Media Convergence Multimedia Journalism

CONVERGENCE

Musician and singer-songwriter Gotye, Wouter De Backer, stopped by the KROQ studio for an interview Monday afternoon. The story was first posted on the KROQ website representing the first trend in the Intro to Convergence Journalism reading. Soon after there was a tweet, representing the second trend, that linked to the website and there was a spot on the radio informing listeners to check out the interview on the website. This post in itself represents the third trend of individuals “creating their own repurposings.”

KROQ is a popular radio station that has recently been focusing to get more hits on its website and reach a more global audience. The news in this instance is that the station has an exclusive interview with an artist who currently has a highly requested song on the station. KROQ is providing content relevant to the audience and publicizes the interview through mediums immediately available like Twitter, Facebook, and on-air radio spots.

Some convergence media can even be user generated, as stated in the reading. By posting links on Facebook and Twitter, KROQ lets its listeners interact and comment with each post. This in effect brings more potential readers because the friends or followers of a specific account on a social media site might click on the link commented on.

If people are interested enough they might even text their friends or simply spread the news by word of mouth. The more media outlets used, the more likely more people will view content like the interview with Gotye.

MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM

Let’s talk Super Bowl; the highest viewed television program of the year. Go to any news source in America, possibly the world, and there will likely be a story, possibly several, about the Super Bowl.

NBC had the rights of broadcasting the big game and as a result they have a lot of content on the game. Let’s look at a few examples of how NBC used multimedia to provide stories.

One story shared by the Associated Press on MSNBC focused on New England coach Bill Belichick and how he instructed his defensive line to allow the running player to score. The story is accompanied by a photo of said touchdown by Ahmad Bradshaw. The photo is the multimedia supplement to the online written story.

Also on MSNBC are various slide shows, each focusing on a specific theme or point in time during the Super Bowl. The post-game slideshow allows viewers to go through the photos at their own pace while also providing similar photos or photos that make sense within the context of the slideshow. For example, the photos of a somber Tom Brady contrast starkly against those of the celebratory Giants.

The Basic Skills and Roles reading mentions how journalists are continually having to learn new and evolving forms of multimedia like photo and video. Adding images to a story brings a new element of perception since viewers are being shown a moment rather than have to read about it. The multimedia a journalist chooses has a significant impact on the way the story or project is received by viewers.