During a commercial break on WTMJ’s morning newscast, anchor Vince Vitrano shoots “Newsburst,” a quick, informal video newscast he shares on social media. “I wanted to have a little more fun with it out on our news set, and include my co-anchor Susan Kim,” Vitrano explains. “I shoot and edit (a very limited edit) the whole thing on the iPhone 4.”
Newsburst is a quick look at the weather and headlines, with an entertaining, behind-the-scenes twist. The clips are posted on YouTube and shared on Facebook (on both Today’s TMJ4 page and Vitrano’s page) as well as on Twitter with the hashtag #Newsburst.
“While I’m hopeful people are watching our local news on TODAY’S TMJ4, I’m trying to reach out to them in the places they already are,” Vitrano says. “Maybe I can recruit some new morning viewers. I’ve also had some of our regular viewers tweet me when they’re traveling saying they’re waiting on the NewsBurst! to get news from home.” One fan even sent Vitrano a Twitpic of him watching Newsburst on his iPhone.
Newsburst doesn’t drive a ton of video views — it’s been running for a couple months now — but Vitrano says the reaction so far has been great. “It’s also been a starting point for us to interact with our viewers through social media. They’ll ask questions, or post other thoughts on the stories we present.”
Vitrano says the idea was inspired by Kansas City anchor Kris Ketz, who produces a live, social-media-friendly stream from the news desk. It’s also similar to Amy Wood’s live stream in Spartanburg, SC, which we profiled here earlier this month.