No, I can’t listen to the American correspondents. Even Reuters reporting is all about the bankers stealing everything they touch. You can’t turn on anything without becoming horribly depressed.
It’s on my television, my laptop, and all over the radio.
I am constantly left with an ominous all over feeling …
It’s official. I have a new job: Deputy Editor in Chief of NOS News. An amazing challenge, a great honour and it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
I will start June 2nd. Which means I will return to my native Holland after having been away for over thirteen years. But hey, New York City, Washington DC, London and now Hilversum seems like a logical move.
The boss blogged about it: Read it here. Apparently he wants me to keep blogging. So don’t go away. Neither do I.
Twenty students from my alma mater, the very superior Tilburg School of Journalism, sent me some feedback on a recent multimedia production in Wales.
They were very polite.
Very honest, that too. Ouch.
(Check for yourself, albeit in Dutch, in the comments below the entry on multimedia math.)
I find it vitally important nowadays to hear from journalism students. We teach them how to become responsible journalists (values when telling the story), they teach us how to become responsive journalists (valuable ways of telling the story).
On that front, check out what Mindy McAdams is doing at the University of Florida. (Click on the pic.)
Mindy McAdams (photo Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University)
On her college website she shares her syllabus on multimedia journalism for students. We also see some material from students, taking their first steps as multimedia story tellers. Exciting stuff, that proves one thing: Students and teachers learn from each other more than ever before.
A while ago, I queried my fellow members of the Online News Association. Simple question:
What non-American sites do you regularly visit?
Within hours my mail box was bulking with responses. At least, that’s what I hoped. But alas, in vain. After some subtle prodding I did get some better idea what (mostly American) online-colleagues consider international inspiration.
Let me list them all:
- Canadian Broadcasting Company
And that was about it, although some funny guy mentioned that we shouldn’t forget the international flavor of Alaska and New Mexico.
Damn colleagues, we just can’t be bothered, can we?
As I was about to give up, someone alerted me to the following site:
Global Voices Online, managed by Curt Poff, who plugged his site as follows: “It’s not hard news. But still, you get a good idea about what folks are blogging about in far-flung locations around the world.”
And so I find myself for some time already, mostly after midnight, surfing the world wide web of blogging. Little pearl in that international ocean of opinions is by far the bloggers from Burma. It is a beautiful world.
So this is what tomorrow’s BBC website will look like. The online colleagues who we love to hate. Despise to be more exact, because they’re so bloody brilliant. A sneak preview. You didn’t hear it from me.
Click on the picture (of granny’s BBC era) to go straight to the new website
And to explain the face-lift, Richard Titus (Acting Head of User Experience) writes about drawing inspiration from sources as Facebook, iGoogle and NetVibes in his entry on, where else, the BBC Internet Blog.
Acting Head
Or did it? My local Indian restaurant reminded me of the tragedy. There will be a charity dinner this weekend. Because it was a big disaster. Apparently.
I had totally forgotten about it. Which is bizar for a cyclone, named Sidr, that killed 3,300 people, left millions homeless and wiped out fifteen villages, infrastructure and crops.
Bangladesh has appealed for 2.2 billion dollars in aid. So where are we, the media, to keep this story on the front page and at the top of the news bulletins?
We are nowhere to be found.
I ‘news googled’ the tragedy and mainly stumbled upon stories from the wire services. Then I went to YouTube and searched for dramatic pictures. Al-Jazeera jumped out.
New media journalism is so simple nowadays, isn’t it? If it’s on YouTube, if millions are watching it, if people on social networks keep passing it on, it’s gotta be good, so it will be news eventually.
It’s like the CNN Factor from ages ago. If CNN is there, then it must be important. That’s how Africa stayed on the agenda and world leaders couldn’t hide behind the argument ‘we didn’t know’.
I’m afraid cyclone Sidr did not only do a devastating job, but the little bastard was also successful in hiding the story from the rest of the world.
Or maybe we just didn’t look hard enough. After all, there were no tourists with their mobile phone hanging out on the beach, doing our job.
It’s really a sanitized version of the truth…
…and realize, that working multimedia means that it’s three times as bad.
You may always wake me up for a nice bit of gossip. Especially when it involves neighbours. For that same reason, I keep going back to a website with (for me as a Londoner) useless news about the village where I grew up: Oisterwijk in The Netherlands.
Local news is magnetic. And it beats many big national or international stories. Put local and local together, mix it with the YouTube phenomenon that thrives on the High Street, and you might end up with something like this:
Click on the funny guy to get to the website
It’s called Ik Op TV, which simply means: Me On Television. The modern equivalent, cynically speaking, of waving as a dumbass at the camera when a tv crew shows up on the weekly market.
It’s a little smarter than that, and I salute the initiative. On this site you can upload your stories, your experiences, your opinions. And if it passes the editorial selection process, your movies might be shown on regional television.
It is a clever combining of forces. Who doesn’t want to be on TV? Biggest thrill, it will drive your neighbour crazy. And it will definitely lead to much more gossip in the neighbourhood.
Having covered the brouhaha leading up to Led Zeppelin’s reunion concert for NOS Dutch radio, tv and internet - and damnit, not having a ticket - I was curious this morning how quickly one of the 20,000 fans would help us out.
I was not disappointed. Long live UGC!
Apparently the concert wasn’t too bad.
Why a blog? Why all the trouble? A legitimate question. Well…
Apart from some unresolved childhood issues and the inevitable ego outbursts I compose this blog because there must be others out there. Just like me. Who want to share - the essence of blogging.
There are!
So please help me welcome The New Media Diva, coming all the way from Memphis, Tennessee, but blogging from Switzerland.
overdiek | 
11 5th, 2008| 