ONA 2006 conference kicks off in DC

Cory Bergman October 6th, 2006

The annual Online News Association conference is now underway, and we’ll post a series of updates over the next couple days. (PaidContent is there, as well). Dale Steinke, news and operations manager for KING5.com and NWCN.com (yes, same company as me), just attended today’s session from Adrian Van Klaveren on BBC’s new “Creative Future” initiative. Dale’s report follows after the break…

Some good stuff this morning from opening keynoter Adrian Van Klaveren, deputy directory and controller of production for BBC News on his company’s “Creative Future Initiative.” He laid out some stark trends showing a decline in BBC TV news viewership that is not being made up online.

He boiled down what they do to: “Things happen, we find out, we tell people.” Their Creative Future initiative seeks to tell people in every way possible, focusing on an agenda of the important and interesting. From their research, they know people see them as a respected, dependable source of news, but they’re also expecting the BBC to adapt to become more modern, accessible, courageous and dynamic.

The highlight was a video illustrating the Creative Future concept. It showed the experience of three people in a 2010 scenario of a bombing at Waterloo Station in London.

Joan, an older woman at home, hears about the bombing on BBC radio, then tunes into TV coverage, which shows a Web cam of smoke rising behind the London Eye. Later in the scenario, they come back to her, showing her in front of the TV a few days later. The announcer intones, “since the attack, Joan hasn’t missed a single 6 o’clock news.”

Edward, who is leaving town on a business trip, gets a text alert, then watches live TV on a flip-up device, follows more details on an information screen inside a cab, and downloads additional information inside an underground train station where there is no wireless access. Back at home a few days later, he catches up on a wall-sized TV/information center.

The kicker, though, is Jackie, who narrowly escapes the bombing, then takes pictures with her phone. Cell phone service goes down at the scene, so she uses her Bluetooth connection to download the images to her laptop, then sends the images to the BBC Web site at a wireless hotspot. Minutes later, a BBC reporter e-mails her … wait for it … asking if she has a video camera on her computer and if she’d be willing to be interviewed at that moment. She does, and she goes on TV, live, from the scene. It ends up leading to a week of video blogs hosted on BBC’s site. Cool.

Another innovation: They have a “User-generated content hub” of six people who filter, verify and use viewer/visitor submitted content.

Big question from the audience was how they’d pay for it. Klaveren admits they’ll need to shift resources to make this vision a reality.

Other remarks: News is passé. We are in the information business. They did a story on what kids should put in their lunch boxes. Would it be considered news in a traditional sense? No, but the audience ate it up, so to speak.

Media companies need to decide what they’re about. Are you there to be a public service, or are you there to provide an audience for advertisers. He admits the publicly financed BBC is in a somewhat luxurious position on that point compared to U.S. media.