March (first posting)
Many feel a Web site should complement the print product, allowing for even more information to be given that could not be provided in a print product alone. Explain what types of information or use-of-news practices you think print newspapers and magazines should offer on the Web site that they don’t offer enough of now or don’t offer at all. In other words, what kinds of information in addition to what’s in the print product would you like to see on print publications’ Web sites?
12 comments:
The additional coverage, via extra photo footage, digital video uploads of the story the journalist has covered, makes it more pleasing to the eye, than just one lousy photo captured in a reel or digi-cam capture of 100 images. The web should give us more than just the story, byline, caption, and dork of a picture. So, bring on the digi-cam footage, bloopers, or extra interviews that didn't make it to the magazine or newspaper pages.
Media Web sites could offer several different things to viewers that they couldn’t otherwise get in the print edition. For stories causing high debate, reporters could post full interviews on the Web site for viewers to listen to. Additional photos of a community event could also be posted. Sidebars for the main story that didn’t fit in the printed version could be added on the Web site. If video is shot of an event, it could be attached for the online story for viewers to watch (Kind of like a news broadcast story). Blogs from reporters giving stories a different angle and mentioning things that were maybe cut from the story would also help.
I agree with the two responses above. You just can’t get coverage on the Internet, like you can on a print edition of a news source.
Reporters and Web sites can do so much more with the coverage of certain events.
Examples could events like the Health Care Reform vote on March 20, 2010 or the Super Bowl.
Blogs could open up stories for more angles and more discussions from readers.
It’s just plain and simple that the online editions of news outlets can just accomplish more.
Such things like podcasts, blogging, video, slide shows, sound slides and graphics can be posted online.
I think print publications should offer links to past stories similar to the one in the print version, extra information about the stories' topic, slide shows, a behind-the-scenes look at the interview or story process and other interesting collateral pieces on their Web site. They could even offer extended versions of stories, if they were too long to be printed.
I think actual news stories should primarily be printed. Besides, that's the print industries bread and butter.
But, print publications have to keep in mind that they are a business. They should decide before they put their materials up whether they want to charge consumers for this information, how much will they charge and how will it effect their business' revenue.
News is expected immediately. That is the cold, hard truth, for lack of a better cliché. Nobody wants to know what the news was from this morning. Events continue to occur all around the world throughout the day, and waiting until the next morning is not good enough. A supplemental Web site is almost required by a daily paper. A reader can read the lead story in the morning and then consult the Web site to read any updates or other breaking news stories. The Web site should be easy to navigate, and should provide an interactive version of the printed edition in efforts to aide subscribers in finding the stories they read in the morning printed edition. The Web site should also offer archives of the previous issues and information about the paper and how to subscribe. The Web site should above all, be an asset to the paper, but not overshadow the printed edition. The printed edition of the paper should encourage readers to check the Web site for updates. Doing this could be a selling point to advertisers, and potentially increase revenue enough to have a print edition team and a web edition team. Specialized teams would increase the quality of publishing, but encourage the entire newspaper to work together and learn from each other.
I think the biggest assets any journalistic Web site offer are - expanded coverage and understanding of issues and the chance for increased relevance of stories to reader's lives. Reading an article is a third-person endeavor, even when the content closely affects the individual reader. Enter the Internet.
I believe a well-designed Web site best complements its printed counterpart when the site enables readers to become more interactive with the information and more involved with each other and with the news writers. To that end, I believe print publications should offer breadth of information that expands reader's understanding of stories.
A story in a news magazine can have a sidebar on a related personality, but space contraints limit how much additional info a printed piece gives. The corresponding Web site can fill this gap.
The Web site wouldn't have the full, original story, encouraging the readers buy a subscription. Instead, the Web page would have an abstract about the original article, then features pertaining to it, the number features corresponding to the article's importance.
Major stories ought to have interactive maps or charts to help readers grasp a fuller context of the issue. The site would also have an in-depth, correlative article for major news covering a different angle than the print version. Third, I think the Web page should link to related pages and offer video about the story, such as snippets of interviews or word-on-the-street perspective, ala jay Leno. Finally, the audience needs a chance to interact with the story, staff, and each other, via IM, blogs, or comment boards for various stories and topics.
To sum, I think the Web page should offer both expanded coverage and understanding of issues, via interactive features and new articles, and increased interaction between readers and staffers, using blogs, message boards, and perhaps "meet the journalist" chat sessions. The Web site can expand on knowledge, offering new features to readers, without eclipsing the equally-important print edition.
I think blogs really have a grip on linking to other valuable/related points of interest. This could be something that could be very beneficial to print publications Web sites. For instance, if you're covering high numbers at the recent premiere of a movie, you could link to a message board or forum where people are discussing the film. If someone is interested in seeing it, they could see what others are saying about it, in detail.
Like i always say you need to complement anything. The site should offer things that you didn't have in print. You can have a blog with photos and a deeper story of what was printed. I would love to also see video posted on what the story had. With digital footage helps tell the story you can't get out of print.
The blog is a common interactive feature used by many news outlets. When used correctly, the blogs act as a shorter, condensed version of the longer, in-depth stories. As it relates to the internet, newspaper blogs are made-for-the-Web pieces, because online viewers' attention spans are selectively short. I endorse using blog. However, when it comes to it, I believe writers should be allowed more freedom in blogs. I believe they should be allowed to pontificate and entertain readers more, whereas their newspaper content is intended to be more informative and less entertaining.
A perfect example of an outlet which is relatively cut-and-dried when it comes to blogging is the Albuquerque Journal. If the Journal allowed Mark Smith, one of its more notable sports reporters, to blog it'd attract an influx of traffic to the already cluttered, worthless Web sites.
I'd like to see more in the sense of multimedia, maybe even interactive media. A lot of publications are using multimedia already but interactive media would be great in getting people who normally don't look at news websites interested.
I would like to see more editorial stuff and column pieces on the internet versions of the print publications. I would like to also see more podcasts and video for free. Free is the keyword here.
I think it would also be beneficial to see more pictures to the stories that are in the paper. I would rather see a slide show that tells the whole story instead of the newspaper that picks one or two of the best pictures. So often we hear show don't tell, and I think that with the internet we can take that to the most literal and realistic meaning.
The Augmented Reality that we were learning about in class is fascinating and I think could be an incredible tool in teaching, training and the workforce. I'm really interested in seeing where this software can take us.
News Web sites, whether they are for print newspapers or magazines, should attach audio, video and photos to all print stories, according to the demand of each story. These types of multimedia always enhance a print story. Blogs should be kept seperate from all professional news sites. Slideshows, maps, etc., are also new aspects that can enhance a Web site.
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