geolocating the position of a tank explosion in Syria: http://blog.storyful.com/2013/03/13/the-changing-nature-of-conflict-and-technology/ « e See Harkin study « f See Harkin study, p. 31 « 31