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Engaging readers and the evolution of 'we media'
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Online Journalism – JOUR 3340
Class Notes – Engaging ReadersFeb. 5, 2008Prof. Foote
Today’s Agenda
Super Tuesday – Engaging Readers What Are Media Doing to Capture
Readers Online & Offline
What’s Good? What Works?
CNN.com WashingtonPost.com Politico.com National Journal – The Money Tracker
The Early Days –News Websites The Evolution
Mainly straight text, no graphics Bulletin boards (BBS), forums ruled Minimal investment
Late 70s/early 80s: VideoText Miami Herald: Viewtron Belo: BISON – Belo Information Systems On-line Progidy: Cowboys Content
Knight Ridder, Tribune: $30 million Regurgitation: What was in print showed up
online No staffs – Gungho geeks who become
mavericks of their time
Dedicated keyboard/terminal that could only be used for the videotext service. This equipment cost $600 to $900; later, as personal computing caught on,Viewtron would try to sell its services via IBM, Apple, or Commodore PCs.
A television set to display the color images, which took time to load or paint
A monthly subscription fee of $12 (the first month was free) A phone line to send information back to a central
computer, for which the consumer initially paid $1 an hour
Source: Poynter.org: “Before there was the Internet, There was Viewtron”, by Howard Finberg, http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=52769
The Miami Herald, then owned by Knight-Ridder, invested $17mm in 1984
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/carlson/history/ScreenShots/Fred_the_computer.jpg
1993: September 2: Middlesex (Mass.) News launches first Internet gopher-based online newspaper.
January 1994: Salt Lake Tribune opens a BBS called
Utah Online. http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/carlson/history/ScreenShots/utah_online.jpg
Who and What is Competing for Traditional Media’s Audience?
Local Newspaper/TV Station
Weeklies
Magazines
Local Websites
Cable
ISPs
Direct Mail
Bill Boards
TV
Yellow Pages
Radio
TelCos
Software Cos.
Time
Work
Family
Videos
Movies
Housework
According to our February-April 2006 survey, 66% of American adult internet users, about 97 million people, use the internet on an average day. Here are some of the things they do on a typical day:
Percent of internet users who report
doing this “yesterday”
Most recent survey date
February-April 2006Use the internet 66Send or read e-mail 53 Dec-05
Use a search engine to find information
38 Dec-05
Get news 31 Dec-05
Surf the Web for fun 30 Dec-05
Check the weather 22 Nov-04
Do any type of research for your job 21 Dec-05
Dai l y I nternet Acti vi t i es
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Tracking surveys (March 2000 – April 2006). Please note that the wording for some items has been abbreviated. For full question wording, please refer to the questionnaire.
The Interactive Audience
Shorter lines of communication between journalists and audience
Traditional Media: Readers v. Non-readers Readers an ‘amorphous mass’ Defined audience – by geography
Circulation, ‘signal’
The Interactive Audience
Now: Individual, personalized, direct Email addresses for reporters Tracking readers: Story by story
Top DownEditors toReaders
Readers in Control
Audience Participation
Interactive tools
Web polls Discussion forums Blogs Personalization
Yahoo, Google
Participatory journalism - “We Media”
http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/weblog.php?id=P36
Types of News Websites Shovelware
What you read in the daily newspaper or see on TV is what you see on the website Costs Staffing Lack of technology/content management
system Strategic decision
All stories written in traditional inverted pyramid style
What are the pros & cons?
Types of News Websites
Periodic Updating Mainly shovelware with some exceptions Breaking News Sports stories/scores Some dedicated staff assigned
Types of News Websites Continuous Updating
Combination of shovelware and original packages
Wire-service (AP, Reuters) operation mentality
Sports stories/scores Special ‘web-only’ reports Extensive interactive features, graphics,
including audio and video Full-time dedicated staff
Corporate Structure Specific newspaper brands tied to the home
town Dallasnews.com Washingtonpost.com Nytimes.com
Umbrella sites Newhouse News’ Regional Approach
AlabamaLive.com NJ.com ClevelandLive.com
Which approach is better? Does it matter?
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