Monthly Archives: February 2007

When should the online journalist use audio?

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Here’s a question: what makes good online audio? Having already seen journalists struggle with online video and predictably try to duplicate the qualities of broadcast television, what should we take from broadcast radio – and what leave behind?

I have some suggestions.

Firstly, the audio should be short. Online users don’t have time to scan through a five minute speech. If the subject matter is long, then it should be ‘chunked’ into separate subject-specific pieces of audio.

Secondly, the audio should offer colour. This can come in two forms: a compelling voice; or atmosphere.

Say, for example, you interview someone who fought in World War II – quotes alone may not convey the fear in his voice as he recounts his experiences – or the joy.

Or say you attend a boxing match where the crowd got out of hand. The sounds of booing, the announcement on the PA, the confusion and argument could all make a compelling piece of audio that again, words wouldn’t describe as effectively.

Or, how about a mix of the two? A politician makes a speech and is heckled, for instance.

Now, that’s all I can think of: brevity, and compelling content. Are there any other reasons for using audio? I suppose if you have copyright covered you can use music to set a mood under a story, but that seems a lot of effort to make. Radio can keep its presenters, and the four-minute package that presents a range of viewpoints is just as effectively done with words.

But this seems too simple…

Comments please.

PODCASTS: Podcasts, it seems to me, represent a separate category here. These are useful as a distribution format for news generally, so if you’re producing podcasts you could be forgiven for simply reading out the headlines on the basis that people are likely to be listening to the podcast on an mp3 player as they travel when they’re not in a situation to read a paper or click through a website. Having said that, I think the same considerations as radio news apply – so, brevity again, and the importance of colour.

Online video: how it should be done

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I’m still cranky from too much Lemsip Max, but grateful to Robert Freeman for pointing me to an example of how online video should be done.

On the award-winning Eastern Daily Press website the video for ‘Your chance to name leopard cubs‘ ticks every box for me:

  • Short (53 seconds)
  • Illustrates something that couldn’t be described as well in words alone (by most people)
  • No anchor – in fact, no commentary at all
  • It runs alongside, and complements, a text-based article, rather than replacing it.
  • Compelling content (i.e. cute animals – well, until they start snarling)

Interestingly, the lack of commentary initially confuses, but you quickly get used to this. In fact, it reminds me of the moving images on newspapers in Harry Potter films – perhaps we need to think of video in those terms, though not always.

Online video: can it get any worse than this?

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It is with a deep sense of shame that I nominate the newspaper I grew up with – The Bolton (formerly Evening) News – for the worst attempt at online video I’ve seen so far.

Today’s Bolton News Video page features the often repeated mistake of the ‘news anchor’ reading out news stories – nothing new there, although as I’ve blogged previously, the role of the news anchor is already being performed by the website: if we want to know the latest headlines we can read them in our own time on the homepage.

But then it gets much worse – as the first story is introduced, the camera cuts to… an image of the article in that day’s paper. Now that’s creative and engaging storytelling.

Further stories cut to stock images of: a hospital; a firefighter; and a footballer. In fact, the only point at which we leave the office is… for the weather – probably the one piece of journalism that doesn’t require a journalist to leave their desk (thankfully we were spared images of clouds, rain, etc.).

I’m getting close to the point of making my own online news video service. It will consist of me sitting in front of a camera reading out the day’s headlines, then holding the paper up to the lens. Really, I could steal their viewers in an instant. And I would do the weather as a separate video because, frankly, if someone is looking for the local weather forecast online they’re not going to sit through five minutes of headlines to get it.

If you’re going to do online video, integrate it with the rest of your journalism. Television presenters are for TV; newspaper layouts are for print; stock images are for brochures. Send your journalist out with a video camera or don’t bother at all.

NatMags sets March launch for stand-alone digital title

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from Media Week:

“Each issue will run to at least 35 pages and will target 13 to 19-year-old girls with fashion, music, film and TV content with a humorous tone, rounding up content from websites such as YouTube and inviting readers to send in clips.

“As with Monkey, it will be e-mailed for free each week and will have a variety of rich media ad formats, including display ads with embedded content, advertorials, sponsorships and bumper ads that bookend video clips.”

Stop trying to make television – it’s video

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The online video bandwagon rolls on, with Media Week reporting that the Telegraph is to team up with ITN  for the “supply of broadcast content” (note the word ‘broadcast’). Meanwhile, today’s Press Gazette reports on the launch of new TV studios at VNU, and the Exeter’s Express & Star.

In all cases publishers seem to be making television – not video. A good example is the Telegraph’s video on London Fashion Week (WMV). It starts well – lots of footage of catwalk action: the sort of thing you can’t get across in print. But it then falls into standard TV package fare – headshot interviews with designers which could be much better placed in print where the reader can scan-read.

My suggestion: either drop the headshots and run the interviews over catwalk shots; or combine video footage with a text report.

A much better example – ‘Elephant Rampage’ (WMV). Quirky, compelling visuals, and a short piece which you could imagine on YouTube.

As for the Exeter Express & Star’s ‘Fire in Sowton’ piece, this begins with a TV news-style ‘presenter’ introducing the item before handing over to a reporter on the spot to deliver it. Why? On television, the presenter is there to anchor the whole and link different items, but online the webpage performs that function. This use of a presenter is not only wasting the viewer’s time, but the TV studio’s time. In fact, it begs the question, why do you need a TV studio at all? These publishers may come to realise they’ve wasted their money. 

Students blog about why online journalism skills are necessary

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Last week saw the start of this year’s online journalism module: second year students, some on a specialist journalism degree, others studying media or television (last year all but one were journalism specialists, which perhaps indicates how students are beginning to realise the importance of online).

I kicked off the session by asking them why they felt they needed to study online journalism. Encouragingly, their responses were well informed. Then I gave them just 20 mins (hence typos) to write an op-piece-style blog post on why people needed these skills.

As you’d expect, these ranged from the dry factual-based approach to a more wit-based posts (it could be said that the latter is more appropriate for blogs). I particularly liked:

“For those who have not experienced online journalism you have suffered long enough, the time has come to don your spectacles and embark upon a life of microwaveable meals in front of your computer screen.”

Or:

“Not only do readers have a heightened level and speed of news intake on the internet, they have the ability to interact with the news inself. Posting responses to breaking news bulletins, and being involved in news forums and developing further informed disscussions within an ‘online community'” (Link)

Or:

“this is pretty good right? You get the chance to have your say and some hillbilly from the other side of the world with a computer can hear your voice. Or are you guys taking our jobs away from us? With the accessibility of this new technology, opportunity in journalism has never been so broad, right now not only am I and the rest of us alcoholic hacks competing against each other we now have to compete against any old joe with something to say. But this is ok. You guys have just raised the bar, and a bit of healthy competition is always good chicken soup for the soul.” 

Interestingly, the students seemed to equate “online journalism” with being taught to “write for the web”. That’s one lesson (one and a half if you include last week’s introduction to blogging). As for the other nine… well, more on those as the weeks go by.

Meanwhile, please click on the links below to go to those blog postings – please post a comment if you can so the students know they’re not typing in a vacuum:

Charlotte’s post

Why online journalism skills are essential in the news industry

Rant #1: A student studying a ‘dino’-profession

Online Journalism

Why are online journalism skills essential?

Todd Nash’s entry

WHY?

Tapi’s entry

Why are Online Journalism skills essential?

Online Journalism…Why???

On the Line

Why Online journalism skills are essential in the news industry

Why online journalism skills are essential in the industry?

Citizen journalism continues its path into print and TV

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Citizen Journalism site NowPublic has won a deal with Associated Press to supply content. PaidContent reports:

“Lou Ferrara, AP deputy ME for multimedia, said the contributions could range from eyewitness accounts to originally produced reports. At first, AP bureaus with will work NowPublic in certain areas to enhance regional news coverage wile the national desks might call on contributors during breaking news. This part sort of veers over the hype-meter edge: NowPublic will help AP cover virtual communities but it doesn’t seem to mean setting up a Second Life bureau—more along the lines of covering social “networks and contributed content sites.” NowPublic also will help AP extend its coverage of virtual communities, such as social networks and contributed content sites. AP rival Reuters is already involved in peer journalism projects. “

(See also press Release).

Meanwhile,  Media Nation reports on a similar, more nefarious, move in broadcasting:

“A small television station in Santa Rosa, Calif., has eliminated most of its news staff and will replace its evening newscasts with contributions from citizen journalists. The station, KFTY-TV, is owned by Clear Channel. Thus, this has all the makings of a profit-driven fiasco — a perversion of the promise of citizen journalism.”

 The station has ‘yet to decide’ whether CJs will be paid…