OK, this is our second year of tracking this and the question still remains: Why are local TV stations nowhere to be found on the list of Online Journalism Award nominees? I mean really, when the AARP is winning more awards for great video than local TV stations, it may just be time to hang it up!
Take a look at the finalists for the category of Online Video Journalism, Small Site:
- AARP Bulletin Today, Journey to Remember
- AARP Bulletin Today, What Will Happen to Andy?
- Danny Wilcox Frazier, Produced by MediaStorm, Driftless: Stories from Iowa
- Hank Wilson, No Snitching, No Suspects
In the large site category, things aren’t really any better, though at least ESPN is a television network:
- ESPN.com, You Tube Baby
- Slate V, The Power Recap
- Washington Post Digital, Fashion Week in New York City
- Washington Post Digital, Seeds of Peace
So, what’s up with this? I asked long-time photojournalist turned Web expert Rich Murphy. Rich oversees the Web site for WTTG in Washington, DC.
“Could be that TV (web) journalists are still more used to the traditional awards and stick to what they know to enter,” Murphy said. “Most TV web sites are still reliant on re-purposing what is produced for the broadcast side. Not many TV stations web producers have the time or freedom to go out in the field to do original reporting.”
Photojournalist and author of the News Videographer blog, Angela Grant says newspapers, in particular, may be trying harder online.
In the past few years newspapers freaked out because their print revenues were declining, and they decided to try to make up their losses using the Internet. So they pushed their employees to innovate online and to work hard to develop web skills. This caused newspaper web sites to get better and better. This caused newspaper reporters and photojournalists to experiment with online video, and by now they’ve had a good chunk of time to polish their skills. When they want to enter contests, they think immediately of online- or Internet-focused contests.
What’s happening here? Is it that TV stations aren’t entering or is it that they’re not creating unique and compelling online video? Maybe a little of both?
Sourced from: Advancing the Story
2 Comments
Money and time are the problem. Local TV is in slash and burn mode. We are trying to survive. Sadly no money to hire the bodies it takes to create that content. Producers are doubling up shows photogs are editing furloughs keep coming. We are having a hard time getting the TV side done too. And we can’t afford to get the top web designers. Yet we can’t afford NOT to. What a catch 22. As for contests – that is almost non existent in budgets. Must say despite these challenges we are all doing an impressive job. The frustration is we know what we COULD do if we had the resources it takes to take it to the next level. That is where we REALLY want to be.
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Agreed–there’s no time or money for major online projects or flashy interactives. But video? Take a look at the AARP story about Andy. It’s a classic nat sound piece, narrated primarily by his mother and father. Sure, it runs 10 minutes and it’s nicely shot and well produced. But I’m positive there are plenty of stories on TV sites that measure up to the same standard. The trick is that ONA rewards “online-originated video journalism crafted specifically for a Web audience,” so you can’t just submit a TV story. So here’s a challenge to local stations and journalists: produce some amazing Web-only video–an in-depth piece or a feature you don’t have time for on air–put it up on your site, and get in the game next year.