Monthly Archives: August 2008

Have you got my number Ray…Number10tv goes online

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So Number10 has gone online with a wordpress powered website and a brightcove powered TV channel number 10tv. It’s all flickr and community orientated. Looks good.

With my video head on I’m very excited as they have obviously gone for the TV-format approach. Whilst the TV does series from a Zoo and a wildlife park, Number 10TV does ‘Kestrel Rescue’

Cue exciting music and last minute errands of mercy all held together with Gordon Brown doing his best Rolf Harris Animal hospital routine?

No. Cue this (listen to the sound)

So, Ray. Are you sure you have the number? ‘Cos it’s changed.

History lesson.

Wife!

Wife? Check.

I also enjoyed the feature on Winston Churchill. I particularly like the section on wife. Yes he had one and she was “tall, stately and handsome” which I’m sure is a description that would earn you a slap, even in polite society.

Given the tone of the section I think Number10 have inadvertantly raised the veracity of wikipedia as a source.

links for 2008-08-12 [delicious.com]

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How the regional papers use video:Part One

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Over the last two weeks I’ve been looking at how the UK national tabloids and the broadsheets use video on their websites. It yielded some interesting results in terms of getting a feel for the general practice and areas of interest.

To keep things rolling and get a little balance I decided I would continue with a look at the way the regional press are using video. But before I kick off, I wanted to say a little bit about what could be laughably be called by methodology.

Now the regional press is a considerably bigger constituency to work with, so I have narrowed it down to five evening papers. I did this on the basis of the circulation figures.

I asked the good folks of Twitter what the top five circulation regional papers where and got a great response. A big thanks to Joethedough (and his vip contact), foodiesarah, alisongow, nigelbarlow and psmith for your help.  It was Patrick Smith pointed me to a Press Gazette article that listed regional papers by circulation which I used as my starting point.

Going through the list I originally thought I would look at the top five but I’ve mixed things up a little and expanded the range to get the high circulation papers and a mix of the big providers – Johnston Press, Trinity Mirror, Guardian Media Group, Northcliffe.

So the selection was not scientific in the least and I haven’t checked all of them to see if they actually do video. So if anyone feels like something should have been there then let me know. But here is the list (with a link to the Newspaper Society database which I used to check the owner)

Here is the list of sites I will be looking at over the next few days.

  1. Express & Star (Data)
  2. Liverpool Echo – (Data)
  3. Manchester Evening News – (Data)
  4. Belfast Telegraph – (Data)
  5. Leicester Mercury. Actually the Hull Daily mail- (Data)
  6. Yorkshire Evening Post – (Data)
  7. Bradford – Telegraph & Argus – (Data)

Brace yourself

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Whats yours is mine, whats mine is mine : Protecting image rights

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In a postprint world, who “owns” still images? And will anyone ever figure out a better business model than lifting content and getting away with it?

So says Adage’s Simon Dumenco in his SEO headline friendly article Exclusive! First Pics of Adorable Montauk Monster Quintuplets!

The article questions how photographers and owners of images will be protected from copyright theft when the organisations that pay them die.

Dumenco makes a good point. Many bloggers consider the use of pictures as part of fair use, a myth I looked at recently.   And despite the best efforts of the mainstream media to protect the investment they make in exclusive/celebrity pictures the blogasphere re-publishes with impunity.

If you’re a regular reader of blogs, consider the fact that the vast majority of images you see on them are not funded by the blogs but are, um, borrowed from the mainstream media.

Community protection

But I’m not quite sure what alternative Dumenco is adovcating or who he is more annoyed at and in that sense I think his premise that the mainstream media supply blog images is flawed. I think that even if the minority of images on blogs come from the mainstream media now, it won’t be long before community sites like Flickr overtake them. Why? Because community sites and the implementation of creative commons is a better bet for photographers protecting their content.

Dumenco illustrates his point by referencing the Olympics

…with the Olympics in full swing, it occurs to me that, for the first time in modern Olympic history, a critical mass (surely millions) of consumers will take in iconic images from the event not from media that pay for the images but from media

I would edit that slightly to

…with the Olympics in full swing, it occurs to me that, for the first time in modern Olympic history, a critical mass (surely millions) of consumers will take iconic images from the event and the media take these images and not pay for them

Protecting rights

To take Dumensco’s main point,  protection that is the key here. But we need to ask who we are protecting.

The current rules if copyright protect the organisation who owns it rather than the people who create it. Worse still those large media organisations will take UGC from the web and use it with impunity – do as we say not as we do.

The rules do need to change to protect those who take the pictures but there needs to be more recognition that not all the people who take the iconic images we see in the media are taken by pros.

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Top tips for tabloid style newspaper video

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A week ago I looked at the Broadsheet newspapers here in the UK and used my observations to come up with eleven tips for newspaper. Last week I turned my attention to the UK’s national tabloids to see what they where up to and see if they could add anything to that list.

The short answer is no because, the truth is they are very different animals.But if you want to re-create the tabloid experience then here are my top tips.

  1. Shovelware your news video
  2. Never link to an article
  3. Choose video based on entertainment value rather than news value
  4. Mark everything supplied by a third party as an exclusive

Here’s some more depth.

Shovelware your newsvideo
It’s clear that producing ‘news’ video is not a priority for most of the tabloids. They simply buy in the PA/Reuters/AFP/Sky feed options on their players and box that as the news.  Any video that may even have a passing relation to a news story is either CCTV, news agency or ripped off from TV and always illustrative. That’s because your editorial imperitive is not news but viral. So…

Chose video based on entertainment value rather than news value
The editorial driver for video is the fact that someone in your audience will go ‘cool’ or ‘urrggg’. If you would email it to somone saying ‘omg you have to see this’ then put it on the site. Think viral first.  The video itself is your content.

Never link to an article
If you are a tabloid you never link back to an article because the video itself is the article ‘It’s a kitten doing somthing cute, you want me to write 500 words on it as well! Sheesh!’.

Mark everything supplied by a third party as an exclusive
Everyone knows that they can read exactly the same story in another tabloid and the same goes for video.   But we know that the audience doesn’t read another newsaper or site so you can put exclusive on with impunity. Adding ‘exclusive’ really means ‘as far as you care it is’.

Okay, maybe a bit tongue in cheek.

So, did I learn anything serious from the Tabloids?

Brand Vs Audience.

It was clear that there was a marked difference in the reponse to video by the tabloids compared to the broadsheets. For me that difference comes down to using video as a definition.

The broadsheets very clearly see video as defining of their brand. The Guardian and their world affairs coverage illustrate that nicely. Their choice of video is based on the idea of telling you a story that a) they think needs telling and b) wouldnt be told elsewhere. It’s a journalistic choice and a value judgment based on the Guardian’s view.  The choice of video on The Times and Telegraph takes that one step further by producing format video that segements the audience and goes down the route of providing minority programming. The Telegraph for example provides a right-of centre-politics show because they claim you can’t get it anywhere else.

But, in contrast, the tabloids use of video is defined by their audience. You can see this most clearly in The Sun, The Mirror and The Mail.

The selection of video on these publications websites is varied. The overiding theme is video culled elsewehere from the web (and offline) that would appeal to the reader, regardless of its relevence to a ‘news’ agenda.  The Sun is much more profficient at pulling the Youtube style video in but the mail is quickly learning what its audience wants to see. Perhaps the slughtly higher-brow of the Mail prevents it having too many youtube vids but the editorial line is the same. They are offering a rubber stamp of approval on the content of the video not validating the source.

Perhaps this says more about the Tabloid websites ability to define an audience and their willingness to make the online presence something papably different in structure from the print publication. Maybe it’s just scatalogical and best fits the general direction of tabloids as they move away from ‘newspapers’ to daily magazines. Whatever the reason I think the way tabloids use video highlights the way the role of newspaper websites and the function of the journalists working on them changes.

One of the popular suggested future roles for journalists  is the idea of journalist as a link validator – we find the stuff on the web that you want and you trust us to find it.   Looking at the tabloids attempt at video, particually the Sun and the Mirror you have to ask if they havn’t applied this idea effectivly already.

If I had to put names forward for best users of Tabloid video it would have to be the Sun and The Daily Mail. But even though The Mail doesn’t have very much video on their site I would throw my hat in the ring and say that if they continue in the vein they are, and ignore the lure of things like the formatted tech review, their mix of illustrative video and well chosen third party video could really work.

What about the People.

As an end note I just wanted to point out that one tabloid was missing from this review – The People.  Go and have a look and it’s pretty clear why it wasn’t included.

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The virtuous circle of journalism process

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Say a quite word of thanks dear reader to Mr Kevin Anderson. Why? Let me explain.

Yesterday I posted a graphic that tried to sum up some of the problems that still exist as we try and engage with community.

I’d been thinking about it because I’ve been updating content for my Digital newsroom module next semester. One of the things I found was that it was tricky to get the students to buy in to benefit of sharing. They got the power of the web to gather content but I guess you could say that they where still in that gatekeeper mentality.  Sharing photos on Flickr or using twitter was too geeky for them. It didn’t fit the journalistic process.

A phrase that popped in to my head, and I used a lot, was the ‘virtuous circle’. You give and people will give.

This strikes me more and more as a defining element of a journalist who understands how to work online. You only need to look at the debate around plagiarism and the link economy in journalism to see that.

Anyway, I promised a ramble post or two may follow. So in an effort to head one of those off here is a little video I made to try and explain my thinking. I’d love some feedback:


The virtuous circle from Digitaldickinson on Vimeo.

This isn’t original thought by any stretch of the imagination. The virtuous circle is not a new concept and if anyone else is talking in the same tones then I’d love to know. I’m also not trying to make a new ‘model’ here.  I based many of my lectures on Paul Bradshaw’s news diamond and the discussion that generated. All credit to him. The way that model was developed through his blog and the discussion it generated in my lectures is a fine example of that virtuous circle in action.

Yeah, yeah, Video shimdeo. What about Kevin Anderson you ask.

Well, Kevin picked up on my illustration and commented on how a different attitude can reap rewards.  Thanks to his concise example you have a hell of a lot less ramble to sit through.

A few years ago, colleagues asked me why bloggers responded to my interview requests when they had trouble getting a response. The problem was, they were often sending out form e-mail interview requests and treating bloggers, usually ordinary people, as if they were members of government or industry spokespeople. I usually started my search for a blogger through a blog search engine like Technorati. When I found a relevant post, I would quote the post and ask them if they wanted to join a discussion about the topic they had blogged about.

I also use Creative Commons licenced pictures in Guardian blog posts (Attribution licence that allows for commercial use). Unless, I’m really pressed for time, I send the Flickr user a short note and a link. They always thank me for being a good member of the community, and the sometimes even blog about the post. I’ve acted in good faith, and they have reciprocated by flagging up their photo on a Guardian post. We can be good members of both virtual and real world communities, and I think it’s one of the things that can rebuild journalists’ relationship with the people formerly known as the audience. Becoming better citizen journalists might just save professional journalism.

Thanks Kevin.

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How the UK Tabloids use video: The Mail

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It’s Friday  so it must be the last day of my review of the way the UK tabloids use video and I’m rounding things off with the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail sits alongside the Daily Express in the tabloid ‘mid-market’ apparently setting it an order above the Red top Sun, Star and Mirror.  It’s actually one of the more successful online newspaper websites considering how late in the game they where in setting one up. The Mail have made a particular point of targeting women web users which you can see from the tone and structure of the site.

The platform

The Daily Mail's video player. Hard to find but nice information when you do

The Daily Mail's video player. Hard to find but nice information when you do

When it comes to video there was no obvious sign of video on the front page of the site either through the navigation or flagged stories.  A search on the website (please get rid of that offer of an embedded search tool or add No) revealed two articles in a video category. Clicking through took me to the Daily Mail’s video section. Fully formed, large as life but not  linked.

Its the standard jukebox player but, unlike the rest of the tabloids who use Roo, this is a Brightcove player. The player isn’t the only thing that’s different. The page layout is more in keeping with the article page layout on the site rather than the ‘TV’ box style on others.  Sections are presented in one long thing sidebar. It’s a layout that, like some of the other pages, hides too much content below the scroll. I think filling boxes with reams of links is a habit the Mail need to get out of.

One nice thing to see was the content box below the video window.  There is the usual headline, short description but there is also a byline. A nice, human touch.  Better still is some useful meta. A date, time and most impressively a source for the video is given.  It is often missing which makes me think Brightcove are supplying the information for some of this data.  I think the presentation could be better (bigger) but it’s good to see.

But it’s a step in the right direction. I didn’t see any of the  other papers crediting the Bournemouth News & Picture Service for the Mini Hendrix footage. In fact, most of the agency footage is credited which slowed me down for a half-hour or so as I looked at what other stuff they had. I suppose that’s the lot of a news agency but it was nice to see.

If it's a screen grab why not just embedd the video?

If it's a screen grab why not just embed the video?

Most encouraging though was the presence of links back to articles. At last!   When you do follow the links through the video is usually embedded towards the end of the video. I think this is shame as it often duplicates pictures on the page. A story about violent yobs (good Mail fair) features a heavy number of screen-grabs from CCTV video that is embedded further down the page. One of the pictures at the head of an article is a screen grab. It is exactly the same as the poster frame of the video. Why show both?

The presentation

Unkown source or the BBC? You decide

Unknown source or the BBC? You decide

The thing that really struck me about the video on the Mail is the lack of news feed content. There is no dedicated news feed of PA or Reuters content. In fact there is nothing approaching a news feed at all on the site. All of the content can best be described as illustrative or feature based. Like the other tabloids it’s rounded up entertaining clips from the web that it thinks will appeal to the audience and the editorial line is firmly in the middle of the paper not the news pages at the front. So we get news it’s a mix of besieged middle-Englanders battling yob culture or birds that sound like ambulances and Herons learning to fly.

The only exception to that when I looked was a video of teenage Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr. It’s illustrative video, it supports the news story. But I single it out as it’s clearly BBC footage grabbed from TV – I’m pretty sure that’s Frank Gardner voicing it- but it isn’t credited. Having seen the Mirror pull this trick I wonder what the form is here.

There is some homegrown content on the site.  Mark Lawford’s interview with Monte Panesar was interesting but the lighting was poor and the shot could have been tighter. Listen to the interview though as a good example of a print person doing a video interview. That isn’t a criticism. Listen the way he qualifies statements, jumping in, looking for stuff that can be used as reported speech later on. It’s a questioning style that gives you print stuff but it won’t stack up for long in video.

Drop one presenter and half the time

Drop one presenter and half the time

The other, consolidated, bit of video content was the Live magazine tech-review video. James Mannion and Rob Waugh do a double-header reviewing the latest gadgets. Its shot in what seems to be a photographic studio using two cameras – or some pretty meticulous single camera set up. The idea is okay but the production and format don’t work for me. The editing is too tricksy and slows the pace. The presentation is also too stilted. They have a bit of a star in Rob Waugh and my view is that they should let him do the slot without James (no offense James). That way it could be half the length and have a lot more pace.

Overall.

I get the impression that video is fairly new to the Mail. It feels cautious and the fact that the video section is so hidden away just emphasises that. But that could be a smart move on the part of the Daily Mail.

They are not selling the site as having video and then backing that claim up with feed video. This is more a site that has the capacity to use video and the video section is just a bonus. I’m not sure I would go as far as to say that they use video well; there isn’t enough of it to tell. But where it is used it seems appropriate. It could be used better on the article page and I don’t see a clear editorial line. But it’s there.

How they move forward from here will be interesting to see. My money would be on a movement more towards The Sun where the video is a mix of stuff that may appeal to the audience rather than a more broadsheet style of authored pieces. I think they may end up doing it very well.

So that’s it.  A week of tabloid newspaper video. So what did I learn from looking at The Sun, Star ,Mirror Express and Mail?  Find out on Monday.

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