Saturday, June 24, 2006

Crossmedia journalism (4)

Crossmedia: a problem of publishers?

Newspapers have the opportunity to use internet, radio and television, mobile with iPods and PDAs in their crossmedia strategy, but so far they have mostly extended their newspaper activity to internet. Broadcast companies are confronted with different opportunities. At the conference representatives of the broadcast companies BNR Nieuwsradio and NOS were present to explain their crossmedia strategy, if they had any.

Michiel Bicker Caarten, the editor-in-chief of BNR Nieuwsradio could have been a crossmedia journalist, but he has been a journalist sequentially active in newspapers, on television and now on radio. And he was not too optimistic about crossmedia journalism; in fact he made clear that he did not believe in it. Crossmedia is a problem of publishers and technicians, he stated. Besides with camjos, you have journalists with a camera, soundrecorder, pencil and scratch pads, who will deliver three incomplete stories. He praised himself happy with the fact that BNR Nieuwsradio and the Dutch Financial Daily are now situated in the same building. Both media collaborate, but have not a common crossmedia strategy. So the editors can exchange news with each other, share their address lists and perform in the expert function in radio broadcasts. Bicker Caarten liked the multimediality of the two media, the two companies and the synergetic effects.

Bernadette Slotboom of the NOS Journal, the news department of the Dutch public broadcast company NOS, started with a profile. Since the beginning of this year the complete editorial staff has been concentrated on one floor. This means 400 people, average age of 39 years, of which 150 people for TV and 150 for radio with 100 people facilitating the editorial process. The department requires 130 million euro for the organisation and technology. Besides the concentration of the editorial department on one floor, all media (radio, television and internet, mobile with iPod and PDAs) have gone digital. NOS Journal is now able to go crossmedia with digital radio and television, internet and mobile (iPods and PDAs). But it is not just a matter of content, hard- and software, but also a question of people, Slotboom pointed out.
This is why she liked very much NOS Headline, a project with separate, young editorial staff. They produce their own journal online. They go to schools and ask youngsters what they consider as the news of the day, they have polls and run a forum. The youngsters do not use the TV speak which the NOS has developed over the years.

The Dutch Public Broadcast companies have made a big move in internet. They have launched many a radio and tv internet channel. So far they have hardly been involved in crossmedia projects. Is crossmedia really the problem of publishers and technicians or is it a generation problem?

Tags: crossmedia,

Blog Posting Number: 420

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