MULTIMEDIA Journalism

During the tutorial that I attended on Thursday, I was taught a valuable lesson. Print journalism and multimedia journalism are very different. In the tutorial we were given the simple but meaningful task of converting a printed story from a newspaper into one that would be considered appropriate for a television news station or this new-age technology called the Internet. I found this a bit of a challenge because I had not known the difference between the two. Did I have to add a moving picture? Should it be under a different production company? I just didn't know.

Then it hit me. Reading a paper, all you generally want is the news. Just straight hard-hitting news. You might be searching for a catchy title or a bit of humour somewhere, but mainly you're looking for a news hit. However, if you're watching the television and the news comes on, you're looking for something that will keep you on that channel. Entertaining story details, captivating videos and pictures ... something that will peak your interest, and then keep it! If you're surfing the net and you stumble upon the Townsville Bulletin webpage, you want to embark upon a journey similar to that of a YouTube adventure. You want to be hooked on a headline, captured by the content and engaged by the entertainment value.

These methods seem similar in the fact they provide facts, but converting print to online media is actually a challenge. But once we found one option, the rest started to flow. You could add a section where the audience can interact and give their two cents like having a Facebook/Twitter feed. You could elongate the story with statistics and facts that relate to the story in question.

It was an awakening to me. I realised that the course that I am taking (Multimedia Journalism) is exactly that: multi-media. Over multiple medias. Online, television, radio AND print media. That's a lot of planning for separate medias.

I have a long three years ahead of me.