The 5 I’s—

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Interactivity-Involvement-Immediacy-Integration-In depth

How would you make the most of the “Five I’s”

a) If a student from UNT was killed on I-35 and we’re facing a deadline with limited resources, the first thing I would do is break the story on television. If it were 2:30 in the afternoon, I would still break the story with a reader and graphics on television, and show a map to best explain what happened. The anchor would tell the audience that we’d continue updating with new information as it came in. We could also ask students in the area to send in their photos if they see the accident. This way, at least we’ve covered it immediately and the map and photos would be interactive and involving. As for integrating, we could post the story online after it’s been aired, and run a banner across the television occasionally, telling the (new) viewer that there’s been an accident, and to go online for details. The online portion could have a comments section, and people could tell us if they knew the student killed and also if they’ve felt a lot of pressure on I-35 due to the heavy flow of traffic. I think with a tight deadline and limited resources, it would be hard to cover in depth news, but all these elements would be a good start.

b) In a more flexible time frame with an experienced staff, we would do all the things we did for the first newscast, but a couple things would be different. I would try to find the friends and family of the student and interview them. It would also be beneficial to interview a Denton city worker who could provide insight. I would ask them what the city plans to do to prevent this from occurring to other students and drivers. I would put together at least a VOSOT, but a package would be better, and include pictures of the student, the accident, and even put a graphic together showing how the accident happened. I would include a lot of those same elements of the story online and have people comment on the story.

President Bush Seeks to End Violence in Darfur

President Bush spoke in Africa today about the ongoing violence in Darfur, Sudan. In 100 days, over 1 million people were killed in the largest genocide known to man. According to a press release from the White House, the United States is committed to ending the genocide in Darfur, by continuing to provide humanitarian assistance where needed. The U.S. is the largest single donor to Sudan where nearly 3 million people live in camps for Internally Displaced Persons.

The press release also says that the U.S. has imposed economic sanctions on 7 Sudanese people responsible for much of the violence in Darfur. President Bush announced the availability of 100-million dollars to train and equip African peacekeepers.

Give The People What They Want!

Poynter Institute studied how people read online articles and print newspapers.

The study divided most people into two groups: methodical readers, and scanners.

The bottom line though– people are attracted to BIG and colorful.

Most readers only glance to the headlines, scanning afterwards. The eye stops at BIG headlines, and BIG, colorful photographs.

The Keller Citizen online is a terrible resource, but it always has a huge photo and an equally large headline. If people want to know what’s going on in the small town of Keller, Texas, then this website grabs the reader in (if only for a moment)!

If news organizations are looking to keep their business, then they need to be following at LEAST these two guidelines.

The Channel 5 website is a bad example of how a site should be laid out. In fact, according to the Poynter Study, their site is doing almost everything wrong.

The site has too many pictures– all of which are smaller than the study says they should be, and it’s overflowing with headlines.

If NBC 5 wants to attract more viewers, then they need to make their pictures bigger and focus on a few headlines.

On the flip side, I really like the Star Telegram’s website and, according to the Poynter Study, their site is more on target with what people like to see.

STAR-TELEGRAM PULLS READERS IN

 

At the very top you have the navigation links and see the headline “To Catch a Killer.” It catches your attention right away.

They also put a flash player of photos that accompany top stories. If the headline didn’t catch a reader, the slideshow does. The reader is almost guaranteed to see something they like.

So according to the Poynter Study on what draws a reader in, newspaper need to add BIG headlines, and large, COLOR photos. Regardless of whether you’re a methodical reader or a scanner.

Radio Shack Helps Consumers with the Digital TV Transition

Stephanie Smith

stephanie_smith92@yahoo.com

FORT WORTH– RadioShack announced its plan to support the Digital Television (DTV) transition program in about 5,000 neighborhood stores next week. The government is requiring a switch from regular TV to DTV on February 17, 2009 . This means many people will need to either buy new television sets, or get converter boxes for older TV models.

RadioShack is more than willing to help.

RadioShack official Peter Whitsett said customer education is the number one challenge to ensure a smooth transition. He said the company has enough resources to train store employees and create online and in-store material to inform customers and make them aware of the options available. The company is even offering customer service in Spanish to ensure optimal results.

“We understand consumers often turn to the knowledgeable sales associates at their neighborhood RadioShack first to help them understand such technical issues and assist them in obtaining the best solutions for their individual needs. As such we are uniquely positioned to offer customers the necessary product, accessories, information and personal consulting to help make the transition from analog to digital broadcasts as seamless as possible,” said Whitsett.

Whitsett said customers can do 1 of 3 things to make the switch smoothly.  Buying a converter box or new TV will work, but you can also get your television through a satellite or cable TV as well.

The National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) is offering $40 coupons to help consumers pay for the $60 converter boxes. Starting next week RadioShack will be equipped to redeem these coupons and begin the transformation.

Check out Radio Shack’s website or the DTV website for more information on the switch to Digital TV.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Chinese Acrobats Left at Homeless Shelter

A story that WFAA posted on its website told the story of a team of Chinese acrobats stranded in a homeless shelter in Dallas. Their American sponsor ran out of money to support them and they’re deciding what action should be taken next.

I would have included more pictures, a slideshow and video if I had written this story. There was a link to Jeff Brady’s report on the website, but it took a long time to download, and I had to restart my computer! It had the ability to share the story on facebook, myspace, etc. With all the media convergences occurring, I think that it’s a good feature to include on every story.

Retracting My Last Post

Well the Keller Citizen updated its website and… voila! Shovel ware. I wasn’t being a very good critic, but let’s be honest now. The website is way too bare and is a mirror image of the actual newspaper. There. I said it.

The Keller Citizen Website Keeps It Simple

Keller Citizen Online

In my opinion, The Keller Citizen, a newspaper based out of Keller, Texas does not use “shovelware.” The stories on the website are updated almost daily, and include a few more articles than the actual newspaper. I think they effectively communicate with the audience; their news is mostly local and there are an abundance of articles for any “Keller citizen” who’s interested. If a person were looking for stories within this hometown, they would definitely find it. I noticed that they have a PDF file of the weekly newspaper on their site as well. It’s a nice feature because you get all the news on the website and everything that’s in the paper without actually purchasing it. Compared to bigger newspaper sites, it looks really bare, but I liked that it isn’t overwhelming with content, blurbs, etc. The downside to that is that it didn’t keep my interest for very long. I think it serves its purpose though by putting only the necessary content for residents of Keller. Everything they read will be important, rather than clicking through numerous pages of useless information. To me, The Keller Citizen is a great online newspaper for the Keller community, but a better regular newspaper.