Recently, three big media companies — CBS News, Economist and Guardian — expanded their online reach.
America’s CBS News did so by introducing an exclusive channel on the web, which mixes live coverage with programmes based on a video on demand model. The new station, which will also be tapping funds from ads, can be accessed at any time on TVs connected to the internet, smartphones and other devices. Live news is available on weekdays for 15 hours, from 9am to midnight, in 60-minute programmes. The idea is that viewers can switch between programmes already shown via video on demand and live programming.
According to CBS News’ President David Rhodes, is “a mix of live coverage with anchor, you can sit back and watch, and elements of video on demand that, if you want, you can use and customise your experience.”
UK’s Economist, meanwhile, has launched a daily digital edition. Called Espresso, it is presented as a “daily dosage of global analysis”, which can be accessed and read quickly, in five minutes.
The Espresso will have three editions: the Americas, Europe and Asia. The content can be sent via email or be accessed through an app on iOS or Android at a cost of $3.99 (Dh14.65) a month. Magazine subscribers will have free access to the new content.
The Guardian is restructuring parts of its newsroom to better serve its digital audience and making the content production more efficient. Visual and data journalism as well as the audience development teams will all be restructured after a new executive editor for digital, Aron Pilhofer, spent the summer visiting other media organisations for inspiration. The team of editors will be lead by an as-yet-unappointed editor of Guardian Visuals who will coordinate how certain stories are told and assemble teams around big events.
While the Guardian’s Data Blog has won awards for its work, Pilhofer wants to build a “more formalised desk” of specialists to collaborate with the rest of the newsroom on stories and projects. “It’s about giving people the ability to do their own work, the ability to explore and get excited about doing this,” said Pilhofer in an interview with Journalism.co.uk.
He joined The Guardian from The New York Times, where he was part of Pulitzer prize-winning teams. As editor of interactive news at The Times, he commissioned Snow Fall, considered a landmark in digital journalism narration.
