Interesting to hear Martin Nisenholtz, SVP, Digital Operations from the 156 year old New York Times talk to the Streaming Media conference in NYC. He talked about their first video in 1999, How to roast a chicken, and how they partnered with cable TV to do documentaries and then gained more skills through a venture with Discovery. In November 2005 they set up their own digital operation as a pilot to extend the Times journalism, and it has now become part of the newsroom. The department has grown to a large network of journalists who have cameras and videocams in many parts of the world. They produce about 100 original pieces per month and have had many award nominations. Consumer response has been good: “I love learning by seeing & hearning”, “good quality & sincerity”. Most reporters are accompanied by a video specialst but the skills of the reporters are developing which creates more opportunities for video journalism. The NYT is developing the personalities of some of their reporters online, like David Pogue on technology. Check out Pogue’s amusing “Blackberry Magic”.
I loved Martin’s quote, “Web content is part of the big swirling conversation”. Definitely.