Wednesday, January 20, 2010

YouTube joins John King on TV series, "The Future of News"

Last December, I joined John King from CNN at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., for a half-hour television show on the future of television news, hosted by Frank Sesno. The show was part of a 10-part series put on by the Newseum, in partnership with American Public Television (with a grant from Ford). We were the final show, and our conversation brought together emerging trends in new media and how they're affecting TV. The series is out of post production now and is being broadcast on participating member stations across the country.

Though I went into the taping thinking that I'd have to defend the role of new media in today's news landscape (a role we often have to take in these discussions), I should have known better: both John and Frank use new media often in their programming - John leverages CNN's iReport, and Frank (a veteran journalist) runs Planet Forward, a start-up he began with a grant from the Knight Foundation to solicit UGC videos on climate change for use on PBS. Both of them defaulted towards seeing opportunity rather than challenge in the power of the Internet to collect and distribute news from new sources. The Newseum is posting a few clips from the show on YouTube; here's one in which we talked about citizen reporting on YouTube, particularly in Iran.



I think by far the most exciting possibilities in TV news today are when TV harnesses the power of the Internet in a meaningful way. That means both sharing content, so that content creators can reach their audiences more effectively and efficiently on platforms like YouTube, but also integrated programming that really leverages the best of audience contribution and participation. Hybrid models of user engagement like our debate in Copenhagen last fall at the COP-15 summit, or even lighter, more experimental partnerships like the one we did with Good Morning America to solicit user-generated Thanksgiving videos, show a new way forward where TV and the web can each play to their core strengths to create fluid, more expansive, and more compelling programming opportunities for viewers.

We discussed these types of partnerships near the end of this clip:

3 comments:

Unknown said...

This was great. We had a really thought-provoking conversation. As YouTube and others have created new realities and new social networks -- our basic relationships have changed. Ordinary people, not anointed superstars or elite ivory tower journalists or politicians, can drive the debate now. They can add, subtract or multiply a conversation. They can respond, react or make noise. They can ask questions or provide answers. It's not a straight line, of course. And a lot of good traditional journalism has been lost and won't be replaced by vox populi. On balance, though, we're moving toward a more participatory, media-democracy. This guy Grove is onto something! Frank Sesno

Anonymous said...

could congress please declare war on rape? - Amy Milov

Anonymous said...

it's my campaign. congress please declare war on rape. it is also my question for the state of the union address.

Thank you,

Amy Milov
amy.milov@gmail.com

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