Invisible Inkling

Ryan Sholin on the future of newspapers, online news and journalism education.

All About Media

The long tail is a newspaper video strategy

August 19, 2007 – 7:48 pm

Because I just can’t stay away from this topic…
Last time we talked about this, I wrote a post shooting down anyone who says we shouldn’t shoot newspaper video unless it’s top-quality stuff we’d, more or less, centerpiece on A1.
The responses from my friends in the multimedia blogosphere who shoot stills and video for a living [...]

Why shoot newspaper video?

August 13, 2007 – 8:01 am

Have I been over this ground before? Not sure. I think I’ve thrown around some adoption steps for newspaper video, and I’ve spouted all the necessary YMMV caveats for news organizations of varying resources.
But here’s the deal:
Not so far in the future, you’ll be sitting in a conference room trying to show a group of [...]

Find yourself a nice comfortable niche and sell it like blueberry pancakes

July 31, 2007 – 11:04 pm

Did ya catch that headline? Don’t sell it like hotcakes, sell it like blueberry pancakes. Be specific.
Let’s put that another way:
Don’t be an international news service that decides it wants to appeal to the demographic of roughly 18-30.
Sell to a niche, not a demographic. Local moms are a niche; Women are a [...]

Running for it: Covering an event with a cell phone and a point-and-shoot video camera

July 23, 2007 – 7:23 am

[UPDATE: If you're showing up at this post looking for coverage of the 2008 race, you should head straight to santacruzsentinel.com or check out the Sentinel's video right here.]
So here’s the assignment, kids:
Cover a 6-mile run with 15,000 registered participants, including a few hundred elite runners looking to finish in the money, and do it [...]

Rearranging the lipstick on a sinking pig

July 18, 2007 – 7:18 am

Mark Potts, fresh from the demise of Backfence, rolls out a to-do list for newspapers who actually want to re-invent themselves — as opposed to those that want to have lots of meetings about re-invention.
A few of these I’ve been throwing in your face for quite some time, dear readers, so I won’t give you [...]