The traditional hierarchy has the network news
organization covering big national and international stories. The local
stations cover their communities. They work together providing content. Network
affiliate news services give the stations stories from around the globe and the
stations provide immediate access to local audio, video, and live coverage when
the networks cannot send their own crews. What has changed dramatically in the
last decade is that the most immediate “up close and personal” coverage now
comes from ordinary people who have the tools to convey content right in their
pockets. In the local news area, often the most immediate and accurate
information about breaking news is available on Facebook and Twitter. This is also true in big story
coverage of international events, from Tehran and Tahrir Square to the shores
near Fukishima. Sometimes the information is generated by ordinary citizens;
sometimes it comes from official government sources; and in a less dominant
role in the new hierarchy, it also comes from legacy national and local media
such as TV, radio, and newspapers.
The new paradigm requires legacy media to not only
create and generate content but to also “curate” the abundant amount of
information that is at our fingertips. This is especially important for the
legacy TV networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, because of their connection to local
stations in every market. We learned during two recent big breaking stories—the
school shooting in Connecticut and the Boston Marathon bombing—that information
flows fast and furiously and is often incorrect or incomplete. For trusted
legacy news organizations, getting it right has never been more critical. To this
end, creating the most effective partnerships with local stations and the
stations’ sources—both grass roots and traditional--will bear tremendous
benefits during big stories and for enterprise coverage that is unique.
Trusted legacy media can capitalize on the new news
hierarchy in a number of ways. First, in the case of NBC--as just one
example--the personalities of the Peacock
convey at least two distinct benefits. The NBC brand continues to be valuable
and serves as an imprimatur for content that can be trusted by users and
viewers. Then there are the actual personalities. Brian Williams, Matt Lauer,
Al Roker, Nancy Snyderman, and all their local counterparts enter the homes of
viewers on a regular basis. We know that viewers form para-social relationships
with TV personalities that can be quite powerful. For example, when Katie
Couric went on the air to extol the benefits of colonoscopy, there was a
statistically significant increase in the procedure throughout the country. So
NBC, along with the other network brands, and the power of their on-air
personalities serve as magnets for solidifying old relationships and building
new partnerships.
The
Medium Is Still The Message
Marshall McLuhan’s observations about media and
message may be more on target in the digital era than we might have imagined 50
years ago. For national news network partnerships to flourish, understanding
the new paradigm involves using content that is quickly generated, short in
duration, yet compelling and reliable. For the Twitter and Facebook generation,
news teams have to have reliable community collaborators, partners in news.
These are the trusted sources that can be relied upon for information, but can
also generate content that can be used effectively on the various platforms of
old line network news organizations and their affiliate partners. A different
aesthetic works on a smart phone than on a 50-inch HD monitor. This is key to
making the paradigm real. The simpler and more lean production values of
digital device content allow non-journalists to create real journalism. And
that is where the curator role becomes key. The journalists have to decipher
and filter the flow of information to distinguish what is news and what is
something else. It’s the old gatekeeper role but with a new twist.
The West Seattle Blog is one good example of a trustworthy local news
source that generates reliable content. This is in sharp contrast to the AOL Patch sites in a key way. AOL recently announced it
was cutting back its investment in Patch. Many local Patch sites do a fine job.
But the difference between the West Seattle Blog and Patch is that the West
Seattle Blog was locally created and entrepreneurial. Another trustworthy
grassroots news source is the Voiceof San Diego. Also locally created, VOSD uses a membership
model, similar to public TV and radio to generate revenue. Patch, on the other
hand, is a corporate creation that may work in some locations but loses its
power when it becomes a top down creation to be replicated from one community
to the next.
Trusted partnerships that generate content must be
nurtured and supported. The old relationship of national network to local
affiliate is the foundation of the new paradigm but is more of a starting point
than end point. Ideally, each network or legacy news stations will devote key
staffers to nurture relationships with grass roots news groups in the
neighborhoods and communities that make up the nation. Building these
relationships and supporting the stations’ engagement with the best grass roots
sources in their communities will generate unique content. This content will
flow during breaking news emergencies and on slower days when enterprise
stories help the stations and network stand out. Most important, the new
paradigm means the successful news organization will no longer only follow the
“It’s news because I say it’s news” sensibility of years past. Instead, the
task will be to connect with the public in ways that allow journalists to
recognize real news whether it comes from a 17 year old Brian Williams wannabe
with a smart phone or the White House press office.
The appetite for journalism from the bottom up will
continue to grow. The possibilities for growth and engagement across media
great and small are exciting opportunities. News organizations must nurture
networks of contributors forming partnerships with local stations and grass
roots producers that can tell stories that rise to the level of interesting
journalism. The symbolic frame through which network news organizations must
evolve means the circled ABC, The CBS Eye, and the NBC Peacock will have new
meaning and relevance. Instead of signifying the networks that pioneered
instant replay, You are There, and color TV in the middle of the last century,
the symbols will now stand for partnerships with the public that use all the
tools of today to inform, entertain, and even enlighten.
Notes: 1. “Up close and personal” is an old ABC
Sports description of its coverage.
2. The final line is a paraphrase of Edward R.
Murrow’s comment about TV. The actual quote is: This instrument can teach, it can
illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent
that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely
wires and lights in a box.
