The American Journalism Review published an article talking about how the newspaper industry is just now grasping possibilities of adding video to their websites to attract audiences to their web sites.
Although video has been around on the web for some time, the newspaper industry is looking to video to help them earn additional profit from the web to make up for declining circulation. This “new” web element is quickly becoming a necessary part of daily reporting. Some in the industry were quick at adapting.
“We consider our newsroom pretty much a multimedia newsroom,” says Jonathan Utz, multimedia visual director at the Naples Daily News, a 57,000-circulation, E.W. Scripps-owned daily in Florida. “We expect our reporters to soon be making video and collecting sound and even in some cases shooting still photos.” –AJR
In fact, this web element is providing jobs in an market that is known for its continual corporate downsizing.
While job opportunities in nearly every other newsroom category are shrinking, jobs for videographers are opening up. –AJR
The solution for some papers is to arm reporters with video cameras in hopes that they can shoot something compelling enough to keep visitors on their news web sites a few minutes longer.
“The change in the industry right now is the most dramatic I’ve ever seen,” says Fadely. “Virtually every paper in the country is, if not diving head first, at least dipping their toes into video.” –AJR
There is so much excitement over video on the web for journalists. Hence everyone has their “toes deep” in it. Okay, I am being sarcastic, but seriously, Journalism is not known to march toward the front of the technology curve. They usually wait until everyone on the Internet is doing something before they start to dip their toes into the “new” form of technology. It still surprises me that some newspapers still do not have web sites.
Sarcasm aside, I think there are a few elements on technique and reporting that will help to make this element a huge success on the web. These are my ideas on how this “new” web element will change the news industry. I think it starts with changing the way we think about the web. We need to treat the web more as a core media element, not just a repository for recycled print, broadcast and radio content. When we think outside the common media formats and begin to look at the world with a fresh digital perspective, we will be able to lead our consumers into the digital market rather than follow them at a distance.
- HDweb- Technology is enabling us to access the Internet at a tremendous rate. In five years, it would not be hard to imagine we will be experiencing the web at even faster speeds than we are today. It’s only a matter of time that you will be able to connect your HDTV to the Internet to view your favorite news videos. Currently, Apple TV is a form of technology that has the potential of reshaping the way we see video on the web. Apple still has steps to take to further develop the Apple TV interface and it’s abilities to reach this goal, but I can see it or any devise like it, becoming a staple in home entertainment in a matter of years. I realize that HD content is not possible for everyone to stream at the moment, but I can guarantee that the first news outlet to start offering it, when the HD web opens, will find an entire market of willing subscribers. For now, we can focus on the smaller things that make viewing video on our over sized computer monitors a better experience. For example, since video players on the Internet are now allowing the capability to be viewed in full screen mode, it would be easy to see how this element will help the web transition to a TV-inspired environment. I think it would be a good idea for every news market to begin enabling their embedded video players to go full screen. That allows us to use common web technology on the web (video) in a bold new way.
- (Live) Internet television. It’s only a matter of time before the news industry will allow users to easily access live video news shows on the Internet. We live in an on-demand world. Information is at our fingertips. The next digital generation will expect their news television to be delivered to them on their hand held devices. Right now, we can download music on demand on our iPhones. It’s only a matter of time before live video news reports or even cable television will be accessed on demand as well. To me, there is no reason why the networks do not stream live on the web. It is surprising to me that cable giants do not offer this feature to its cable customers. I would pay a little extra to access my 100 or so cable channels from my iPhone (or other Internet ready devise) on demand. Live web only television could advanced the market further by offering channels visitors on news web sites. I think it has the potential of keeping people locked onto a website for much longer, changing the dynamic of advertising and pushing the online market to new levels.
- Force journalists to think interactive. Multi-media story tellers are now poised to help people better understand the world around them. Their content will help people get a deeper understanding of issues that are reported about on a daily basis. The Council on Foreign Relations has a multi-media piece that I believe is one of the best forms of documentary journalism on the web. Tools such as Brightcove Storymaker, used by the CFR example above, and the software clones that will soon follow, will help to shape the way news is presented on the Internet. It will force newspapers and television news sites to create content meant only for the Internet, rather than using the Internet as an outlet to dump their raw content.
- Take the talking heads out of journalism. Let’s face it. Talking heads are boring on the internet. They work great on television, mostly because television is geared for people who are comfortable and passive. Audiences are different on the Internet. Internet users are active and involved and will start clicking on anything else to feel like they are accomplishing something. Jakob Neilsen said this back in 1997 and later in 2005. It still applies.
- Although celebrity journalists may continue to moderate and play a leading role in news stories, (Say online documentaries hosted by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour or ABC’s Ted Coppel) I think one other element will emerge as a web standard. I think cinema verte style videos will likely become the standard for web content.Why? Well, newspaper photojournalists who are flooding the news video market are not used to putting the reporter in the frame. They are used to keeping reporters out of still photographs that run in the newspaper. Reporters are not likely be treated any different when it comes to video. Let’s face it, not all reporters were born with a booming voice or a well-polished camera presence. Photojournalists are likely to let the subjects do the talking.
- Drive video journalism to be more than just ordinary web video content. Just because every reporter has a camera does not mean everyone will watch every reporter’s videos. I learned an important lesson from Brad Boeke, the Technology Services Director at American University’s School of Communication. I don’t think it is fair to compare news video to the popularity of YouTube videos. Here’s why: people have a low expectation for YouTube. So when they find something humorous or mildly entertaining they will go back to the website later to search for more. People expect more than mild entertainment with news. If your video is not meeting expectations over the average YouTube video, chances are it is going to kill the visitor’s interest in your site as a whole. Shooting and editing video is an art. The better you are at it the more effective you will be in a news setting.
- Tap into a larger market of viewers. Allowing users to embed your content on their websites will help news producers deliver content to a larger market. Lessons can be learned from the success of YouTube and be applied to make news content more accessible. Depending on how you code it, it will increase the time your visitors are on your site, even if they are watching the content from their own website or from within their email.
It is hard to tell what form of technology the news industry will adopt next, but if we start thinking about how we apply the new technology, rather than just adding a simplified form of it, I think we will be able to better lead our viewers into a new digital marketplace.