Monday, September 7, 2009

Let's Brainstorming

In Stepp’s article, he throws out some interesting questions to let us think about what news organizations can do to overcome their obstacles in this digital era. “Why don’t they capture the market in online classified, long before Craigslist? Why didn’t they become the home base for local video, long before YouTube? Why didn’t they recognize the power of social connections, long before Facebook?” When we think about what can be the next innovative Internet applications after social-networking sites, we are surprised at the emergence of micro-blogs. At the same time, micro-blogs also become a networked platform for people to access to daily news.

Technologies change so fast and never stop. What news organizations need to do is to be creative and think one step further than other competitors, especially when it is a time that everyone can be publishers and receivers. It seems that when TV station tried to incorporate their videos with YouTube, it is still too late. I doubt that people will go to TV station’s YouTube profile page to watch TV news (like breaking news) everyday.

“What can we do that people are willing to spend something to get, even if it’s just time?” Since it is a time that audiences can be reached by multiple ways, if news organizations come out with a creative way to attract audiences, they can make people happily pay for their products. Stepp indicates that for most local news organizations, the vision is to become the community’s central sources of dependable information services. How to maintain their credibility and find their own niche to compete with international news organizations at the same time? I wonder about the competitive and collaborative relationship between international and local news organizations.

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