Former Dateline correspondent’s online storm
Cory Bergman January 13th, 2008
Former Dateline NBCer John Hockenberry published a long essay in Technology Review late last month, and it doesn’t exactly portray NBC in the most positive light, to say the least. It has since drawn considerable interest from lots of blogger types and the media (um, Fox News.) But what I’d like to focus on here is Hockenberry’s portrayal of technology in journalism as something much greater than simple gadgetry. (Which, by the way, is how most people in TV news think of technology. We’re all a bunch of geeks repurposing the stuff that really matters: TV news.) These days Hockenberry is working at MIT’s Media Lab, and he’s drinking the web Koolade. He describes technology as “part of the growing media insurgency that is redefining news, journalism, and civic life.” Sounds “really up Lost Remote’s alley,” tips LR reader “R.” Sure enough, and Hockenberry isn’t done yet. “Among the greatest frustrations of working in TV news over the past decade was to see that while advertisers and entertainment producers were permitted to do wildly risky things in pursuit of audiences, news producers rarely ventured out of a safety zone of crime, celebrity, and character-driven tragedy yarns.” Mostly true. I’ve always wondered, why is TV news one of the most change-resistant industries on the planet? Hockenberry sums things up with, “Technology, as it has done through the ages, is freeing communication, and this is good news for the news.” Absolutely. But it’s a shame that many TV journalists just think of it as a mere extension of… TV.
10 Comments Add your own
1. discreet_chaos | January 14th, 2008 at 4:18 am
Hockenberry’s essay is very telling on so many levels: The anecdote about the executive’s love for TIVO; The blurring of GE’s interests and programming; The bit about the “Bloommobile” and how it was prematurely mothballed and just the ins and outs of the stories he was allowed to pursue. In his follow-up post (also linked from TVNewser and coded under my name), he points out that his intention was more about the technological angle and its effect on media, but I feel his original report is a must-read for anyone interested in the business of news.
2. Contrarian | January 14th, 2008 at 5:24 am
“We’re all a bunch of geeks repurposing the stuff that really matters: TV news”
There’s your problem: that statement is correct and you don’t get why.
This blog highlights an attitude that the technology is important and and of itself.
It isn’t.
Technology is invented to serve a purpose, not just so geek can say “Oooooh.”
That’s why “lifecasting” is a waste of time, for example.
3. tdc | January 14th, 2008 at 7:59 am
contrarian, how many miles per bail does your horse and buggy get?
4. Cory | January 14th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Contrarian, yes, TV still matters. A lot.
But pure repurposing to the web is limiting the industry’s success online. To win online, we must tailor content to the web, which requires a thorough understanding of technology.
Technology isn’t the end-all, be-all, but it’s the weak link right now for the local media industry.
5. tdc | January 14th, 2008 at 9:10 am
did you hear about the tv tower that fell over in arkansas?
nice metaphor.
6. adam | January 14th, 2008 at 9:26 am
I was just excited to read that the Media Lab is keen on the experience of a former network reporter. It’s a good thing when one of the most free thinking and successful media/technology labs takes an interest in our medium that seems a bit stuck in a rut.
It’s probably worth putting the Media Lab on LR’s daily beat check lists. Maybe Safran can do some backyard intel, it’s the least he could do.
7. Brink | January 14th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
“did you hear about the tv tower that fell over in arkansas?
nice metaphor. ”
Did you hear about the website that was down all day when its server crashed?
Also a nice metaphor.
8. tdc | January 14th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
the one i heard about had a back-up server… t’was down for less than a milisecond.
the tower in question still lies in a heap.
9. thedetroitchannel | January 14th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
btw- young shares closed down another 10% today…
last trade was .83.
that gives them a TOTAL market cap of about 19 million dollars.
what say you,”virtually nothing” yet?
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