What is the Future of TV News?

Even though we are well into the Internet age, online media continues to evolve. Video continues to improve in quality, and at the same time, it continues to be easier to produce and distribute. Online video is also expanding in the wide variety of ways that it is informing us. From straight news style interviews, to footage from stabilized drones that would have required an expensive helicopter just a couple of years ago. The profuse variety of video is encroaching on, and may be displacing, TV news.

According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, television viewing has declined on by as much as 4% per year since 2012 in countries like the US and the UK. This is similar to the decline in newspaper circulation that happened in the 2000s. I see this as an indicator that as those raised on broadcast television continue to age and decline, viewership of scheduled programming, including TV news, will also decline. They also point out that there is no reason to expect the subsequent generations raised with access to on demand video to choose programmed viewing as they get older.

To further show the demise of cable television, including TV news, the Reuters Institute notes that those habituated to on demand viewing are less willing to be constrained to viewing a cable connected television. They have become accustomed to being able to access video content on any number of internet connecting devices including smart phones and tablets, smart TVs, personal and laptop computers, and gaming consoles. This idea is supported by Digitalsmiths and TiVo’s 2016 quarter three Video Trends Report survey showing nearly 18% of respondents had “cut the cable” within the last 12 months.

With the growing number of people opting out of scheduled programming, more people will either encounter their news by happenstance, or they will actively seek out news programming; most likely it will be a combination of both. Network news will most likely become a place we verify what we have encountered elsewhere. I know that this is the case for myself. Also, it seems to me that TV news programs will continue to shift their focus turning into infotainment programs populated by talking heads. I see the more substantive news being delivered by standalone video articles reporting on specific news events. This would fall in line with the growing demand for instantaneous information.       

Sources:

http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/publications/2016/what-is-happening-to-television-news/

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/currency/tivo-survey-finds-cord-cutting-rise/161192

Audio Podcast - Who Cares if it's True?

LINK TO AUDIO

Who Cares if it's True?

TRANSCRIPT

Anchor: Wayne Young

SLUGLINE: Who cares if it's true?

Timecode: 02:06

INTRO: This is Reflections on Online Media. The date is November 20, 2016. A rare rainy afternoon in Phoenix, Arizona. I am Wayne Young.

WY: Today I’ll be speaking about truth in reporting in the Internet age. Does it matter anymore and if so, how do we achieve it. Let’s take a look at one successful example of reporting via the Internet, and it is Buzzfeed.

WY: From its start, Buzzfeed’s journalists shared the idea that the quicker a story was put out the better, even if it had not been thoroughly vetted. They felt that the internet was self-correcting and that the truth would emerge through open trial and error. While still maintaining much of this philosophy, Buzzfeed has decided that convincing its readers that its posts are true makes good sense regarding both journalism and business. In order to do so, they have started to use journalistic tools that have been derided as “old-school”, and one of the most fundamental of these tools is the copy editor. 

WY: This philosophy falls in line with a primary concern that veteran reporters have. The old guard holds that reporting is a quest for truth and for what the readers need to know to stay informed. Their process was all about verifying the facts and only then presenting them to the public.

WY: Adding some of the old tools doesn’t mean Buzzfeed is going to be slavishly following the “rules” of the past. Instead of insisting that stories have at least two source, one really strong and credible source is enough to see it to publication. The editor in chief, Ben Smith prefers to rely on smart reporters and on Twitter, fixing stories as they develop.

WY: For more information and other stories, go to wayne-young-online (dot) blogspot (dot) com.  

OUT-RO: Thank you for listening to Reflections on Online Media. Be sure to keep listening.  

Buzzfeed - Who Cares if it's True?

How is Buzzfeed changing its practice in regards to stories it posts/shares each day?

From its start, Buzzfeed’s journalists shared the idea that the quicker a story was put out the better, even if it had not been thoroughly vetted. They felt that the internet was self-correcting and that the truth would emerge through open trial and error. While still maintaining much of this philosophy, Buzzfeed has decided that convincing its readers that its posts are true makes good sense regarding both journalism and business.

Buzzfeed, along with other non-traditional news organizations, is working to find a middle ground from which to approach journalism. In order to do so, they have started to use journalistic tools that have been derided as “old-school”, and one of the most fundamental of these tools is the copy editor. Buzzfeed has decided that it better to get it right from the start instead of trying to fix any errors after a story has been published.

This doesn’t mean slavishly following the “rules” of the past. Instead of insisting that stories have at least two source, one really strong and credible source is enough to see it to publication. The editor in chief, Ben Smith prefers to rely on smart reporters and on Twitter, fixing stories as they develop.

What is the primary concern that media veterans have with this type of hyper-immediate news delivery?

The primary concern that veterans have is the question of what is the very purpose of what journalist do. There is an ongoing debate over the core values of journalism and reporting. The old guard holds that it is the quest for truth and a sense of what the citizens need to know to be informed participants in our democratic process. The process was all about verifying the facts and only then presenting them to the public.  

Where do you see potential problems with Buzzfeed's practices, or process of vetting stories?

The digital news revolution has been around long enough for the consequences of overly fast, or overly slow journalism to be evident. Too fast and the news reporting could become shoddy. Too slow and thoroughly vetted stories could lose their timeliness. It seems that there does need to be a balance between the old guard’s and the new digital journalists’ approaches to the dissemination of the news. The new readership wants to have their news served up with a minimum of delay. However, it is the responsibility of all journalist, from professionals to the newly risen citizen journalists, to delivery their stories with at the quickest speed possible, and with the largest amount of veracity.  

Source:

http://www.cjr.org/cover_story/who_cares_if_its_true.php

https://www.buzzfeed.com/about

Podcasts Part II, Podcasts and Audio

In this blog, I'll be looking at how interviews are conducted in a podcasts by answering a few questions. I chose this particular podcast because it is well regarded and the interviewer is a seasoned journalist. Another reason I chose this podcast is that it is produced locally.  

What is the program called?

KJZZ’s Here & Now, Nov. 9, 2016 

Who is the interviewer (full name)?

Steve Goldstein

Who is the interviewee?

Chris Herstam

What did the interviewer know about the subject before the interview?

The questions were political in nature and centered on the recent election. Steve Goldstein seemed very knowledgeable about the issues.

What kinds of questions did they ask?

Did Arizona play an important part in the election as a swing state? Because Joe Arpaio and Donald Trump were lumped together, was it surprising that Arpaio lost and Trump won? Why did John McCain win even though he has lost popularity over the last few years?

How did they build up to questions?

The questions started on a national level and then proceeded to state and local concerns.

How did they follow up questions?

Many questions were followed up with questions asking for more details and explanations.

Did the interviewer appear to have a strategy?

Steve Goldstein did allude to other topics that would be covered later in the podcast with the continuation of the interview with Herstam.

How were any inadequate or evasive answers handled?

There did not seem to be any inadequately or evasively answered questions.

What was the apparent relationship between the interviewer and interviewee? Did they seem like friends, or adversaries?

It seemed apparent that they had interviews before and were comfortable discussing the subject. They certainly seemed friendlier than if they had been strangers to one another.

What did you learn about interviewing from this interview?

It seemed that Goldstein’s familiarity with the subject was a strong point. He also seemed to have follow up questions ready that would lead Herstam into more detailed answers.

Sources:

http://kjzz.org/podcast/here-now

Podcasts Part I, Reflections on Podcasts



I have never been a fan of podcasts. To me they seem inconvenient. I searched for a podcast to listen to and came upon Fresh Air. I had listened to Fresh Air before on the radio and it did not occur to me that it would be classified as a podcast. I think that the delivery mechanism, more than the content, determines if something is classified as a podcast. I also learned about the NPR One app for accessing and scheduling the delivery of podcasts to your device.

Fresh Air is produced by radio station WHYY in Philadelphia. It is associated with NPR. It is a weekday broadcast that covers the contemporary Arts and other issues. I listened to an interview with Stephen Colbert. They talked about the ending of his last show, The Colbert Report, and the beginning of his current position with Late Show on CBS. They discussed how the Late Show is influenced by the network, if there is any interference, and if he feels limited by CBS’s language restrictions on curse words. They also discussed Colbert’s feelings about the Presidential campaign.

In listening to the podcast, I noticed that the audio quality was good, but a bit heavy on the bass. I think that may be an effect of their sound engineering. While it was not objectionable, it did make them sound a little flat. There were a few drop outs of the audio, but no real buffering.

I generally prefer to read news stories which allows me to reread sections at my discretion to make sure that I am understanding the subject of the story. However, because of the conversational tone and language that was used in the podcast, I do not feel that it would read well. I did not mind listening to this podcast even though some Colbert’s answers were fairly lengthy and detailed. It is here that the conversational tone worked and the language was easily comprehensible.

I will be listening more to Fresh Air and other NPR podcasts now that I know how to easily access them. NPR has been very smart to streamline the process of searching for and scheduling listening to their podcasts. They may have won me over.  

Sources:

http://www.npr.org/podcasts/381444908/fresh-air

http://www.whyy.org/

Maricopa County Community Colleges Work to Save Students Millions

After tuition and housing, books and supplemental instructional materials can be a substantial percentage of a student’s budget. Since 1978, the cost of college textbooks has increased by 812 percent. This is a faster increase than even health care or home prices. On average, a student will pay $655 for textbooks per year. This is just an average, meaning 50 percent of students are paying more than this; not surprising when just one book can cost as much as $300. The cost goes even higher when supplemental materials are added in. Students in some classes spend up to an additional $150 per semester for art or other supplies.

There is a growing movement among community colleges to decrease the cost of learning materials used in the courses they offer. They are doing this through the switch to Open Educational Resources. These are any resources that are available at little, $40 or less, or no cost that can be used for teaching, learning or research. OER are generally digital resources and tend to focus on online or hybrid courses; however, they can also be used in traditional classroom settings. Beyond electronic textbooks, the materials include learning applications, syllabi, online quizzes and exams, and instructional videos and any other type of material that can be delivered to the students electronically. These materials are usually released under a Creative Commons license.   

Maricopa County Community Colleges, which Glendale Community College is a part of, started the Maricopa Millions OER Project in Fall 2013. The project’s goal is to substantially lower student costs associated with course materials with low or no cost options. No cost courses have no additional fees beyond the tuition. Through Spring 2016, the project has generated nearly $6 million in savings for MCCCD students. To assist students in locating classes with no or low cost textbooks, a search option has been added to the student information system’s Find A Class section.  

However, the benefits to students can be hard for them to appreciate as there is a savings involved instead of an easily noticeable out of pocket expense. The experience of former GCC student Dawn Creighton brings some perspective. She says that when she was attending GCC, “There was no book advance and that caused the hair raising situation of having to pay for my books, including expensive math books, on my own before getting any of my grant money.”

The OER Project not only benefits the students; it is also benefiting the instructors. Jeff Del Nero, faculty member in the GCC Art department, told his Art Marketing class, “Being able to use online materials takes pressure off of the teachers.” By having these materials available, teachers don’t have to require their students to purchase often expensive textbooks.

In its current form the project appears to be a success all around. However, MCCCD is continuing to evaluate more OER materials and expand their use in more classes. The project timeline calls for the use of OER materials during live classroom session starting in the 2016-2017 school year.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/04/college-textbook-prices-increase_n_2409153.html

https://www.oerconsortium.org/

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELi7061.pdf

https://www.maricopa.edu/welcome-to-the-maricopa-millions-oer-project

http://www.oeconsortium.org/projects/showcases/maricopa-millions-case-study/

https://maricopa.instructure.com/courses/811971/pages/phase-6-information-on-call-for-proposals

One of My Journalism Heroes

While I can name quite a few heroes I have in journalism, the majority have either passed away or retired. Also, like many participating in a growing trend, I have cut the cable and no longer watch any of the major television networks. Instead of my news being served at a regular time on a regular channel, I have to make the effort to seek out those who I trust to convey truthful news to me via the Internet. One of those who I turn to again and again is Rachel Maddow.

Rachel Maddow is the host of The Rachel Maddow Show on the MSNBC news network. She has a bachelor’s degree in public policy and as a Rhodes Scholar, she earned a doctorate in political science from Oxford University. From 1999 through 2005, Maddow worked as a radio host on several programs ending up on Unfiltered for Air America. After Unfiltered was cancelled, she began appearing on several news shows as either a co-host, substitute host or a regular panelist. In 2008, she started with MSNBC, which eventually led to The Rachel Maddow Show.  

While journalism serves a purpose beyond entertainment, we tend to watch what entertains us. Rachel Maddow entertains me, but not in a yuck-yuck way. She intelligently dissects the current events and delivers them to her viewers with wit and barbed humor. While she tackles political issues with a liberal leaning, she does not consider herself to be part of partisan politics.

I like the way Rachel Maddow tackles the issues, looks beyond the obvious and delivers news and commentary in a way that makes me feel better informed. And entertained.     

Sources:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26318771/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#.USYy1ldi0k4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Maddow

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/26/AR2008082603069.html