| 1997-98
ASNE New Media Project
These mixed media relationships
never work. Well, almost never.
A number of newspapers have teamed up with
television news outlets, once thought to be the archcompetitors of print.
Some papers offer content to existing broadcast stations, some have created
shows of their own, and some -- like The Star-Ledger of New Jersey -- have
launched regional news networks of their own, with knowledgeable partners.
The start of the affair.
News 12 New Jersey was born when Advance Publications and Cablevision
both got interested in starting a 24-hour-a-day New Jersey news station.
The two organizations began working on development early in 1995. Advance,
owner of The Star-Ledger, helped finance the project and made the editorial
staff of The Star-Ledger available to help the fledgling TV station cover
New Jersey news. Cablevision, in turn, handled all personnel, technical
and marketing support for the new station. News 12 was launched in a new
office/studio complex in Edison, N.J., in the spring of 1996.
Television and print -- an unholy alliance.
The one big surprise to come out of The Star-Ledger's partnership with
Cablevision in News 12 New Jersey has been the eagerness of the print staff
to attempt more complex forms of television news and feature reporting.
The premise of News12 was that most of the television input from the
print staff would be accomplished though a small TV studio in the midst
of The Star-Ledger's newsroom. Everyone involved expected that print reporters
would be pretty much limited to "talkbacks" -- conversations with News
12 anchors at News 12's principal studio in Edison, 10 miles away -- with
viewers seeing the anchor and the print reporter alternately or the two
in twin boxes on screen.
That approach had proven successful at Chicagoland -- a partnership
between the Chicago Tribune and a Tribune cable station -- and a number
of other TV/print partnerships.
The talkbacks worked fine at News 12, too. But soon print reporters
were doing more. They hit the road with News12 photographers to gather
video footage as they laid the groundwork for print stories. Upon completing
the print stories, the reporters turned their attention to the video elements.
They wrote scripts for extended television "packages" with the help of
a News 12 associate producer, who is stationed in The Star-Ledger city
room. They went on camera for "stand-up" segments to introduce or end the
packages. They recorded voiceover narration of the packages. And finally
assisted producer Michael James in weaving all the elements together.
These video packages then aired as companions to the print versions
of the stories. Normally, the packages air the night before the stories
are to appear. News 12 anchors explain to viewers that more complete print
versions of the story will appear in the newspaper the next day, and encourage
viewers interested in greater detail to pick up the paper.
Another pleasant surprise has been the willingness of Star-Ledger reporters
on the road to contribute to News 12 via satellite. These have included
reports from the presidential campaign, distant sports events and the recent
Unabom trial in Sacramento.
The satellite hookups have been tough to arrange and a little expensive
(satellite time is never cheap), but are worthwhile, in giving big print
stories an extra dimension and showcasing some of the newspaper's top talents.
The same hookups benefit News 12 in adding reach at a bargain price.
There is not always peace in the kingdom.
While some print staffers have been pushing the envelope on print/video
collaboration, others have been reluctant to appear on television, even
resentful of the partnership. The enthusiasts tend to be the younger career
builders, who see television as a way to broaden their skills, while the
skeptics tend to be the older, established types, who see TV as an added
workload. A number of veteran staffers have refused to do even the relatively
simple "talkback" appearances on television.
There have been culture clashes from time to time. Print editors have
had great difficulty adapting to the pace of their TV counterparts at News
12, and vice versa. Where seasoned print editors will want to dot all the
i's and cross all the t's before running a story -- frequently holding
stories for days or weeks to get more detail -- editors at News 12 will
want to emphasize the immediacy of any video in hand (nothing gets old
like video) and will tend to adapt in various ways to get good, fresh,
action video on the air, perhaps dotting the i one day and crossing the
t the next.
There have been clashes accountable to competition, as well. Though
reporters on the two staffs are encouraged -- and occasionally required
-- to cooperate, they take great pleasure in beating each other. This gets
a bit tense, now and then. Postmortems on who told what to whom, and when,
are a necessary palliative.
More lessons learned.
Initially, the newspaper staff was quite vocal in judging TV news too
superficial, while the TV staff was quite vocal in judging newspapers too
slow and in the end too tedious. The staffs have now gotten to know each
other quite well and adjusted their views, to a degree. Generally speaking
there is now a feeling of mutual respect. The print folks seem to better
appreciate the value of television's speed and immediacy and the TV folks
to better appreciate the value of the newspaper's depth and analytical
powers.
Another important development last year was the extension of the partnership
to include New Jersey Online, a sister company to The Star-Ledger -- also
wholly owned by Advance. New Jersey Online now posts to the World Wide
Web news stories from both the Star-Ledger (http://www.nj.com/news/ledger)
and News 12 (http://www.nj.com/news12/breaking.html)
The three organizations now cooperate on breaking news. For example,
in November of last year, NJO connected a new Web server to The Star-Ledger's
election night tally system. News 12 used the Web count (way faster than
any other public reporting of the results) as an important element of its
own election night coverage, while directing viewers to the NJO tally pages
for further information.
-- Art Lenehan
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