People say that newspapers are dying, mostly because of the web. At one point, people thought you could sell newspapers on the web, but when that failed, they put select content for sale, and when that failed, well, that was tough. People now expect their news to be free on the Web. The New York Times. The Washington Post.
To compete with television, online papers have been adding tiny video segments to break up the text, text, text, of most articles. Before I extol the advances of using video, I have to say that newspapers and newsmagazines serve a much better function for informing a reader than TV does.
By its very nature, news programs on television really are reduced to sound bites. An article that may take you 20-30 minutes to read would never see the light of day on television where being longer than 2-3 minutes will drive someone to watch Jeopardy!. We need long, in-depth articles because they reveal the depth of real issues.
Having said that, it makes sense for online papers to bring a contrast by having little video segments.
Many of these video segments lack the gravitas of real articles. They are as much about the person presenting the information, and their personality, as they are about the article they report on. For example, I just watched a snippet of Chris Cooley being interviewed.
All in all, it's a friendly interview. It's not interviewing a head of state, or asking the political stance of someone running for high office. It's an insight to an athlete who gives you a little slice of their life. Tabloid magazines wouldn't do so well if the public didn't have curiosity of how the rich and famous lead their lives. Even if the ultimate conclusion is that many of them lead similar lives to the rest of us, that is often a refreshing conclusion.
It's too bad video isn't more elegantly laid on a webpage, and usually requires a bit of digging around. Even so, I think it increases the personal touch of a paper, the kind of intimate immediacy that rigid reporting doesn't attempt to achieve.
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It is odd, but makes sense, that newspapers are better at producing video content for the internet than most television programs. Also, podcasts are a good method for getting newspaper-style content to more ears. In general, the Internet allows people to present more information, and in greater depth.
I suspect that a lot of newspaper reporters idolize tv news. The fifth season of the wire makes a couple of subtle points to that end. Producing video versions of articles, or mixing media to include video of interviews or footage (like a video version of Big Picture) are the future.
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