Comments on: The best newspaper webcast I’ve seen yet: Ledger Live

By: Carlos V.

Carlos V. — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:09:29 +0000

I've been keeping track of Ledger Live and it definitely is improving. I really like their attempt to involve the community. We are currently producing a daily webcast of upcoming news headlines. Not surprisingly, it doesn't get very many hits. I believe it is due to a variety of things: very little promotion, our website is a muddled mess, and the show is scripted and stiff. I shoot and edit the show and I try to locate art, video anything to "spice it up" but it doesn't really work. I originally had envisioned more of an off-the-cuff, unscripted show. Something that engages the public like what Ledger Live is doing. Good luck to them.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:08:38 +0000

Hey Mister Snitch: There's an embed button on every one of their videos, and they upload them to YouTube. What, exactly, is your complaint?

By: Mister Snitch

Mister Snitch — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:05:23 +0000

Uh… so you click on the video, and get sucked into NJ.com’s site in order to view it. Have you guys SEEN how YouTube and Vimeo work, or are you willfully just that arrogant, self-involved, and stupid? I mean, really, you figure YOUR video is so unique and precious that it should work in a manner contrary to users’ expectations – which are based on their experiences with, oh, EVERY OTHER VIRAL VIDEO ON THE ‘NET?

Here’s a hint… it’s NOT.

And Jeff “tell the client what he wants to hear” Jarvis had a hand in this? Figures.

Epic fail here. Just appalling. It’s no wonder, really, that NJ.com is as God-awful as it is. No doubt the hyped ‘re-design’ will be just as inept. You just don’t get it, and the ‘consultants’ you hire to ‘get it’ for you are tired, talentless hacks. But hey, they’ll tell you you’re doing a swell job before they cash your check.

And shame on the backslapping Sholin for ‘forgetting’ to mention the fundamental problem with your ‘video experiment’. With such keen observation skills and passion for the truth, it’s no wonder journalism enjoys the prestige it does today.

By: Matt King

Matt King — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:52:59 +0000

Wow did that mid-day update ever stink. I can still smell it.

By: John Hassell

John Hassell — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:07:37 +0000

Ryan,

Thanks for the kind words. We’re trying as much as possible to let users at NJ.com drive the content of the show. Today, we had an interview with a conservative critic of the state’s fiscal policies after a commenter on the show’s blog suggested it. Pretty cool.

And I totally agree about the need to archive and optimize for search not just the show, but its component parts. You can find all the segments in our blog at http://www/nj.com/ledgerlive, and all of our videos in a searchable gallery at http://videos.nj.com/star-ledger.

Wes: Sorry for your troubles. I’m not sure what the problem was; I work on a Mac and use Firefox to watch the show daily without a problem. And I just tried it out on Safari with no issues. Hmm, I’ll keep poking at it.

Thanks,
John Hassell, The Star-Ledger

By: Wes Rand

Wes Rand — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:18:37 +0000

I had some trouble watching the video — it refused to load in Safari and Firefox on a Mac. Was able to finally get it to play when I pulled it up on a Windows computer. Anyone else have that problem?

Very interesting webcast. Gives me some inspiration to see what we might be able to produce.