The “auditing” phenomenon is one of the more polarising endeavours that modern social media - we’re looking at you, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok - has facilitated.
“Amateur” videographers/vloggers (video bloggers) visit a variety of locations with the intention of shining a light on sites, organisations and practices, with whatever they encounter documented for subsequent - or often live - publishing.
It’s been a fixture for some years now, and no wonder. There’s gold in them thar hills, by way of ad revenue on YouTube in particular, and as one popular steel-balled figure begets another, the result is a variety of different personalities taking to the streets equipped with GoPros, zoom handheld cameras, camera phones and/or camera drones - sub-150g, of course.
Many in Britain - the best - are well-versed in UK law and use this knowledge to gather information legally but often in the face of opposition. The (human faces of the) subjects of the, as it is often put, “citizen journalism” are generally ill-prepared for the visit and while heartwarmingly wholesome encounters are not unheard of, reactions tend to range from befuddlement to indignation and beyond.
Indeed, the auditor who is generally regarded as the daddy of the drone-centric audit, DJ Audits (or is it just “DJ”, with the “Audits” simply saying what he does on the YouTubean tin?), has been assaulted, with one of the most shocking incidents, therefore featuring in a high-performing video, occurring at a business in Manchester.
What ensued from there took in a frustrating response from the police - often showing themselves up in their handling of auditors, including in the deployment (abuse?) of their detention and arrest powers - and a “mass audit”, whereby several members of the auditing community visit a site together as a reaction to a member of their tribe being treated badly.
Another example of a solidarity visit occurred when DJ went to West Berkshire in the wake of a particularly highly charged Pure Audits (Pure?) episode that introduced many to “Mr [Pub] Lick”’s inimitable style. Our beloved protagonist - auditors would baulk at the suggestion that they’re antagonists - will play dumb for entertainment purposes as authoritarian types needlessly ratchet up their blood pressure as they attempt to throw their weight around, before PA eventually and devastatingly drops the act and reveals his superior intellect and grasp of the rules.
A recent highlight even saw him, with spectacular comic timing, present a Nokia 7600, adding to his exemplary prop work and to the bemusement of his haplessly interfering interlocutor.
So audits are entertaining. But they also provide a very important service in the protection of rights and freedoms and in keeping people honest - figuratively rather than in any hope of the literal - when maladroit employees go too far in a supposed protection of their places of work, managers attempt to transfer the limited power they hold in a professional context through projecting an imagined hierarchy onto a public(ly accessible) area, and police, well, police do as Auditing Britain often discovers.
It truly takes two to tango. For as much as people will bemoan auditors “provoking” a response, those who make this accusation are generally the worst for providing said response and become “the star of the show”. If you’ve spotted the model behind the approach then why play into its hands? Engaging in an obstructive manner tends to betray one or more of ineptitude, arrogance and malpractice, and prayers for the organisation’s Google rating need to be said.
It’s not always my cup of tea. The focus on “migrant hotels” seems misaligned to me, and the comments section of many videos can stray into racism and sexism. For example, DJE Media’s recent visit to Eltham Palace may be seen to have exposed abysmal recruitment and training, precipitated and ill-advised promotion, entitlement and an atrocious workplace culture, but criticism of the actors centring on their shared gender undermines the value of that exposure. The term “Karen” perhaps has its merits, but the one-word response “Women.” - with an implied eyeroll - most certainly does not.
DJ also receives criticism for his collaboration with auditors who don’t have his level of restraint and his knack for providing people with enough rope… but he seems to stay true to his finely tuned methods even when teaming up. Consequently, the admiration that’s held for him leads to many coveting the Blue Peter-badge-esque keyring he both hands out and hides somewhere on a site perimeter, à la geocaching, which is a marketing masterstroke.
It’s one I bought into when DJ was in my vicinity a couple of months ago. I made sure I was on the trading estate he’d been exploring in recent days - in truth, he'll have been in the locale a week or so earlier - when his latest video, as usual, dropped at 16:00, and I skipped to the end to find the location, my heart sinking on my realisation that the keyring was a twenty-minute walk away.
I made a run for it but someone else had got there first. Because, like or loathe the auditors, they’re kind of a big deal.
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