Broadcasting & Cable’s Michael Malone has a good overview of many of the daily newscasts popping up on newspaper websites lately. Could they compete with TV? The Roanoke Times, for example, publishes its daily video newscast at 3:30 p.m. “It’s meant to be before the day’s major newscasts,†says Roanoke Times Multimedia Editor Seth Gitner. “After the noon news but before the 5 p.m.†But some TV execs aren’t worried. “I’m not terribly concerned,” said Allan Horlick, president and GM of Gannett’s WUSA. “A lot of what goes into a TV newscast is the appeal of the presenters because of their communication skills…. If you don’t have credible presenters, [the user] can just click on the stories.” Truth be told, The Roanoke Times’ webcast is seen by just 200-500 unique users a day, according to B&C’s report. Which in fact, mirrors the success many TV sites have had with their newscasts/webcasts, even with their credible TV anchors.
Personally, I don’t believe online newscasts will succeed unless they have something truly unique — they cater to an underserved area, for example. Otherwise, why not just click on the stories you want to read or watch? But I’d like to read your take on it, as well as your reaction to Horlick’s quote about the importance of personalities…
Adds Michael Rosenblum in comments below: “As long as newspapers mimic local tv news in their presentation they will be far behind. But if newspapers can wrap their heads around a webcast instead of a tv newscast on tv – (ie, zefrank with local content), they might break through.”
Adds Angela: “I think we need a new model for the web. I agree that linear newscasts don’t work and they do receive very few views no matter who serves as anchor. Outside of great weather events, the webcast we produced at my former newspaper just didn’t fly, and it was good by TV standards. The audience wants something different. We weren’t committed enough to figure out what that was.”
