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.