New technology and its use in journalism and public relations has long been an interest of mine. The reality is, not all technology can be used in every situation.
The recent editorial by John Temple, Editor and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News, is a perfect example of taking experiments with emerging digital media one step too far.
Rocky Mountain News reporter Berny Morson was sent on assignment to cover the funeral of Marten Kudlis, age 3. Kudlis was killed last week at an ice cream shop when a traffic accident sent a vehicle into the shop killing the young man and two other women involved in the crash. Morson was to cover the funeral using Twitter. That link will take you to his account to read his posts. Judge for yourself if you think they come off as crass and insensitive, as some have claimed.
The point here is that Twitter is too new to the majority of individuals out there. TwitDir reports there are 2,957,060 Twitter users, to date. That’s less than 1% of the US population, and Twitter is used worldwide. So, it is safe to say that Twitter is still relegated, primarily, to the early adopters of the world. It is easy to understand why some might find the use to be distasteful and insensitive.
Michelle Ferrier, at the Poynter Institute, wrote about the paper’s use of Twitter in Rocky Mountain News: Tasteless Tweets. John Temple chose to reply in the comments. Rather than make a rational defense of his paper’s actions, Temple felt compelled to resort to an attack on Poynter.
I find it odd that a Poynter blog criticizing a decision by a newspaper would find it adequate to ask a reporter for comment. Note to Poynter: Reporters don’t decide newspaper policies. It may make the blogger feel righteous to have said she tried to get comment. But really….This isn’t the first time I’ve had a problem with Poynter writers on this account.
Not too smart, really. It diminished his rebuttal, turning the whole thing into a bit of ad hominem. Unfortunate.
I suggest that if Temple had used a more familiar form of reporting, this whole mini-controversy would never have happened. Use of Cover It Live, for example, would have allowed the reporter to tell the story just as quickly. That tool allows for immediate coverage, yet it is not limited to 140 characters per post. Let’s face it, 140 characters for such a sensitive story is quite a limitation.
Another option would have been to use TwitPic. This would have allowed you to share photos, something everyone’s familiar with, and yet still be able to test Twitter as a channel for reporting.
Both of those options would have provided the immediacy, if that’s what you were looking for in your reporting.
Still, a photo slideshow after the service could have been just as easily shared via Flickr and a Flash-based service like this example from Paul Stamatiou. You could even add to the photo stream as the service progressed, quite easily, if you simply prepared in advance by creating the Flickr account and embedding the code in your paper’s Web site.
Regardless of how you do it, all of those examples still allow the the paper to cover it live, or quickly, with media forms that all readers would recognize.
Preparation, however, seems to be an area where John Temple failed in this instance.
I fear John Temple over-reacted in his effort to defend the process. His editorial actually refers to a lack of preparation and training for his journalists. It seems to me that his experiment was not well thought out.
Irony of ironies, Rocky Mountain News editor and publisher John Temple has his own Twitter account. It has one post in it from 05:01 PM July 23, 2008. The post? “Test”. That’s it.
John, that’s not enough of a test to prove Twitter ready for coverage of a funeral. I know. You may well have been following and reading others in Twitter to gain an appreciation for how it is used. Still, the meager effort you’ve made on your own part doesn’t help boost your defense of Twitter’s use to cover a funeral.
Now, all that being said, Rocky Mountain News has been a leader in online news coverage and experimentation. So, I don’t wish to be too critical. The reality is that these types of mis-steps are bound to happen. It is inevitable. As papers seek to use all the tools at their disposal, there will be instances where the practice doesn’t fit the story. That simple, yet too often difficult to predict.
It may be that Rocky Mountain News is so far ahead, they too are caught in that unfortunate situation we can all find ourselves in … wanting to try out the new shiny things, but losing sight of the best interests (and sensitivities) of our audiences.
If you are interested in the subsequent news coverage of Marten Kudlis’ death, visit these two follow-up stories. The accident did raise new questions. Lawmakers call for immigration review and Ritter: Review ‘broken system’
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