Multi-media news

Jill at Writes Like She Talks quotes from this Newsweek item about the changing face of the news business:

The changes involve more than economics. When I started, print journalism required two basic skills: reporting and writing. Now, journalists are expected to be multimedia utility players, feeding Web sites, posting videos and doing TV. Up to a point, this is valuable: finding new ways to engage and inform. But it’s also time-consuming and detracts from reporting.

Coincidentally- or not- the local newspaper outfit ThisWeek has been doing videos lately. In addition to occasional special videos, they’ve been posting a weekly “vodcast” since April 6. Here’s they’re eighth from yesterday- if my counting is correct:

It’s clear if you’ve looked at a few of their videos that they’re still experimenting with the format and technical aspects. Here’s their first weekly video:

It may seem a bit odd that their first video is more polished than their most recent, but I think they’re actually moving in the right direction. The earlier video seems to be mimicking TV news, what with the anchor chair and graphics. The most recent video is much more casual, and I think it suits the web better. There are a couple of issues with the latest videos that they need to address however:

• Lighting: while they don’t necessarily need a dedicated webcasting studio, they definitely need better lighting on those deskside shots. I like the deskside idea itself. But the windows in the background cause the camera lens to close down an f-stop or two, making host Chris Bournea’s face, with his dark skin, pretty obscure. Poster-sized white card stock reflecting more light on the subject might help here. Or get those bright windows out of the shot.
• Sound mix: is bad. The keyboard-tapping intro is way too loud compared to the voice tracks. I had to turn up all three or four volume controls on my PC (and isn’t that annoying) to just hear what they were saying.
• Tone: too stiff. I’m guessing that these writer/reporters don’t have a lot of video experience, but they need to loosen up a bit. They all sound like they’re reading a script, which of course they are. But it shouldn’t seem like they’re reading. They need to get away from the reporter/audience mindset. How would they talk about these stories if they were relating them to a neighbor or to their grandmother? Differently. Be more casual and conversational.
• Humor: this is a delicate one. They shouldn’t be going anywhere near Jon Stewart territory, but a little bit of humor can go a long way. And I don’t mean that horrible happy-talk that local TV news engages in. It’s a subtle thing, and I doubt that I’d be able to immediately get it right, but something is needed here.
• Outro: the anchor shouldn’t thank the reporters from the video segments after the segmant, as in “Thanks for that report, Jim.” We know they’re recorded separately and that the segment guy is not hearing the anchor thanking him. It’s too phony and TV.

Regardless of any complaints from me however, I think the vids are a good idea. As the future unfolds, everyone who works for a newspaper has to realize that they’re not in the newspaper business, they’re in the news business. The Dispatch should be doing video too. Seeing as how the Dispatch owns ThisWeek, maybe they’re experimenting with the smaller property with an eye towards expanding it later.

And speaking of the Dispatch, I’ve written about how their website was broken before, but now their site seems to be in total meltdown. Their front page at www.dispatch.com is reporting 404 file not found. Geez! Maybe they’ve scheduled this holiday weekend to perform some much-needed upgrades.

UPDATE: Via Jeff Jarvis, here’s a longish UK video review of the print-to-video efforts on that side of the pond. The local paper efforts look a lot like what you can find in the US.