TV News in PoMo World
During my admittedly brief tenure in the Online News Pro biz, I have learned first-hand what I had read about in various forums: the local news operations are focused entirely on the 5:30 and 10:00 newcasts. ENTIRELY. That is not necessarily a bad thing, in most cases - but if you’re reading this, then you know that news doesn’t happen only at 5:30 and 10:00. It happens all day - and night - long.
Terry Heaton has posted an article titled “TV News In A Post-Modern World” that addresses this mindset - and offers some tips and insights for challenging it. Read more
Filed Under General, NewsSave Your Perfect Stories
Poynter’s “Ask The Recruiter” column brought up an interesting question: I recently made the jump from print to Web, from reporting to editing. In my new job I help choose stories to promote, write headlines and summaries and produce everything from quizzes to photo galleries — all completely online. I’m assuming that I should probably keep some examples of my work for future employers, but I’m not sure what, or how. Suggestions?
The reply to the question is good, and I’d like to elaborate on it - especially for people who are newly-hatched Online News Pros.
In the online news pro biz, most of your work eventually gets buried - tucked away in archived pages, rarely to be seen again. You write an awesome headline, craft a Perfect Story from the snippets provided by your reporters (or written entirely by you), add relevant and insightful links, maybe sprinkle in some helpful graphics or video (slideshow? Flash? interactive? timeline?), and presto! You’ve got a killer story.
The problem is, it’s likely going to be relegated to the archives of your site within days, if not hours, and then will likely only be resurrected during occasional Google searches (if at all). Even if your story gets picked up by a major social media site (Digg, MeFi, etc), that massive traffic spike to your Perfect Story will wane quickly.
But you need to keep your Perfect Story alive to some degree, in some sort of “suspended animation,” ready to awaken again when it’s time to find a new job, or impress a new boss with your online news pro chops.
How do you prove to potential employers, clients, or managers that you’ve got what it takes?
You’ve got to keep copies of your best work. Hard copies may be fine for some situations - just keep printed copies of your best stuff in a binder or briefcase or file cabinet and be ready to present them if needed.
But your Perfect Story was created for the internet. It has color, it moves, it jumps, it has pictures - and that can be hard to communicate on a coffee-stained, wrinkled 8.5”x11′ sheet of paper that has been nesting in the bottom drawer of your file cabinet.
So take your best stuff - your Perfect Stories - and save them electronically. Save them as files on a jump drive. Copy-n-paste them as pages or entries on your blog - either your public site or a personal site. Save them to a couple of different places; send them to your GMail account.
And the next time you’re asked to prove how good you are, just give your potential employer/boss/client a living, breathing demonstration of your Perfect Story in action.
Filed Under Job, TipsLinks and Tips
Another round of links and tips for online news professionals!
MakeUseOf has a review of a video converter called Format Factory; check out what it can do:
Video Conversion:From all formats to MP4/3GP/MPG/AVI/WMV/FLV/SWF.
Audio Conversion:From all formats to MP3/WMA/MMF/AMR/OGG/M4A/WAV.Using FormatFactory you can not only convert between all the various formats but you can also perform certain other functions like reducing multimedia file sizes.
Are you the only one in your newsroom that uses Twitter, Facebook, and other social media services? ReadWriteWeb offers some tips on how to “spread the word” about the utility and versatility of such services.
The always-helpful folks at Poynter have a neat post about the “11 Layers of Citizen Journalism” - the post is dated 2005, but it applies in 2008, too. The layers start small - enabling comments - and move up from there.
The Search Engine Guide offers an amazing resource called “The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!” It applies to all sorts of websites and blogs, but if you run an online news site, you need to read this.
How To Make Internet TV is a from-the-ground-up site with how-to and guides, ranging from software to equipment to editing to licensing.
Can’t have a link roundup without Lost Remote, and an entry from Cory Bergman back in March hits the nail on the head: Why TV sites lag newspaper sites.
Filed Under General, SitesOnline News Pro Roundup
Here is the first of what I expect will be weekly roundups of links of interest to online news professionals. If you spot (or write) a piece that may be of interest to fellow online news pros, drop me a comment. Ready? Here we go!
- The Online Journalism Blog has an excellent piece about the “news diamond,” which incorporates many of the elements of the “new” journalism, such as interactivty.
- Eat, Sleep, Publish offers some insight about what a “real journalist” is in the year 2008, and argues that there is no such thing as “professional journalist” anymore. Among the key points:
Journalism has never been the type of thing that you need years of training to do. Many journalism professors I’ve talked to…have been telling students for years that journalism school is largely a waste of time. You learn on the job. The thing that has traditionally separated journalists from regular people is access to the tools of the newsroom and the audience of the (medium). A lot of things change when you remove the barriers to reaching a large audience. Using services like WordPress…it’s possible for anyone with internet access to reach as many people as the New York Times without spending a nickel.
- You Don’t Say gives an example of a journalistically correct headline that, um…loses something in the delivery.
- Editor, Revised offers some insight and tips for young and/or new journalists; among the observations:
So you can edit words. Can you cut audio and video? You write a mean lead. Can you write a Web headline that’s search-engine friendly? You can do all that. Can you mash up data, words and pictures to map your story? If you can, great. Now get ready to rewrite the rulebook in a year. Maybe less.
- And finally, take a look at Wired Journalists, aka Media Geeks (using Ning). Not sure what to make of it, except that it seems to offer something of value…I’m just not sure what, exactly.
Filed Under General, TipsLost Remote
Lost Remote is a great tipsheet and resource for anyone involved in digital media. Interesting to watch as LR has shifted focus:
Back in 1999, Lost Remote began blogging (it wasn’t called “blogging” yet) about how technology will revolutionize the television industry. From DVRs to TV websites, we urged media companies to invest in new ideas and abandon the status quo. Fast forward to 2008 and the new battleground: the local web…(so) we’ve refocused Lost Remote on local TV and the battle for the web…it’s critical for local media companies to be armed with the latest ideas and competitive intelligence to take on the portals, city guides, internet yellow pages, local directories and other pure plays. Because that’s the competition — not the TV station across the street. And the future of local media information companies is riding on it.
If Lost Remote isn’t one of your daily reads, it should be. And here’s something cool from their “Resources” page: How To Write For The Web. As LR notes, writing a news story for a website is not (or shouldn’t be) simply a matter of transcribing the words of a TV segment. More details, more depth, more links - all key to making a TV story “work” online.
Filed Under Sites, WritingJournalist as VP
To the best of my knowledge, the nomination of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin could mean that we would have the first-ever Journalist as an American Vice-President. According to Wikipedia, she earned her degree in Communications/Journalism from the University of Idaho. Here’s a clip of Sarah doing some on-air sports reporting back in the 80s.
News Videographer
News Videographer is a handy site for anyone who wants to learn about or discuss the role of video on a news site. The About page states:
Many journalists are grabbing video cameras, sometimes without training, to help their news organizations meet the exploding demand for Internet video. News Videographer is meant to fill the gap in training and provide a robust feedback forum. The main service of this blog is to provide honest critiques of online news videos and related multimedia content. Such feedback can help the videographer improve his or her work and can also help others develop their own shooting, editing and storytelling skills.
The site has been operating for more than two years, and categories include Ethics, TV News Video, Training, Gear & Software, and of course Jobs. Good site - one for the blogroll!
Filed Under SitesONP @ US News & World Report
Here’s a good job description for an Online News Producer (ONP) recently spotted at Journalism Jobs: Read more
Filed Under JobContent Management System
If you’re an Online News Pro, what kind of content management system do you use in your job? Do you use one of the “big” systems, such as IBS or WorldNow? Or do you use a blog-style CMS, such as Movable Type, Wordpress, or Joomla? What do you think are the advantages of one system over another?
Filed Under SoftwareOnline News Producer Job Description 3
Another (edited) job description for an online news producer:
Responsible for generating ideas and creating new content for their Money section; Generate content for emails, blogs, and videos; Work with relevant staff to ensure that content produced maximizes traffic; Find engaging ways to display research; Rework TV content for online presentation; Writing to daily deadlines; Subject expertise; Strong knowledge of online content market
What else should this job description include? Do you have a job similar to this one?
Filed Under Job