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Will Internet News Go Where No News Has Gone?
By Michael Murrie
Perhaps you noticed an announcement on KABC-TV that offers to
notify you of rolling blackouts.
You just register at ABC7.com for the e-mail notice of a blackout
in your area. The site warns, however, that the blackout may
hit you before you receive the notice. Nevertheless, the service
is a way Internet news can serve viewers unlike any other news
medium. It's immediate and highly targeted.
Trouble is it's almost in a class of its own. We haven't really
thought of many unique ways to use the Internet to deliver news.
Last year I visited, in person, nine of the better local Web
news sites across the country and scores of others virtually.
Although there was some innovation out there, most time and
energy went towards just rewriting and posting text. Nevertheless,
here's a sample of some of the interesting coverage that turned
up.
WRAL-TV in
Raleigh gave viewers links to see report state cards on their
schools.
KCBS-TV
in L.A. gave viewers detailed reports about restaurant conditions
for a companion investigative television story.
WCCO-TV
produced reporter vignettes - short, almost-live reports from
the scene of a large downtown protest during a biotechnology
conference.
To read more about these cases and others go to the Web site
of the Radio Television News Directors Foundation and read the
monograph, Local
Web News
If you see innovative ways the Internet reports news, let
me know.
About the Author
MICHAEL MURRIE serves Pepperdine University as a professor who
teaches journalism and television production. He writes about
news technology for RTNDA Communicator, DigitalTV (formerly
Television Broadcast), and Broadcasting and Cable. He's been
a professor for 15 years at Pepperdine and Southern Illinois
University. Before education, he worked nearly 15 years in all
areas of television news, especially as a producer and assistant
news director at KSDK in St. Louis. |
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