The Fresh Perspective
On my first day as a Web/Graphics producer I quickly realized that not only would I need to develop today's stories, but also stories that were written previously. Managing the website isn't only about updating what is new and breaking, but also any other nuggets of information that previous stories require to be relevant or accurate. In addition, ATVN.org needed 'More Coverage' of a story that we would put on the live broadcast. Lots of decisions to make, and of course not enough time!
While I do have previous experience with web producing, this was a different experience because of the new, stricter goals and deadlines I set for myself. Being a member of the producing team brings about a bigger sense of responsibility and motivation to really showcase the content that our MJ's and reporters bring back to the newsroom. While the broadcast sometimes feels like the priority (It is live after all, there can't be dead air!), I really have a passion for the website because it definitely accounts for a lot of ATVN's viewership. I really want to push myself to strengthen story development on the website on Thursday, and create a consistent flow of information about the day's "chunky" news stories.
I also want to address the unique medium of the web, and take advantage of it when it comes to storytelling. Online there is more flexibility with how you present information - some stories translate stronger in pictures, or video, or simply words. I'd really like to concentrate on developing stories by using the presentation that suits them best. In the future, I am going to consciously consider this before posting content - how will this look? Is this the best way that this story can be presented? Is this information easy to consume? Often I click away from a web story when I feel like it's too difficult to read or the video is boring, so I feel that presentation is something that I really want to focus on.
Whether we like it or not, we live in a bit of an ADD news world. I do feel that I owe it to viewers to make online news easy to digest; because there's nothing worse than having to dissect a story to understand it.
