l-r: Co-host Erik Eskola; McKenna Ewen; Julio Ojeda-Zapata; Co-host Cathy Wurzer; Shayla Thiel-Stern (none of whom probably yet see the irony that this Almanac 'new media' segment won't later be shareable)
This past Friday night on Twin Cities Public Television’s (TPT) “Almanac” program, frequent contributor to Minnov8, Julio Ojeda-Zapata, made his first appearance on the show to talk about new media and I thought he knocked it out of the park. He was joined by two other delightful and very knowledgeable panelists, Shayla Thiel-Stern of the University of Minnesota (where she is an assistant professor of journalism and mass communications) and McKenna Ewen from the StarTribune where his focus is on new media work.
Co-host Cathy Wurzer began the segment by saying, “About once a month we gather a group of people to chat up media…old and new” and then went on to introduce the three panel members and jump in to the meat of the conversation. Julio did a fantastic job on the segment (fun video Julio!) and I was eager to create a post this morning here on Minnov8 and embed the Almanac segment, but it wasn’t until I sat down to write that I discovered that TPT is still living in an old media world:
TPT does not enable or allow video to be embedded in a blog!
“Wait a second,” I thought. “You mean that if I want to embed the “new media” segment with Julio in it I have to click on this link to load a new page and pop up a window just like an “old media, we gotta protect our content” company!?!” Sadly, the answer is “Yes“ and the irony is obviously lost on TPT.
Here is what you need to do, TPT.
Start off by reading the Cluetrain Manifesto (which you can read for free), then view a few research reports from Pew Internet on who is doing what online and how ubiquitous sharing is already, look at the 2010 State of the Media report to see the decline in old media like your own and how anyone under 45 isn’t paying attention anymore, or even ask the rhetorical question as to why people are watching 2 billion videos a day on YouTube and uploading, every minute of every day, 24 hours worth of video!
Or maybe, just maybe, you should bring in Julio, Shayla and McKenna to not just be on a 10 minute panel, but rather to talk to TPT leadership so you can create a strategy to be and stay relevant as a media outlet and make damn sure everything you deliver is shareable.
TPT, forget about locking things up in your “Minnesota Video Vault” (and please change that name when you do embark on an actual new media strategy) and instead, toss open the doors and let your community post, remix and curate your video content. We can help you make TPT a vital resource for an audience of we new media and social media consumers who rarely watch television anymore.
Almanac runs on Friday nights so I DVR it for later viewing, and as painful as it is to watch it online the content is so good that I always recommend that my friends and family make this show (and other stuff you deliver) a regular part of their week. It’s a great way to keep one’s finger on the pulse of the important community, political and cultural zeitgeist of Minnesota.
Thank God you’re bringing in John Daenzer, current Director of New Media at WCCO, who recently announced he is headed to TPT to be VP of Interactive. John “gets it”, spearheaded the WCCO iPhone app and The Wire, and has done a remarkable job courting the new and social media community like NO OTHER traditional media outlet has in Minnesota. The big bonus is that John is willing to listen and ask the hard questions…while respecting that the transition from old to new media is a tough one.
But start right now on breaking up Almanac in to its discrete segments and at least putting the content on YouTube. What you offer now for access vs. embedding is an embarrassment.
October 16th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Well… We know Steve has some passion!!
Thank you for noting our hard work at ‘CCO, Steve. Please know I am excited to begin a new adventure at TPT. I don’t know all of the intracacies regarding this particular issue. But I do know there are many talented people at TPT who take very seriously their mission of public service. If there is a way to figure out this embedding issue… We will do that and we will use feedback from users like you, Steve, to do it well.
October 16th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Me? Passion?
I know this stuff is never easy and that TPT folks are among the best. I also think that public media is the most important potential savior of pure investigative journalism we’ve got left. But that’s for another post and comment!
The issue is probably due to wanting to continue to drive people back to the site, to donor buttons, and to other content offered. All logical and understandable, but unfortunately that runs counter to the trend toward sharing, wrapping commentary around segments or stories, and so forth.
You know anything I can do to help I will. Just ask me or any of the others we know that are cheering on TPT, MPR and valuable assets like John Daenzer.
October 16th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Just one request to John — Please don’t recreate “The Wire” — Flash just doesn’t fly in the mobile world even though some android phones have it, it’s still a miserable experience.
October 17th, 2010 at 10:07 am
Steve,
Oh, you have passion. You have never been shy about pushing for the sharing of all content this interactive and social space so easily provides. In many cases, like this one, I wholeheartedly agree.
I often feel that “public” television and “public” radio are anything but. In this case, a publicly funded property, should use every outlet possible to share their content. Whether that be by allowing video to be embedded or posting transcripts on line. The “public” is paying for this content, give it to them everywhere.
However, I disagree that everything produced by and for one medium, needs to be available…for free…on another. While it’s always nice when something is easily shared, it may not always serve the purpose and needs of the entity or individual who created it. Content is not always design to be distributed to it’s audience, it is sometimes designed to attract an audience to a destination. In short, must everything be free?
As you note in your response to John Daenzer, the ‘cost’ of access to the program in question is a simple click, and TPT exposes the rest of their site and the content they produce which could lead to more donations to TPT. (Of course, you can be the judge as to whether the site is designed to make that happen).
I also might point out that, while I’m sure John will do great things at TPT, it should be noted that WCCO also does not allow embedding of it’s “Video Library” content… though I can email or copy a link. Driving viewers to the site at WCCO is the goal pure and simple. So don’t get too excited that this sharing will become a reality as soon as he sits down.
By the way, perhaps where John might have a more dramatic impact is by addressing the overall feel and context of the content that you want to be shareable. I mean, holy crap, look at the Almanac set! Can anything be more buttoned down and institutional. This isn’t an interview with the Chief Justices. My guess is there were more than a few gasps when Julio showed up in jeans. And the music… Ricky Nelson’s “Travelin’ Man? That’s from 1961. Oh, the horror!
Listen up TPT, here’s the most important point, and I say this as someone with broadcasting coursing through his veins; stop saying new media. To whom exactly is this medium new? But I guess that’s the point here.
October 17th, 2010 at 11:47 am
“In short, must everything be free?”
Of course not. But when the focus of a program is community, the elephant in the room is that people sharing chunks of content is what makes content within shows like Almanac valuable in today’s social net…and TPT disallows sharing through embedding.
When we all have more content to pay attention to than the time any of us have available to consume it, there is no question that making it easier (rather than harder) to share with one’s social graph should be job #1, especially when the current Almanac audience is comprised of mostly older folks. I assume TPT has an interest in growing audience and being relevant to people under, say, 45 years old? If so, finding ways to directly insert themselves in to the attention streams of the always-on and always-connected base of people who would pay attention to an Almanac segment like this new media one, seems brain-dead obvious.
“The “public” is paying for this content, give it to them everywhere.”
Agreed.
NO SHARING, NO VALUE. WHERE IS THE CONVERSATION?
For grins, I just did a search.Twitter.com and the *only* discussion around TPT Almanac this past Friday night were either TPT folks, the panelist themselves or a handful of tweets about this Minnov8 post. NOTHING else. No buzz. No conversation. No passing even the “Video Vault” link around. Nada. Zilch.
So that begs the question: Where is the wider, social media-driven conversation about the content of this new media panel on Almanac? The segment brought up several opinions from panelists that could’ve sparked heated conversation about this topic, but people were obviously paying NO attention.
“I also might point out that, while I’m sure John will do great things at TPT, it should be noted that WCCO also does not allow embedding of it’s “Video Library” content.”
I know, and I’ve brought this up to John. It’s a Viacom (parent company of CBS) decision in New York but rumors are this is changing. Of course, there is a war going on regarding who will “own” the distribution of TV to the family room, so there are much larger strategic battles going on making video sharing and specifically building the new media audience segment a “nit” for CBS and its affiliates right now.
THE POWER OF SHARING AND CURATION
One more thing….
Getting back to TPT, I’ll concede that sharing this video segment wouldn’t automagically translate in to instant buzz and major attention being paid to TPT’s Almanac segment on new media. It would take time to make people aware it’s available so the audience could share content and attention could grow.
I would argue that not making sharing easy guarantees there will be zero buzz and attention being paid to the programming of Almanac and that’s exactly what happened. So to your point about driving people to the Video Library page where there is a donate button is a moot point. No attention means no one sees that button!
But what might transpire if the base of people paying attention to TPT programming, and Almanac in specific, grows because they’re encouraged to share and curate by TPT and Almanac? If I were a strategist in public media I’d make damn sure I focused on the “public” in “media” and got people involved in sharing, remixing, curating and building buzz for all of TPT and all of their content.
In this election season the content on Almanac is extremely good, especially surrounding the gubernatorial race. Mary Lahammer’s “Slap Shot” segments are fabulous (where candidates use hockey pucks on a little rink to visually show where they’d place budget amounts) as are all the interviews, perspectives and more. In a day when most people DO NOT watch television, accessing content like this on-demand is critical (which you can do on the site here) but not having the capability for smart and passionate ‘connected’ people to share and curate content (e.g., on a political blog) is a shame and RADICALLY reduces the possible audience for this important content during a crucial election season.
I gotta run now. My new copy of the National Enquirer just arrived and there’s an intriguing article about George Clooney & his girlfriend being aliens who love to go bowling.
October 17th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
“Most people do do not watch television.” Huh?
http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2010/03/26/quick-quiz-how-much-tv-do-americans-watch/
(Sorry, I couldn’t embed it.)