Archive for November 30th, 2008
Listen to the Sound of my Voice
Are news consumers getting too demanding?
With pick ‘n’ mix news available online and new web tools to distribute news content, are readers demanding too much from journalists trying to meet their expectations? If you read a story online, are you disappointed to find no linked video or audio content? It is arguable that the widespread availability of online content has meant that reporters are having to add new skills to their CVs and make sure their new reporting makes use of them many new platforms to publish online. But rather than an extra burden for journalists, this is a liberation.
Stories are no longer confined purely to print. Convergence means a merging of broadcast and newspaper journalism in cyberspace. It is often those getting to grips with providing stories on a variety of platforms that bemoan this move the their job requirements. Take Jeremy Paxman’s first few attempts to create video to back up Newnight:
Why should I listen to a podcast when I can read a report, albeit on the web?
Some argue that not all stories need to have a variety of ways of consuming them on offer. This is to a certain extent true. But it is difficult to think of a recent news story which you would also like to see some video footage with. Do smaller scale stories need video? Take this week’s story of the super-complex built for two Great Danes. I would probably click on a video tour of their luxury kennel, if it was on offer, because I found it interesting.
What about for audio content, surely not all stories need an audio version too? We again, it is arguable that all stories could have some sort of audio to back up the story. Audio and video content can be used to flesh out the story, or give insight into a particular area which would not have room to be covered in print. When researching for my Christmas feature on toys – found this article from Manchester Evening News. The written article is good – but the video has on foot interviews with punters on Manchester’s streets talking about which toys they remember fondly when they were young. This brings depth, life and a personal aspect to the news.
What this shows is that combining other ways of consuming news, as well as the printed article, provides the reader with a more varied choice. Though they may not click on the audio or video content, they have the option too. In a world where we can choose Mocha’s over straight black coffees, this choice is important.
Rick Waghorn, editor of My Football Writer believes readers want to have the option of hearing the voice of the person being talked about in the written article. He gives the example of a pub conversation he recorded between Mick Mills, John Wark and Roger Osborne, who got together at the Crown Hotel in Framlingham. He put the content on the web as a podcast, and found in incredibly popular. Listeners felt like they were listening into a friendly conversation between people they have no personal contact with, but read about and had a keen interest in what they had to say. It allowed them to hear the sound of their voices, the intonantion and give more of an insight to their character.
When transcribing an interview, journalists often look out for the behavioural content around the interviewees speech and they filter this information into their copy – a nervous finger movement, a hesitation, a smirk. These things are difficult to get from the flatness of written word, and are brought to life by video and audio.
Waghorn gives the example of the school headmaster who is talking about changes to the school which will involve your children. Given the choice, would you listen to his speech or read it? I think most people would opt for listening to it, or at least like to have the opportunity to.
Waghorn said readers are empowered by the web and can make demands for instant content. But we can also demand video and audio, and demand our own voice to be heard.
