From the editor's desktop: Your response

Pete Clifton, editor of the BBC News website, answers criticism of the call for readers' pictures, issues a ban, and ponders the end of this column as we know it. Read a selection of your comments below.

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Your comments:

I think it is important that the public be encouraged to send in news pictures etc, and the BBC continue to broadcast them. Far to long has the British public been treated as children unable to deal with reality, and have been served up a sanitized version of events. People want fresh uncensored news and will go where they can find it. I read recently that the BBC Mission Statement included a "call to be an agent of change". Although I don't agree with all the implications of that I think changing the way people get live news is a good start. Please encourage the British public to be adults and show them the world as it really is. If they don't like it they may switch off.
Frances Black, Scotland.

Perhaps if the BBC and other mainline news organizations such as Reuters had not fired so many journalist (or plan to do in the near future) that you would not have to rely on the public to do your work for you.
Lawrence, Paris, France

Calling for the public to get more involved in reporting just takes us further down the road of sensationalism. It is obvious that people peripherally involved in a stressful situation such as a bombing are the people least qualified to report and comment objectively. By inviting them to do so, you devalue your own reporting standards and make us all less likely to look to the BBC as an authoritative source of unbiased news.
Peter, London

Requesting and displaying those pictures is becoming an end in itself Michael Wasley, Scunthorpe, UK

The use of readers' pictures is not in itself wrong providing those used add real value to news items. However there is a worrying trend in which requesting and displaying those pictures is becoming an end in itself. This is yet another example of dumbing down news coverage and hiding the increasing paucity of real newsgathering.
Michael Wasley, Scunthorpe, UK

The BBC site has the best content and navigability on the entire web, consistently. Congratulations to all concerned, and keep up those high standards!
R. Pawley, London, UK

The dialogue between the audience and the news producers has changed, and I salute you for changing with it. The column sounds like a credible way to increase useful interaction with the site, and gives it a bit of added personality and depth.
Justin, Manchester

Requests for viewer-provided video footage are becoming commonplace, but I am concerned that I never hear any mention of payment. If news organisations want their viewers to become reporters, shouldn't they be willing to pay market rates?
Graham Taylor, Leeds, UK

Thanks to everyone who sent in pics Tim Whiteman, Basel, Switzerland

The readers pics brought home to me what the tube blasts were like on the ground. I had understood the enormous significance of the attacks from TV news, but the "ordinary" pics made it real for me - I used to live behind Tavistock Square and used all those tube lines. Thanks to everyone who sent in pics and to you for publishing them. Your reasons make complete sense.
Tim Whiteman, Basel, Switzerland

When something big happens anywhere, I go to the BBC for information and always have read the eyewitness accounts. It is one way of keeping our world personal and of remembering that what happens to you, happens to me. I think the requests for photos, accounts and/or video should continue as long as it is done with the highest regard for truth and safety.
Caron Osberg, Des Moines, Iowa, USA

The whole point of a blog is that it is scurrilous, ill-informed, opinionated and cool - all things the BBC can't be. Blogs have their place, so does the BBC, which is to be the harbour of sanity and trust to return to after journeying in the stormy seas of blogdom. The BBC should not do blogs, for the same reason my great aunt Sylvia should not booty bounce - it doesn't look good, its out of place, and it could all get very messy.
Jake, London

The BBC is evolving its relationship with its readers Steve Talbot, UK

It is totally acceptable that the BBC is evolving its relationship with its readers and using their material to report news matters. Some people just can't get through the day without having a whinge or a moan about something.
Steve Talbot, UK

Whatever happens with your new blog project, I'm sure you could still find the time to write this column - I know it's almost the weekend when I can read it!
Carl, Dorset

I think that this site and BBC news in general should explain to us how showing pictures and eyewitness accounts of these incidents in London aren't going to prejudice an eventual prosecution of the bombers. Not that I think that it's illegal, but as someone who doesn't know the ins and outs, it would be useful to know how you are able to do it.
Michelle Apostolides, Brentwood, Essex

Why can't we comment on any story? The only things we can comment on are limited stuff on Have Your Say and opinion pieces. At the bottom of each article there should be a selection of people's comments and a box to leave your own comments. You go on about involving readers more in the content but rarely do anything about it.
Sam, London

Having just watched about 2,000 people aim mobile phones and digital cameras at the police in London, it makes me wonder what future there is for the professional photographer. I draw exception to the assumption of the BBC that the people whose images they use do not require any payment or, in many instances, even acknowledgement.
Ross, London

Thanks for a freshly written, non showbiz column. I laughed out loud, never having heard of the beast of Bodmin Moor, at your retort to Andrew of Sheffield. Keep up the good work.
John Schmidlein, Waltham Massachusetts USA

I do not have any problem with a call for pictures, and if I am in the wrong place at the right time you would get them, but I was a little appalled on the 21st to see that as I heard about the attempt from a phone in Euston and looked at your site to find out what was going on, the request for pictures was there immediately, it seemed a little heartless. I almost complained myself at the time. That was all. Good luck with photos, just give us non press a little time to adjust.
Pauline Fearn, Herne Bay

A small quasi-grammatical query: why the aversion to using the word 'that' (admittedly shared with much of the print media)? For example, in the following sentence, taken from today's website, the meaning of the sentence is rendered much less clear due to the omission of 'that': Meanwhile, West Midlands Police have denied using a stun gun on a suspected suicide bomber was an unnecessary risk.
Michael O'Toole, The Hague, The Netherlands

I enjoy reading this column once a week, but I feel that to hire a full time 'senior' person to produce it every day is excessive at the least! Considering all the recent job losses is this the best way to be using the BBC's resources?
J. Pritchard, High Wycombe