I thought the following two Twitter posts from journalism student Tuuli Platner neatly demonstrate how the platform can be used to involve readers in the drama of newsgathering and build anticipation (read from the bottom up):
Now, don’t you want to read the story that came out of it?
Two days ago I blogged about some bad newspaper video from the Reading Evening Post, and ended
“Let’s see if I can generate more views from this blog than from their own site – at least it will prove the value of making your video embeddable.”
As of today the video has received 145 visits via this blog compared to the 81 from the newspaper site. There are also a further 27 visits from two other blogs. In other words, two out of three viewers came to the video through viral means.
Verdict: if you want people to know about your video offering, make your video embeddable. And do something that people will want to embed – preferably something good, not embarrassing.
In the second part of this five-part series, I explore how adaptability has not only become a key quality for the journalist – but for the information they deal with on a daily basis too. This will form part of a forthcoming book on online journalism – comments very much invited.
The adaptable journalist
A key skill for any journalist in the new media age, whatever medium they’re working in, is adaptability. The age of the journalist who only writes text, or who only records video, or audio, is passing. Today, the newspaper and magazine, the television and the radio programme all have an accompanying website. And that website is, increasingly, filled with a whole range of media, which could include any of the following:
This does not mean that the online journalist has to be an expert in all of these fields, but they should have media literacy in as many of these fields as possible: in other words, a good online journalist should be able to see a story and think:
In week two of my Online Journalism module I introduced students to the principles of blogging. After the lecture I asked the students to brainstorm ideas for blogs on an environmental issue theme, based on what they’d just heard.
To inject some extra ideas I brought in star Birmingham blogger Pete Ashton.
The results were some of the best blog ideas I’ve heard from journalism students – and certainly more imaginative than most newspaper thinking around the blog platform.
They also set up their own blogs during the lesson – more on these in future posts.
A student writes: “I dont think the Reading Evening Post read your blog Paul. If they did, they didn’t pay much attention...”
Yes, the previous contender for Worst Newspaper Video have done it again. But this time, instead of Sports Editor David Wright, it’s young gun News Reporter Stuart White, who looks quite smart in the official picture that sits above a slightly less well-dressed moving picture version of the same.
The 1980s-era production style remains, with the same stock music, garish graphics – and this time, some appalling spinning, zooming, transition wipes.
Stuart’s challenge: to read out the day’s headlines “in just 60 seconds“. Yes, that’s some challenge. Perhaps someone should suggest that idea to BBC3.
One problem: when you take out the credits it’s not actually 60 seconds, which may be why Stuart is drowned out by the closing music at the end, just as David Wright was before him. Do they ever watch their own videos?
I’ll be more barbed: Stuart has the flat delivery of a 12-year-old reading ‘What I did on my summer holidays’, while his eyes flit below the camera like he’s checking his emails as well as reading the headlines. Presumably he’s reading a script. Doesn’t he know what the news is?
And what was that about a “sweet Haribo ring”? Some lessons in writing for broadcast needed.
Of course I’m being harsh, and as before this is not Stuart’s fault. Step up owners Surrey and Berkshire Newspapers Limited, part of the Guardian Media Group.
The one good thing is they’ve discovered YouTube, so unlike last time, I can embed it below for your convenience and their viewing figures. Let’s see if I can generate more views from this blog than from their own site – at least it will prove the value of making your video embeddable.
PS: As if by magic, Andy Dickinson has created his own video summarising the kind of thinking that leads to this stuff:
Here’s the latest update from the team at JournalismEnterprise.com. This post is part of February’s Blog Carnival of Journalism.
Neaju, says Nicolas Kayser-Bril is “a smart way of making money using other people’s sweat … The total lack of journalistic work is a clever way to reduce costs. But it certainly doesn’t create any value for readers, who would have to fact-check themselves. For writers, the incentive to publish on Neaju instead of blogging is thin, as they lose control over content and leave behind any advertising revenue.”
NewsTrust.net, says Alex Gamela, is “A sort of Michelin guide for news media.”
The Panelist, finally, says Kayser-Bril, is “A niche publication for upper-middle class do-gooders, where a bunch of financial bloggers advises parents worried about the world and the assets they leave their children with.“
On Friday I wrote about my frustrations with teaching student journalists to Twitter – which generated some very helpful debate. Having dwelt on my experiences I’ve come up with the following idea for integrating Twitter into newsrooms:
Make it an internal tool first.
What I mean is: employ Twitter as a way of keeping journalists in touch with other members of their team, and their editors, via their mobile phones.
Here’s how it would work: Continue reading
A couple weeks ago Journalism.co.uk commissioned me to write a piece on ‘Changing tools and approaches in local newspapers’. But whereas their mental image was of the evangelical stuff I write on my blog; my mental image was of the more objective reporting they have on their site. We got there in the end – and I think the end result is better for it. But I didn’t want the original draft, with much more quotes from figures around the industry, to go to waste – so here it is. This post is part of this month’s Carnival of Journalism:
Local news is changing. Video, podcasts and blogging have been added to the scribbles of shorthand and the nib; searching YouTube and browsing the blogosphere have been added to photocalls and council meetings as part of the daily routine; and the segregations of print and online – and of writer and reader – are being broken down. Paul Bradshaw spoke to reporters, editors and publishers around the country on how their professions are changing. Continue reading
Journalism.co.uk commissioned me to write an opinion piece on changing tools and approaches in UK regional newsrooms. Thought you might like to read it.
Next week I’ll publish the more straight-faced feature I originally wrote, which includes more quotes from the people at the coalface, and much less of me.
This year I started my online journalism module with three things: Twitter, Del.icio.us, and RSS readers. I asked students to:
The results? Frankly, disappointing.
If you think 19- and 20-year-olds are au fait with Twitter, think again. Only one had used it before starting the class. And even afterwards, the journalism students I was teaching hardly hit the ground running. Continue reading
Online Journalism Blog 