We’re just a week away from the DNC, and nothing in the online news space looks very fresh or very different–yet. Six months ago, I wrote two articles for the Digital Edge of the Newspaper Association of America about the 2004 elections and online news sites. One piece focused on the ad side, the other on the edit. In both, site managers and editors discussed what the kind of coverage they hoped to offer for the 2004 race.
None of it seems to have happened.
With the idea it is time to get with the program, here are some things I’d like to see news organizations do:
— The New York Times or the Washington Post and Technorati or Feedster=Vox Populi
Why don’t we see a major media outlet that will file lots of stories during the election find a way to work with Technorati or Feedster so they can have almost real-time links reflecting people?s comments on–and links to–the stories–right on their web site?
Advance Publications or Tribune and Topix.net=Local depth
Why doesn’t a large regional newspaper player, like Advance or Trib, team up with Topix to provide a more complete index of local news stories related to election topics? This would be a great way to complement their coverage–if they could stand linking out to other entities, of course.
MTV and Orkut and Live Journal=Community
Why doesn’t Rock the Vote tape into the social network space and affiliate with a large, viral network and a youth-oriented blogging service to add more resonance, depth, and community to their program?
Fox News or CNN with Blogger and Picasa or Typepad=Citizen Journalism
Why doesn’t one of the larger networks and their local affiliates work with a large blogging service and their photo/mobblogging capabilities to create local citizen/journal reporters who can moblog local campaign and election events and do man on the street interviews?
ALL news entities with Internet Archive and Creative Commons licensing
Why not create an open source media archive for the 2004 election? What if all the major news players decided to cooperate with the Internet Archive and build a multimedia archive for the 2004 election season? And grant a Creative Commons license for use of the materials?
Yahoo or MSN or AOL plus Bloglines or Rojo = Election newsreader
Why doesn’t a news-focused portal site team up with one of the new web-based newsreader services to offer a customized and branded newsreader customized with political feeds–a My Yahoo or MSN or My AOL for the elections?
Update: This post has sparked much discussion and links –thank you, everyone! For a look at the discussion, check out Technorati or Feedster.
We’re just a week away from the DNC, and nothing in the online news space looks very fresh or very different–yet. Six months ago, I wrote two articles for the Digital Edge of the Newspaper Association of America about the 2004 elections and online news sites. One piece focused on the ad side, the other on the edit. In both, site managers and editors discussed what the kind of coverage they hoped to offer for the 2004 race.
None of it seems to have happened.
With the idea it is time to get with the program, here are some things I’d like to see news organizations do:
— The New York Times or the Washington Post and Technorati or Feedster=Vox Populi
Why don’t we see a major media outlet that will file lots of stories during the election find a way to work with Technorati or Feedster so they can have almost real-time links reflecting people?s comments on–and links to–the stories–right on their web site?
Advance Publications or Tribune and Topix.net=Local depth
Why doesn’t a large regional newspaper player, like Advance or Trib, team up with Topix to provide a more complete index of local news stories related to election topics? This would be a great way to complement their coverage–if they could stand linking out to other entities, of course.
MTV and Orkut and Live Journal=Community
Why doesn’t Rock the Vote tape into the social network space and affiliate with a large, viral network and a youth-oriented blogging service to add more resonance, depth, and community to their program?
Fox News or CNN with Blogger and Picasa or Typepad=Citizen Journalism
Why doesn’t one of the larger networks and their local affiliates work with a large blogging service and their photo/mobblogging capabilities to create local citizen/journal reporters who can moblog local campaign and election events and do man on the street interviews?
ALL news entities with Internet Archive and Creative Commons licensing
Why not create an open source media archive for the 2004 election? What if all the major news players decided to cooperate with the Internet Archive and build a multimedia archive for the 2004 election season? And grant a Creative Commons license for use of the materials?
Yahoo or MSN or AOL plus Bloglines or Rojo = Election newsreader
Why doesn’t a news-focused portal site team up with one of the new web-based newsreader services to offer a customized and branded newsreader customized with political feeds–a My Yahoo or MSN or My AOL for the elections?
Update: This post has sparked much discussion and links –thank you, everyone! For a look at the discussion, check out Technorati or Feedster.