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"Postmodernism is a change-or-be-changed world. The word is out: Reinvent
yourself for the 21st century or die! Some would rather die than change."
Leonard Sweet, cultural historian.

12/17/2004 Entry: "Newspapers as TV stations"

Not only is this going to happen, but the ground floor is already being built. Here's an excellent article from Editor and Publisher. Here's a taste:

Online editors at newspapers across the country are looking to add video clips, video reports, and even online TV newscasts to their sites, taking advantage of the recently exploding popularity of broadband Internet access.

Kinsey Wilson, editor in chief of USAToday.com, calls "continued, expanded use of video, and real experimentation around how video is best deployed on the Internet" the top trend to watch on newspaper Web sites in 2005.

The threat to local TV stations is very real and obvious. There's no sitting still anymore. 2005 is going to be the shake out year for local TV and the Internet, and time is now THE critical factor in responding to disruptive innovations.

Check out Delaware Online

Replies: 1 Comment

This is the worst idea in the world.

1) The internet allows users/readers to scan the news and read it at their own pace (non-linear.)
TV news is totally linear. You must watch the news at the pace and timing in which it is delivered TO you. This totally defeats the whole purpose of the Internet. I just tried the Delaware paper's webcast. It was awful. I watched 3 minutes of TV (with two commercials I was FORCED to sit though) and got less information than if I spent 45 seconds reading three stories on their site. So, why are users going to care about this?

2) Video production is NOT easy!!! The resources it takes to develop a package for TV require editing, writing, a voiceover and an intro. Newspaper people think it's all just the magic of "video." IDIOTS!

3) Newspapers need to focus on putting up *compelling* video clips to accompany stories that help tell MORE of the story. NOT telling the "whole" story in video like a TV station. I put "whole" in quotes because any numbskull knows that there is very little real information delivered in a 45 second story on TV -- just look at a script and compare it to a 10 inch newspaper story. Worlds apart in terms of real info.

Good luck newspapers -- you are doomed if this is your path.

Posted by Jim Wilson @ 12/23/2004 08:18 AM CST


"The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create."
Leonard Sweet