As TV news outlets have expanded their text-based journalism online, text-based outlets have expanded their video journalism. Two of the biggest players in this field are the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and both newspapers have ambitious plans for their video content.
The Times, for example, is expanding into short documentaries. The Huffington Post’s Michael Calderone has more:
In an interview with HuffPost, Stallman said he’s been frustrated in the past with the Times treating video primarily as an accompaniment to a print story. “With this, I wanted very much to empower Kassie to pretend like there’s no John Branch involved, no photographer involved,” Stallman said, adding that, unlike most print-video collaborations, the journalists weren’t in constant communication about the reporting process.
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The Wall Street Journal has its ‘WSJ Live” network, but is also experimenting with new forms of video storytelling, including a unique first-person look at the U.S. healthcare system.
“A few things things went through our heads but one thing that really stuck was that we could do this from a first-person perspective. The healthcare roll out is all about how the law affects you, and that’s the story we wanted to tell.”
Mann’s view is that “traditional TV-style methods” do not always act as good explainers.
He therefore started to think about doing the piece from a first-person perspective “and using interactivity as a way to allow the reader to engage further and get more background”.