Posts Tagged Television
Two news sites to watch
Posted by jareetz in Digital, Newspapers, Radio, Television on November 6th, 2009
Everyone knows that media sites - particularly newspapers - are struggling mightily to find the right Internet business model, one that will sustain them as print continues to decline and digital becomes more important and no longer viewed as an interesting appendage, as it has been by too many in the recent past.
Anyone who cares about the value and integrity of news and its importance to our everyday life is pulling for each newspaper, television station and radio station to figure it out. Not all will. And at those who don’t, the “cut-expenses-until-we’re-profitable” model won’t work, because there will be nothing left to cut.
It will take more than a sharp budget knife to succeed.
While we are rooting with vigor for media sites to find that elusive model, keep an eye on these guys: www.sdnn.com and www.texastribune.org .
The first one - ww.sdnn.com - is San Diego News Network.
Take a look. It looks feels and acts like a “traditional” news site (whatever that means these days), but if you spend more than a minute there - and you should spend many minutes there if you’re interested in the future of local digital news - you will be satisfied with not only its completeness, but its fun feel, and its very, very community-centric approach. For an example, navigate to The Good Squad on their site.
The San Diego site was the first of an ambitious rollout plan. The second site is www.swrnn.com. It just launched, covering Southwest Riverside, California. Next is Orange County.
The goal is news sites in 40 U.S. and Canadian cities over the next 30 months.
The local news network sites reside under the U.S. Local News Network banner, a company founded by local technology entrepreneur Neil Senturia. He has built a strong staff, including President Chris Jennewein, a long-time newspaper-focused digital expert who has been in digital so long he could argue with Al Gore that HE actually invented the Internet.
Even if you’re not interested in San Diego, their site is worth watching.
Same for the Austin-based site, The Texas Tribune.
The site is a non-profit, doesn’t accept ads and exists on the support of donations and sponsors.
It’s run by former Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith, with backing from venture capitalist John Thornton.
It’s a political journalist’s dream site, loaded with serious articles and insight into the game of Texas politics. In a state with a rich and storied, and sometimes sordid, political tradition, it’s got the right topic to cover.
Time will tell on both.
But in a traditional news environment that has focused on regurgitating print for so many years, these sites may have something to teach others.
“And that’s the way it is, Mr. Cronkite.”
Posted by jareetz in Industry, Newspapers, Television on July 21st, 2009
Cronkite, at a student journalist party at the University of Texas-Austin, 1974.
For 19 years, he anchored the CBS Evening News, giving us the daily signature: “And that’s the way it is…”
But he gave us so much more.
Certainly the premier journalist of his time, he not only recorded and reported the world-changing news of the day - the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing - but he helped change history. His thoughts on Vietnam reportedly helped sway Lyndon Johnson against running for reelection, and his interview with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat nudged him to make his historic visit to Israel.
But, again, he gave us so much more.
Integrity. Compassion. Sincerity.
Not the fake compassion on today’s newscasts. Not the loud braying that accompanies so much of today’s tv reporting.
When he stopped reading the script, took off his thick dark-rimmed glasses and looked into the camera to talk with you, he spoke so much louder than those today who yell, but their words carry the weight of a whisper.
And let’s not forget that he was a genuine kind of guy.
Cronkite went to the University of Texas, and when he was CBS anchor, he was frequently on campus and recognized for his journalistic successes. There, he was one of the guys. In the 70s, when those of us managing the student paper, The Daily Texan, were in a legal battle with the Board of Regents over free press issues, he signed our petition, wrote the Regents and showed up one day to support us. We lost, but at least he was on our side.
Mark Sims, a friend and now at the Los Angeles Times, saw Cronkite at the j-school in 1974 and invited him to a party at his apartment.
To everyone’s surprise, Cronkite showed up, hung around several hours, talking, visiting and drinking with the students.
Mark told The Daily Texan after Cronkite’s death:
“He represented good values and perhaps morals,” Sims said. “Perhaps it’s generational, but sadly much of that is missing today.”
Mark kept Cronkite’s whiskey glass for many years.
“I no longer have the glass that Walter drank from,” he said. “However, even better, I have memories of a caring gentleman.”
The need for speed
Posted by jareetz in Industry, Newspapers, Radio, Television on June 18th, 2009
What’s your school of thought when it comes to publishing systems - newspapers, radio, TV, whatever - and speed to market? Make it perfect, dot every i, cross every t…spend a couple years. Or get a good one in quickly and grow it, as needs grow?
Okay, you’re thinking this is not exciting, and why do I care? But you’re wrong. Almost everything digital revolves around a “publishing system” of sorts. You’ve got a thought for your Facebook page, but you have to publish it, so how it functions, the interface, the speed, the ease of use make all the difference. Same for this blog. Same for Twitter. Slow and cumbersome, you waste time, and perhaps don’t use as often as you would otherwise.
Same stands for the media and publishing system decisions. Only it’s almost a life or death call now, since so many companies teeter on the edge financially, and finding cash to buy systems, and reinvent their operations, and pay the bills, too, is a challenge these days.
It also has everything to do with how a media company organizes itself for this century, not the last. Is the staff (now, much smaller than two years ago) integrated into publishing to all devices, all output methods, or it it split apart, one little group doing this, another doing that? A bunch of separate fiefdoms. Is everyone focused on the content, or the publishing system?
There are already almost too many minefields to navigate. Doesn’t it seem logical - regardless of the name brand - to work to integrate widely across the editorial team, do it right, but know that you keep building it and growing the system as needs change.
But whatever happens, do it quickly. As the industry reinvents, there’s a true need for speed, flexibility and ease of use. It’s simple.
A year from now …
Posted by jareetz in Digital, Industry, Newspapers, Radio, Television on June 16th, 2009
…. will today’s dirge on “the death of newspapers as we know them” be replaced by “the death of radio as we know it,” and “the death of TV as we know it”?
Probably not so directly said - because TV and radio won’t provide as much “ink” to their financial woes as newspapers have in the last 24 months. But it is clearly reinvention time - not to mention redefinition time - for all mass media, not just newspapers.
There’s a decent case to make that TV and radio today are where newspapers were just a few years ago: fretting about the future, but believing and hoping the bottom wouldn’t drop out.
Newspapers had an extra hit to push them along: an over-the-cliff national economy, plus some investments that turned sour.
But all three - newspapers, radio and TV - face the same reality of dramatically changing reader/viewer habits. Newspapers just got a head start, but it’s a good bet many TV and radio companies will follow the same path.
Consider:
1. In smaller radio markets - below the top 50 -ad revenue fell 6.6 percent last year, but around 9 percent in larger markets. Sounds like a repeat of the minimally consoling conversations in newspaper board rooms two years ago that at least the smaller papers are doing okay.
2. With hundreds of channels in place today, and Internet distribution of content just starting to take hold in a big way, what does the future hold for local television stations? Pretty good bet that sorting this out will be as complicating, or moreso, than sorting out today’s newspaper issues.
The good news is TV and radio execs can study newspapers’ attempts to dig out, and reinvent.
But reinvention needs to get started, or it will be a very large hole - as newspaper companies can attest.
First step: think of each TV, radio and newspaper as an information and content business. Not a print or broadcast business.
And those remaining companies that view digital as a nice marketing tool or side business best review the focus, and seize the opportunity. Before others in their market do.
More later.