I was at my Cleveland TV station internship one morning, attending a 2-hour meeting about studies of viewers in the area. TV stations are like high school girls---they are constantly concerned with their social status. Girls spend lots of money on clothes and accessories so they can hang out with all the cool people. The station spent lots of money to conduct a study that told them what people in the area want out of their local news:
- people care about weather more than any other item in a local newscast.
- people want to know a station is genuinely invested in their interests.
- people want more breaking news.
- the station's main viewers are older, and have little interest in the station's website or social networking connections.
The station was so concerned with the weather, its consumer awareness programming and creating a sense of urgency with more breaking news coverage. It has a presence on social networking sites, but it is viewed as a minor piece of the "product." I use this point to illustrate the news industry's distant relationship with younger information consumers. I know it's very hard to get people my age interested in the news. However, if there was ever a chance to get them interested, it's through the constantly expanding wave of hi-tech gadgets.
We're starting to see the early effects of twitter, facebook and youtube employed as sources of news. A number of my friends say they first heard about recent celebrity deaths on twitter before they heard it anywhere else. TV stations and some newspapers are posting on networking sites along with their regular websites. People are signing up for cell phone news updates on topics specifically tailored to their interests. While the excess of information can be overwhelming and annoying, I do see some benefits.
From a business perspective, a news outlet that seeks every available method of information delivery has a distinct advantage in the marketplace. The 24-hour news cycle's constant demand for content can be alleviated with a variety of ways to present that content. I think there are still methods that aren't being exploited.
I'm a big fan of video games. I grew up on Nintendo and grew into the Playstation brand. Playstation 3's online capabilities are nothing short of amazing. Living in an apartment with no TV channels, I spend a lot of time playing games online and watching DVDs. I also watch youtube clips right off of the PS3 web browser. By including a blu-ray player, Sony has repeatedly expressed its aims to make the system an all-in-one entertainment device. What if we take it one step further and make it a news info device.
If news outlets could establish programs for online video game systems, I think it would open up a whole new group of potential content consumers. News groups could create RSS-based news feed programs, package them like video games and offer bundles for specific types of news and expansions for additional news groups. The program would feature a constant stream of multimedia from around the world.
In terms of media philosophy, I've always been fascinated by Milton's marketplace of ideas theory. He asserts that through a diverse amount of sources, This theoretical marketplace is an essential concept to consider in a discussion on democracy and its relationship with free speech. If we apply this to the video game news program, we have some interesting possibilities to consider. The current Sony accessories like the EyeToy webcams and USB headset microphone could come in handy. People could use webcams and microphones to talk to each other about all the things they'd be seeing, hearing and reading. You could chat with just audio or see others in living color. The diversity of the sources could be magnified by the added input of the various consumers.
Such a program could facillitate more dicussion about current events among a group not known for having those kind of conversations. Perhaps as younger viewers mature, they will have more incentive to consume more traditional media. It might also encourage more technologically-friendly adults to get into gaming systems and their additional uses. This is a largely untapped market for the news business and it deserves serious attention and consideration.
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