Video in Print - A Survey of Newspapers and Multimedia Newshandling

Summary

Newspapers have a long, proud tradition as a powerful flat medium. Flat as in two-dimensional. Flat as in static text and particularly static images. Since the advent of radio and then television as competing news media, newspapers have struggled to overcome their greatest weakness - that in a world of movement and sound, print has neither. Then came the internet. Print went online. And so after 400 years newspapers gained the ability to incorporate movement and sound, video and audio, into their news presentations. Having the ability and having the know-how are two different things, however. Video and audio newshandling presents a completely foreign landscape to a medium whose production systems and job descriptions are designed for a world that is flat. Some critics consider attempts to converge across media boundaries tantamount to financially sailing off the edge of the Earth. Still, some pioneering publishers are exploring the new world by encouraging photographers to also carry digital video cameras, equipping selected reporters with digital audio recorders, or hiring experienced producers from local television and radio staffs to join their internet operations. One might even consider that the integration of video and print has gone mainstream with the recent announcement of content cooperation between television standard-bearer BBC and newspaper flagship The New York Times. A decade into the era of online, with many thousands of the world’s tens of thousands of daily and weekly newspapers offering web editions as enhancements to their paper pages, it is estimated that less than 400 traditionally print publications are as yet involved in the gathering, creation and dissemination of video and/or audio news content. The only things moving or making a noise on most newspaper web sites are animated advertisements and manipulated menus. The number of newspapers whose newsrooms are in league with a television or radio station is even smaller. While this may seem a timid start, where the explorers are leading, others want to follow. The search for multimedia models has become a priority in most major publishing groups worldwide. Ifra is increasingly asked for information on who is doing what and how. Ifra’s research project titled "Video in Print" was undertaken in 2001 specifically to respond to this need for information. As part of its Newsplex partnership with the University of South Carolina in the United States, Ifra commissioned the Center for Mass Communications Research at USC’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications to document the extent to which news organisations around the world are involved in multiple-media activities beyond static print and photo web sites. Two research studies comprise the basis of this resulting report. The first was a web-based survey of publishing organisations listed in Ifra’s extensive international database. The survey was divided into three sections - use of audio/video on the organisations’ web sites, cross-media partnerships, and the management processes employed in respondents’ newsrooms. The second study looked at the structural elements related to audio/video content on main pages of newspaper web sites worldwide. Overall, findings confirmed that few news organisations representing daily newspapers are involved in multiple- media efforts. Almost none are engaged with media partners in joint newsgathering operations. Even in those organisations in which multiple-media efforts are currently underway, there is little evidence of integration of print and non-print editorial decision-making. This is true whether managers are determining editorial content or assigning reporters to work in traditional print vs. audio/video newsgathering. The management processes are being maintained as separate. Another interesting finding was that, while respondents indicated that they currently hire print reporters who they then train to operate in a multiple-media environment, they clearly expressed a hiring preference for already- trained multiple-media journalists. Beyond this report, it is intended that information from this project will be made available to Ifra members through a searchable database so that publishers who are interested in moving their newspapers into multiple-media newsgathering can be in touch with similarly situated organisations. USC has also expressed interest in revisiting this study after a period to discern further trends. Ifra wishes to express its deep appreciation to the University of South Carolina for its excellent work on this project, as well as to all the news organisations worldwide that responded to the requests for information about their activities, thereby making this report possible and useful to the industry. Ifra also wants to thank the members of the Ifra Information Processing Committee (IPC) for conducting the project and the contributions.