TV, or... not TV
A
near-constant in my newspaper life was the obligatory 6 o’clock date
with the distressed newsroom television (or, as I liked to call it, the
Radiation King). That’s when we ever-paranoid reporters watched the
local newscast to make sure we hadn’t been scooped on some vital
concern.
What should have been a cursory glance at the lead story often wound up becoming an odd bit of performance art, with us smug print types mocking the anchor’s heroic struggles to pronounce words like "accomplished" and "rooster."
But the times are changing as quickly as staff turnover at that benighted, small-market station. And now, television just might wind up saving newspapers’ proverbial bacon online.
To date, conventional wisdom has held that newspapers have cleaned local TV’s clock on the Internet. Our sites are better, more comprehensive, more frequently updated, and garner way more of those things like "stickiness" the propeller-heads in the new-media operation like rattling on about.
That’s all true, but as high-speed Internet options such as cable-modem access and DSL lines start arriving, television sites suddenly gain a huge advantage—stuff to watch, not just read. The broadband Internet probably won’t be this text-heavy hydra we wrangle with today. It’ll probably look and act a lot more like today’s on-demand cable services (though perhaps with less wrestling). And if that sounds scary, imagine what will happen when the aforementioned cable modems and DSL lines actually start working for most people.
Small wonder, then, that "convergence" has suddenly become an industry buzzword. And folks are actually spending money on this one—building high-speed data networks and entering high-profile multimedia partnerships. If you went to January’s Newspaper Operations SuperConference in Orlando, you heard a keynoter devote an hour to Tribune Co.’s convergence plans—already well off the drawing board—and lots of other discussions about the related technology, or lack thereof (see our coverage on p. 17).
An hour’s drive down I-4 brings us to Tampa, where Media General Inc. has spent $40 million on the News Center, a convergence experiment housing The Tampa Tribune, the local NBC affiliate and their online presences (see p. 13). Among the surprises unearthed by TechNews regular Pete Wetmore: This stuff isn’t just cool—it’s already making money.
And finally, columnist David M. Cole offers up a three-pronged plan to start experimenting (see p. 36). Better yet, it doesn’t even sound that painful.
While Tampa’s News Center and similar ventures remain high-stakes experiments, last fall’s political wrangling in its home state could make it commonplace. With a new administration, the cross-ownership ban barring newspapers from owning television stations in the same market may be lifted. And many publishers could become broadcasters as well.
So who knows? All of the sudden, our sites get more flashy video for
broadband users. Television newscasts get some, heaven forbid, depth from
their print brethren. The newspaper itself gets some plugs in both media
that help boost readership. Though personally, I’m glad I’m
not out on the front lines of this brave new world—I’d hate
to see how I’d mangle the word "rooster" on live TV. 
Mark Toner
Editor
tonem@naa.org
CorrectionAn article about The Miami Herald’s waste-reduction programs (TechNews, January/February 2001, p. 14) incorrectly described two tax rebates. The Herald received a $70,000 tax break after joining the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program. Sponsored by the Florida Department of Labor and Employment Security, the program determined that at least 75 percent of electric consumption was related to manufacturing. The Herald also garnered $56,000 in utility rebates last year after installing high-efficiency chiller units, and earned roughly $60,000 for recovering 850 pounds of silver in 1999. TechNews regrets the errors. |