At Thursday morning’s montly Ohio Web Leaders meeting, Ryan Squire, the Manager of Content Acquisition for NBC 4 WCMH-TV, spoke about the future of broadcast media incorporating social media.
“Traditionally, we sent journalists out, we look for information, and we report that information at 5 and 6 pm… but in a Web 2.o world, just putting the information out isn’t enough,” Squire said. “We need to be having conversations about it. We need to build relationships around the community. Because we’re not content creators. As much as I’d like to think that each one of my 30 journalists in my newsroom is a content creator, they’re not. They’re reporters. They report the news. In our world now, it’s more moderation… you’re the ones who are actually creating content - we just have to moderate the content, and I think that’s our changing role… We’re no longer a newsroom, we’re a content creation unit.”
It was an interesting, thought-provoking talk that I hope you will all enjoy as much as I did:
(Click here if the embedded video isn’t working.)
I agree with Ryan - I think the future of broadcast journalism will have to become more engaging and two-way to appeal to a “web 2.o world.” However, I think that the way both 10tv and NBC4i have started trying to do this - asking people for their feedback about a story and posting Tweets, Facebook comments, etc on-air - is editorializing, and is not necessarily the way to incorporate social media into the news. However, from talking with Ryan afterward I know that he knows this, and it seems that future plans at NBC4 will truly empower Central Ohioans to become content creators.
KJ Messinger says:
So if Central Ohioians become “content creators” we will be free labor? A small newspaper in California tried this (can’t remember the name, sorry) and got poor results. This is another way to marginalize the labor journalists do to increase the profit margin.
Feb 27, 2009, 4:42 pmCheryl says:
I think Ryan’s vision is that regular folk can easily and effectively create the car wreck/shooting/robbery content so real, trained journalists can devote resources to in-depth stories that involve time and research - he touches on this at some point in the lecture. If I’m wrong and that’s not his point, that’s my point - I don’t need a BA in Journalism to take a video of the car wreck outside my house… I might need one to spend a month uncovering discrepancies in government spending.
Feb 27, 2009, 4:47 pmCheryl says:
For example… I was going to the inauguration. Ryan knew this and gave me a Flip so I could upload video for NBC4. Yes, I did this for free, but if they would have paid a reporter to go, they would have got very different content back. Hell, if they would have paid ME to go, I probably would have sent very different content back This was a way for them to get not only the journalistic side of the inauguration, but a regular ol’ Central Ohioans experience, too. Both are valuable content and both should exist.
Feb 27, 2009, 4:53 pmKJ Messinger says:
If his vision is reality–that’s great. People like to see ordinary folks who could be their friends and neighbors producing content (YouTube). Any idiot can shoot images of a car wreck, but that idiot probably won’t go beyond that. However, giving people a great deal of time to work on an in-depth story doesn’t produce revenue that is desperately needed now. Quantity will win out over quality. I worked in one newsroom that demanded reporters write two stories every day. Yes, that was in the ’90s, but the mentality is still there. Produce, produce, produce. With the fear of bankruptcy (RIP Rocky Mountain News), I fear quality journalism will get pushed aside. The Fourth Estate may lose it watchdog status.
Feb 27, 2009, 11:34 pmKJ Messinger says:
Whoops–”its” watchdog status.
Feb 27, 2009, 11:35 pmNorman Wolfe says:
I’d like to subscribe via google reader but not sure how to do that. Can you explain please?
Feb 27, 2009, 2:19 pm