How Multi Media Newsroom
Functions
Online Research, News Sources,
Planning and Storyboarding For
Online Journalism
Online Journalism
With a few clicks, you can now access almost the entire
world of journalism and its wide variety of sources, along
with multimedia materials
online journalism as original writing
and reporting that are delivered via the
Today as we are witnessing that all types of work are World Wide Web.
getting transferred onto the online mode, the media
industry has also not lagged but has ventured deeper
into it and is exploring new opportunities of online
news delivery and related online news businesses. In
the prevailing atmosphere of cut-throat competition in
the news industry, those news organizations who are
not adapting to the online medium are expected to
lose their competitive edge and may be unable to
sustain for long.
Gone are the days of waiting for the morning paper to
arrive or tuning in to the evening news broadcast.
Instead, we now have a constant stream of news and
information available at our fingertips, 24/7, thanks to the
rise of online journalism. While this has brought many
advantages such as speed, reach, and personalization, it
has also brought new challenges such as fake news and
privacy concerns.
While this has brought many advantages such
as speed, reach, and personalization, it has also
brought new challenges such as fake news and
privacy concerns.
Boon of Online Journalism
Increased Speed of News
Increased Transparency
Audience Engagement An Interactive Experience
Cost-Effective Increased Access to Information
Wider Reach
Flexibility
Bane of Online Journalism
• Dependence on social media
• Loss of Trust
• Loss of Personal Connection
• Limited Attention Span
• Privacy Concerns
• Digital Divide
• The Decline of Traditional Journalism
• Sensationalism
Changes in Journalism Over the Years
Over the last two decades, the changes in journalism have reached new extremes. In fact, a lot of
reporting these days now covers the changes in journalism that have occurred as high-speed Internet
has become widely available. It would be hard to argue that all of these changes have been for the
best. Trust in the media has declined, and political journalism has become intensely polarized.
•Competition for Clicks
•Rush to Publish
•Social Media
•Donation-Based Payments
•Politicization
•Fact-Checking
•Factionalism
•GIFs, Memes, and Tweets
•Fake News
The advertiser-based payment model of online journalism
has created a sensationalized media environment in
which well-respected news outlets compete for clicks
Competition for Clicks with independent content providers who are often less
scrupulous in their analysis and commentary. Major
newspapers and TV networks have been beset by
embarrassing mistakes and retractions as they respond to
the pressure to publish ever more incredible stories about
politicians and public figures.
The rush to publish news stories is a symptom of the
broadband Internet era and the dominance of social
media in the online information ecosystem. It is a large
factor in the problem of major news outlets publishing Rush to Publish
stories that later turn out not to be true. These false news
stories get published for several reasons. Sometimes the
reason is a news room’s desire to be the first to break a
story about a sensational event.
Social media platforms have tried to counter fake news with
Fake News factual information and reporting from major media outlets, but
the effort is largely ineffective because the people who share
fake news want to believe stories that are flattering to their in-
group.
While news outlets rely on money from sponsors and
advertisers to fund their operations, independent journalists earn
money from personal donations. This phenomenon is a major
feature in the young industry of YouTube journalism. Donation-Based
Video-sharing platforms such as YouTube and Twitter, as well
as other more highly partisan platforms, have seen a
Payments
proliferation of amateur journalism and political commentary in
recent years as broadband Internet has become commonplace
across the country.
Perhaps the most obvious recent change in journalism is
the politicization of reporting on virtually every topic.
Political polarization is simply one part of the evolution
of journalism into a postmodern industry of relativity and
Politicization subjective truth. In recent years, the top of every front
page of every news website has been dominated by
political news. The only exception to this rule is in the
aftermath of a major disaster or mass shooting, but these
events tend to be politicized, as well.
With the rise of populism and the advent of amateur
online journalism, fact-checking has become a fixture of
modern reporting. Fact-Checking
As polarization has created extreme divisions in the
culture and incentives for partisans to seize any
advantage, so-called fake news has become a major
source of online misinformation.
Factionalism has become very pronounced in the era of
broadband Internet. As tech companies such as Facebook and
Google have collected data from their users to personalize the
ads they see, users on these platforms have become locked in
Factionalism ideological echo chambers. The trend has been for like-minded
users to join together in passionate activism for their pet causes,
and each faction has its own set of journalists. From the far
right to the far left, political journalism has become fragmented
and radicalized.
Some changes in journalism are less serious. Since broadband
Internet became widely available in the 2000s, news stories
have included embedded video, animated GIFs, and Twitter GIFs, Memes, and Tweets
posts. A cottage industry devoted to covering the daily drama of
Twitter consists entirely of news articles and blog posts
commenting on celebrity tweets about stories in the news
From sports and music to business and technology,
subjects without any direct connection to politics become
politicized as social media becomes more polarized and
acrimonious. Journalists rely on social networks, such as
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, to reach their
audiences and cultivate their professional reputations.
The preferred social media website for journalists is
Twitter. It’s the platform that journalists use to reach their
personal audiences and share their opinions about stories
in the news.
Social Media
Research for Online Journalism
Research in online journalism refers to the
systematic investigation and gathering of
information to uncover facts, verify claims,
and develop insightful stories for digital
platforms.
Enhancing Credibility and Accuracy:
1. Research ensures that the information presented in online journalism is
accurate, reliable, and credible, thereby maintaining the trust of the audience.
2. Through thorough research, journalists can verify sources, cross-check
information, and fact-check claims before publishing content online.
Uncovering Hidden Stories and Trends:
•Research allows journalists to delve deeper into topics, uncovering
hidden stories, trends, and insights that might not be readily
apparent.
•By analyzing data, conducting interviews, and exploring various
sources, journalists can bring unique perspectives to their reporting.
Adapting to the Digital Landscape:
•In the fast-paced digital environment, research helps journalists stay ahead
by understanding audience preferences, emerging trends, and technological
advancements.
•Research enables journalists to tailor their content for online consumption,
including optimizing for search engines, social media platforms, and mobile
devices.
Engaging and Informing Audiences:
•Well-researched content captivates audiences, providing them
with valuable insights, in-depth analysis, and compelling
storytelling.
•Through research-driven reporting, online journalism can
educate, inspire, and provoke thought among readers,
fostering meaningful engagement and discussion.
Multimedia Newsroom
A multimedia newsroom functions as the nerve center of a media organization, facilitating the
creation, management, and distribution of news content across various platforms.
Here's how it typically operates:
Content Creation: Journalists, reporters, editors, photographers, and videographers work
together to produce news stories. They gather information through interviews, research, and on-
the-ground reporting.
Multimedia Integration: Content is created in various formats, including text, images, audio,
and video. Multimedia elements are integrated to provide a comprehensive and engaging
storytelling experience.
Digital Asset Management: A robust system is in place to organize and
manage multimedia assets, including photos, videos, audio recordings, and
documents. This ensures easy access and retrieval when needed for content
creation.
Content Management System (CMS): A CMS is used to publish and
manage digital content on the organization's website and other online
platforms. It allows for easy editing, scheduling, and distribution of news
stories.
Social Media Management: Social media platforms are key channels for
distributing news content and engaging with the audience. The newsroom
team manages social media accounts to share stories, interact with
followers, and monitor trends.
Live Coverage: The newsroom may provide live coverage of events
through streaming video, live blogs, and social media updates. This requires
coordination between reporters on the ground and editors in the newsroom.
Audience Engagement: The newsroom actively engages with its audience
through comments, polls, and interactive features. This helps build a loyal
readership and fosters community participation.
Analytics and Metrics: Data analytics tools are used to track the
performance of news content across different platforms. This includes
metrics such as page views, engagement, and social media shares, which
inform editorial decisions.
Collaboration Tools: Collaboration software and communication platforms
are used to facilitate teamwork and communication among members of the
newsroom, especially when working remotely or across different locations.
Adaptability and Innovation: A multimedia newsroom must constantly
evolve to keep pace with changing technologies and audience preferences.
This requires a culture of innovation and experimentation, as well as the
willingness to adapt to new trends and technologies.
Find News Sources
News sources are people who journalists interview, talk to, quote,
observe or meet to ‘construct’ a news story. They provide the basic
information which is the building block of a news story. At the same
time no two sources can lend the same meaning to a news story..
Stuart Hall points at three aspects of the social production of news
1. The bureaucratic organisation of the media which produces the
news in specific types or categories.
[Link] structure of news values which orders the selection and
ranking of stories within these categories and
3. The moment of the construction of news stories which implies
contextualisation of an event by the media.
When and Why You Should Use News Sources:
•You need information on a recent event or topic of interest
•You need eyewitness accounts of events
•You need reports on activities of state and local government
•You need insights into local culture, arts & entertainment
•You need perspectives from underrepresented groups
•You need sources that advocate a particular viewpoint or opinion
News Sources
News Agencies
Wire Copies
Reporters
Individual Sources
Bureau Reports
Online sources and
Social Media Platforms
RELIABILITY AND CREDIBILITY OF SOURCES
Journalistic practice relies on factual information. A news story normally is made up of
interview bytes or ‘talking heads’ who give their accounts or comments on an event. A
journalist’s job is to pad the story with these quotes interspersed in a logical sequence with
voiceovers and visuals so that the event can make sense to the audiences.
The sources in that sense are the building blocks of the story. The standard of objectivity
often entails verifiability of information independent of sources’ accounts. But in routine
practice of fast pace news production reporters do not have the time or the resources to
probe into the sources’ informational world to establish the veracity of the facts
independent of the source’s account.
News Production in a News Channel
Assignment/Input Desks
Overseeing Reporters
Arranging Visuals
Arranging Phone-in Interviews
Monitoring Other Channels
Story Planning
Forward Planning
Output Desk
Preparing the Rundown
Executing the Rundown
Getting Stories on Air
Information on Screen
Tickers
ONLINE NEWSROOM
FEATURES AND CHARACTERISTICS
The structure of the online newsroom largely
depends on the size of an organization and its
media product. As the volume of work is more
in bigger organizations, it needs more people to
man the news website. Bigger organizations
provide news updates 24X7 and usually run in
three shifts, each headed by a News Editor.
An online newsroom shift is headed a News Editor, who also happens to be a
Shift-In Charge. About 3-5 Sub-Editors/Content Writers, with responsibility to
ensure error free and free quick updates, assist the News Editor. In case there is
a major event of disaster or terror attack or a plane crash, they promptly flash
the news on a ticker, even as the detailed information starts to come in.
A ticker is a band of running script on the top of a website, which provides
breaking news or news of utmost importance and about which much details
have not been received. Once the online newsroom receives some basic
information about an event, it develops it into a story and waits for more inputs
to filter in. Such stories are called developing stories. Fresh inputs are either
updated in the earlier story itself or a new story is filed giving links to the earlier
one, which serves as a backgrounder. This is called hyperlink as it enhances the
comprehensibility of a news story
The Online Newsroom Setup of Print Media
Every medium has its own strengths and limitations. The role of online
newsroom also is to enhance and amplify its unique strength and tone
down its limiting factors. As you may know, newspapers played an
important role and were major source of information till late twentieth
century. But newspapers have physical constraints of circulation
especially to remote and foreign countries.
The online media fulfils this gap of reaching to wider geographical areas
with the help of newer technologies. Another limitation faced by
newspapers is lack of print space. Here again, the online media comes to
the newspapers’ rescue, as it does not have any space constraint. The
stories, which do not get space in the print edition, are put up on their
websites.
In recent years, there has been a major shift with the majority of
news magazines turning their online operations into news
website with 24X7 updates like the India Today and Outlook
magazines
ONLINE NEWSROOM: TEAM WORK
The manpower strength required for a newsroom is decided keeping in
mind the scale of its functions. Of this, 80 per cent are generally the
editorial staff. The editorial team works in three shifts to provide the latest
news on a 24X7 basis. And often during the outbreak of a major incident,
more people are pooled in to meet the contingency of increased news
updates.
The working of an online newsroom is a collective team effort as it
involves reporting, editing and publishing hundreds of stories every day.
Besides, there is also a need for visuals in the form of photographs,
videos, infographics and multimedia etc to make the story attractive and
eyeball grabbing.
Once a story goes ‘live’ on a website, it becomes
necessary that it reaches a wider group of readers and
appears on search engines where people search for the
latest updates. It is here that the role of Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Optimization
(SMO) comes in to play an important role. They ensure
that the news stories are searchable and visible on
search engines.
Editorial Team/Content Writers
Technology Team
Design Team
Photo and Video Team
SEO and SMO Team
Social Media Team
Planning in digital
newsrooms involves strategizing
and organizing the creation,
distribution, and management of
content across various digital
platforms.
• Anticipating and Responding to News Events
• Facilitating Collaboration and Workflow
• Adapting to Audience Preferences
• Optimizing Resource Allocation
• Ensuring Consistency and Timeliness
Anticipating and Responding to News Events:
•Strategic planning enables newsrooms to anticipate upcoming news
events, trends, and developments, allowing them to prepare relevant
content in advance.
•By staying agile and adaptable, newsrooms can respond quickly to
breaking news and emerging stories, ensuring timely and accurate
coverage.
Facilitating Collaboration and Workflow:
• Planning fosters collaboration among team members by establishing clear
roles, responsibilities, and workflows for content production, editing, and
publishing.
• By streamlining communication and coordination, newsrooms can
enhance efficiency and productivity in their digital operations.
Adapting to Audience Preferences:
• Through audience research and data analysis, newsrooms can develop
content plans that align with audience preferences, interests, and
consumption habits.
• Planning enables newsrooms to tailor content formats, topics, and
distribution channels to meet the evolving needs of their target audience.
Optimizing Resource Allocation:
• Planning allows newsrooms to allocate resources effectively, including
personnel, budget, and technology, to support content creation and
distribution efforts.
• By identifying priorities and setting clear objectives, newsrooms can
maximize the impact of their resources and minimize waste.
Ensuring Consistency and Timeliness:
• Effective planning helps newsrooms maintain consistency in content
production and meet tight deadlines in the fast-paced digital environment.
• By creating editorial calendars and content schedules, newsrooms can
allocate resources efficiently and publish timely content to engage
audiences.
Storyboarding
A storyboard is a sketch of how to organize a
story and a list of its contents.
A storyboard helps you:
•Define the parameters of a story within
available resources and time
•Organize and focus a story
•Figure out what medium to use for each part
of the story
For mobile journalists new to working with video, storyboarding or visually
drawing out scenes on paper or a whiteboard can be an excellent technique to
guide how you film your videos.
Here are some reasons why you should use storyboarding in your process:
•Storyboarding allows you to think visually. With
mobile journalism being a visual medium,
storyboarding begins this process of thinking about
how shots will look, what visual elements you’ll be
speaking to, and other filming techniques from the
start.
•Having storyboarding centered in your creative
process helps you stay more organized and
prepared in the long run, helping you manage your
time and resources more effectively.
•Building a storyboard in blocks makes it easier to carry out on camera.
Knowing what you’re going to film and in what order helps structure
your story before you even start shooting.
•Storyboarding allows your video editor to know what to cut from raw
footage, making a more streamlined video and reducing the work for
your editor – which might be you!
Simple tips on creating a storyboard
1. Start with a script.
2. Decide on the format
3. Fill the panels with images.
4. Add text descriptions and comments.
5. Gather feedback.
Storyboard Software
1. Storyboarder
Storyboarder is open source and
free, making it one of your best
options if you're working with a
smaller budget. The program has a
clean interface with all the
necessary tools at your disposal, so
it’s easy to quickly draw shapes
and characters. You can also write
dialogue, and enter timing
information and shot type.
2. Plot
Plot, a free and fast storyboard creator with impressive users such as Vistaprint
and Workday.
Each feature aims to make your process as quick and efficient as possible. You
can add and delete scenes without copying and pasting text, incorporate images
from anywhere on the web to visualize scenes faster, and collaborate with
coworkers from within the software.
3. FrameForge
FrameForge offers Core and
Professional versions of their
product. The Professional
option allows you to plan
where you’ll place dollies
and cranes (down to the
inch). The software lets you
import a script from any Plus, the storyboards include movement arrows,
scriptwriting program. framing notations, angle of view, focal length,
and more, so everyone on your video team,
from preparation to production, is on the same
page.
4. Studiobinda
Studiobinder lets you customize every aspect of your
visualization, and offers tools to filter columns, adjust the order of
your scenes, upload images, change aspect ratios, color code
shots, add notes, and more. Studiobinder also makes collaboration
easy, with project management features to assign tasks and add
comments.
5. Boords
This online storyboarding software
allows you to easily collaborate with
your team in a user-friendly web app.
You can add images to each
storyboard card and jot down quick
notes for each progressive step of
your video. Specify sound, action,
lighting, and camera details — all
without any advanced technical
knowledge.
The power of this tool lies in its ease
of use. While Storyboarder and
FrameForge have a slight learning
curve, Boords is one of those tools
that you can simply access and start
using straightaway.