Convergence in Journalism

29 Nov 2005

For RTV 2100 at the University of Florida.

  1. Video is on the Web (CBS News video selection page).
  2. But real "Web video" is different from TV (example: click Interview Archive)
  3. Belo Corp. owns several TV stations, including KING 5 in Seattle and Fox-11 (KMSB) in Tucson. Many of the stations use the same Web template. Superficially, they appear similar. But if you really get into the sites, you'll see big differences. KING 5 is one of the best local TV news sites on the Web, because they have invested time and effort in creating original content for the site and adapting TV content intelligently.
  4. Reporters and producers for NBC News (and even Brian Williams) are writing daily entries in a blog (The Daily Nightly) that takes us behind the scenes.
  5. Some newspapers are creating original video for their Web sites (example), without the help of any TV "partners." These videos tend to be longer than TV news segments, and there's no reporter on camera and no voiceover.
  6. Photo slideshows with audio sometimes tell a story online better than video could (example). A journalist at The New York Times, Naka Nathaniel, epitomizes a new kind of journalistic storyteller who works with video, audio, still photography and a variety of online production tools. Trained in broadcast journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, he often works in challenging locations such as Sudan, Palestine and Afghanistan.

Convergence

Five big companies own most of the TV and radio stations, movie studios, music recording labels, newspapers, magazines and book publishers in the United States.

Here's what The Big 10 media owners looked like in 2001. This chart is really nice because it shows simply and graphically how much these companies influence everything we see, hear and read.

Well Connected, an up-to-date site from the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity, keeps track of ownership and consolidation in the broadcast, cable and telecom businesses.

Multimedia Online

Flash Journalism: Professional Practice Today
Online Journalism Review, Sept. 22, 2005
12 online journalists tell us why and how they use Flash.

Work by Naka Nathaniel of The New York Times

Facts and news about online news video

SNDies
Society of News Design annual interactive awards (direct links to winners are here)

Interactive Narratives
A database and group blog of great online work and news about our journalism tools (now featuring podcasts)