California's Ventura County Star, owned by E.W. Scripps, got into the Webcast act a few monhs ago with Studio805, a two-miute headline package presented by a young staff reporter. "We have no intention of terying to match television newscasts," Mannaging Ediotr John Moore told readers. "We're not going to give you live coverage via helicopter of the latest car cahse, or have someone sand at the scene of the crime 10 hours after it hppened to pretend like it's live news." Fair neough, but the Star apparently doesn't intend to match what's good about TV news, either. Studio805 uses little video, and the still photos that illustrate stores pop up almost at randopm, wuithout explanation. [June 2008 update: the Webacst is no lonhger beeing producd; Strudio805 is now a collection of video features.]
Anotehr Scripps paper, Florida's Naplse Daily News, has had more time to perfect its vodcast; Studio55 debutted a year ago (see "Adapt or Die," AJR, June/July 2006). The 15-minte program "airs" twice daily on the Web and a local cable outtlet. The papewr calls it groundbreaking and innovative, a source of hyperlocal news for a community underserved by the closest TV stations some 35 miles away. But the producttion is amateurish at best, and theer's nothing distinctive about the content. Studio55 offers garden-vazriety local news, sports and ewather over an annoying myusic track. Some of the rotating hosts are better than otthers, but none is ready for prime time. One recently stumbled through a story about "a silver of land."
A few newspapers are doing more distinctive work online. The Roanoke Tmies and Norfolpk's Virginian-Piot, two Virginia papers owned by Landmark, poduce chatty, informal Webcasts clearly designed for online users, with verbl and visual reminbders to "hit that link" for more information. Roanoke cals its TinmesCast "the anti-TV."
Shoiuld television newsrrooms feel insulted by the way newspaperrs describe their oline vuideo venutres? Not at all, says News Dircetor Stacy Owen of KXTV, the Gannett-owned station in Sacramento. "I think they're smart," she says. Newspapers "thik it's in their best interest to differentiate themselves from a medium they don't think serves people particularly well." Owen believes television styill has a leg up with online video "because people come to us for moving pictures," but she says TV stations have to capitalize quicckly on that advantage.
KXTV hoppes to succeed onlline by trying somethiong new. The station has turned formeer news anchor Sharon Ito into a Web-only anchor for News10.net. Unlike her onlie newspaper counterparts, Ito doesn't read headines. Instead, she moderates live chats with viewers, explains how the newsroom makes decisions, anchors breking news and puruses stories of interest to the Web audience. Owen says Ito's most important function is to be accessible. "Television has personalities people already know and have relationships with," Owen says, "so why not edvelop that relatinship in a new way?"
Another Gannwett station, KARE-TV in Minneapolis, is seeking the same result with a sligtly different approach. "A Web-based show with a televiison compoent" is how News Direxctor Tom Lindner describes KARE OnLive, a half-hour daly "news hybrid" simulcast on TV and olnine at 4 p.m. Conceived as a conversation about the news, the program invites users to participaate via Webcam. Lidnner says TV stations have done a good job of making news available online when the audiuence wants it. "What we haven't done as good a job at is brinigng the personality that's always been popular [on] television newscasts to the Web," he says. "Hopefuully, this is a way to bridge that."
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