Writing for new media
Technology is providing us a lot of new ways to communicate. Writing for new media, in this context, means creating context in all the new forms of digital communication. It does not confine to just “texts”, but all kinds of rhetorically sound, creative use and repurposing of media.
What’s hot?
I am always a fan of Apple - not only the technology firm based in the US, but also the newspaper Apple Daily in Hong Kong. I was barely surprised when I learned that Lai Chee-ying, the founder of Next Media Group, announced that he would enter the keen market of free newspapers last month. Similar to the publication of Apple Daily in Hong Kong, the introduction of Sharp Daily has caused a public outcry in the past few weeks. Lai claimed that Sharp Daily is a newspaper which can be read, watched and listened to.
As the world is entering a new age of media, people increasingly adapt to an environment full of free information. Less and less people are willing to pay for newspapers. Everyone thinks the newspaper industry is on its decline. Considering this, Lai has changed the focus of his group from reporting exclusive news, to providing entertainment and information concerning livelihood for readers. Apple Daily first used 3D animation with sound effects in presenting the news. In the hands, every news item have become an interesting story with twists and turns. By now, the animation news has already penetrated into every corner in facebook, tweeter and many other media platforms - that nearly everyone with a smartphone on hand will have Apple Daily’s app installed. Some major Western news media even commented that “animated news might be the future of journalism” when they first knew about this in the Tiger Woods’s incident.
This blog commented on the animated news.
The blogger said the animated news is "fresh and exciting", but a bit annoying. Haha!
http://visualjournalism.com/tiger-woods-chased-by-his-wife-in-animated-news-from-apple-daily/2009/12/05/
The launch of Sharp Daily is a very critical issue in writing for new media. It provides a revolutionary insight in journalist writing with the use of multi-modality and in an interactive way.Traditionally, newspapers are quite monotonous because they are too formal and too long. They relied too much on text in conveying their message. Their messages are one-way down - readers are to receive information and they have nothing do with the news content. But the case is completely different when newspapers come to the new media platform. News are put online and they become more interesting, concise and interactive. Particularly, Lai’s Sharp Daily and Apple Daily have even added sounds and videos in news reporting. Readers are able to comment on news or even report a news to the editors with the use of new media. the level of interaction between them is unprecedented.
This video shows how Sharp Daily can be "read, watched and listened to".
Writing news in new media is an inevitable trend. A recent survey said that 50% of the teenagers in Hong Kong prefer reading news online, while only 14% will read it with a copy of newspaper. Other newspapers, no matter paid or free, such as the Oriental Daily and Headline Daily, are all creating videos for their news apps. Meanwhile, Sharp Daily is combining the physical and the virtual platform by providing a new function - one can be immediately be directed to the news story video by scanning the bar code on newspaper through smartphones. It is clear that Hong Kong journalism is eventually migrating to a new era of new media.
Free Newspaper War to Escalate in Hong Kong
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/free-newspaper-war-to-escalate-in-hong-kong/462727
Another free newspaper hits a crowded market
http://topics.scmp.com/news/hk-news-watch/article/Another-free-newspaper-hits-a-crowded-market
Features of writing for journalism in new media
Concise
The publishers have made sure their readers could finish most of the news items within the time of a bus trip. Complex things are explained in colourful graphs, and long conversations summarised into one line. Put it simply, user-friendliness is always the the key concern.
Eye-catchy
Eye-catching headlines are used extensively in the cover of almost every section. The news item which has the highest number of page-view will be recommended to other readers. The editors would not care too much about whether the sentences and the headlines are grammatically correct, as long as they can attract the readers’ attention.
Shared online
Another special thing is that new media often quote extensively from the Internet -either blogs or forums - as their source of information. In the ending part of many news items, they would report how bloggers and forum users were feeling about a particular issue.
Use of Multimodality
News will be written in a less formal way. Instead, they will be presented by sounds, pictures, videos and animations as mentioned above. These devices will make the new stories a lot more interesting.
My experience in writing for new media
I have just interned in CNBC Asia, a financial news channel which based in Singapore this summer. One of my tasks is to title the interview videos. These videos will be viewed worldwide - not just on CNBC’s website, but also in the iphone app!
Here is the work log I have blogged in Tumblr:
http://cnbc-internship.tumblr.com/
At last, I want to show everyone a video:
This baby thought the magazine was a broken iPad.
It reveals that technology is replacing the physical magazines, or even newspapers!
Technology is providing us a lot of new ways to communicate. Writing for new media, in this context, means creating context in all the new forms of digital communication. It does not confine to just “texts”, but all kinds of rhetorically sound, creative use and repurposing of media.
What’s hot?
I am always a fan of Apple - not only the technology firm based in the US, but also the newspaper Apple Daily in Hong Kong. I was barely surprised when I learned that Lai Chee-ying, the founder of Next Media Group, announced that he would enter the keen market of free newspapers last month. Similar to the publication of Apple Daily in Hong Kong, the introduction of Sharp Daily has caused a public outcry in the past few weeks. Lai claimed that Sharp Daily is a newspaper which can be read, watched and listened to.
As the world is entering a new age of media, people increasingly adapt to an environment full of free information. Less and less people are willing to pay for newspapers. Everyone thinks the newspaper industry is on its decline. Considering this, Lai has changed the focus of his group from reporting exclusive news, to providing entertainment and information concerning livelihood for readers. Apple Daily first used 3D animation with sound effects in presenting the news. In the hands, every news item have become an interesting story with twists and turns. By now, the animation news has already penetrated into every corner in facebook, tweeter and many other media platforms - that nearly everyone with a smartphone on hand will have Apple Daily’s app installed. Some major Western news media even commented that “animated news might be the future of journalism” when they first knew about this in the Tiger Woods’s incident.
This blog commented on the animated news.
The blogger said the animated news is "fresh and exciting", but a bit annoying. Haha!
http://visualjournalism.com/tiger-woods-chased-by-his-wife-in-animated-news-from-apple-daily/2009/12/05/
The launch of Sharp Daily is a very critical issue in writing for new media. It provides a revolutionary insight in journalist writing with the use of multi-modality and in an interactive way.Traditionally, newspapers are quite monotonous because they are too formal and too long. They relied too much on text in conveying their message. Their messages are one-way down - readers are to receive information and they have nothing do with the news content. But the case is completely different when newspapers come to the new media platform. News are put online and they become more interesting, concise and interactive. Particularly, Lai’s Sharp Daily and Apple Daily have even added sounds and videos in news reporting. Readers are able to comment on news or even report a news to the editors with the use of new media. the level of interaction between them is unprecedented.
This video shows how Sharp Daily can be "read, watched and listened to".
Writing news in new media is an inevitable trend. A recent survey said that 50% of the teenagers in Hong Kong prefer reading news online, while only 14% will read it with a copy of newspaper. Other newspapers, no matter paid or free, such as the Oriental Daily and Headline Daily, are all creating videos for their news apps. Meanwhile, Sharp Daily is combining the physical and the virtual platform by providing a new function - one can be immediately be directed to the news story video by scanning the bar code on newspaper through smartphones. It is clear that Hong Kong journalism is eventually migrating to a new era of new media.
Free Newspaper War to Escalate in Hong Kong
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/free-newspaper-war-to-escalate-in-hong-kong/462727
Another free newspaper hits a crowded market
http://topics.scmp.com/news/hk-news-watch/article/Another-free-newspaper-hits-a-crowded-market
Features of writing for journalism in new media
Concise
The publishers have made sure their readers could finish most of the news items within the time of a bus trip. Complex things are explained in colourful graphs, and long conversations summarised into one line. Put it simply, user-friendliness is always the the key concern.
Eye-catchy
Eye-catching headlines are used extensively in the cover of almost every section. The news item which has the highest number of page-view will be recommended to other readers. The editors would not care too much about whether the sentences and the headlines are grammatically correct, as long as they can attract the readers’ attention.
Shared online
Another special thing is that new media often quote extensively from the Internet -either blogs or forums - as their source of information. In the ending part of many news items, they would report how bloggers and forum users were feeling about a particular issue.
Use of Multimodality
News will be written in a less formal way. Instead, they will be presented by sounds, pictures, videos and animations as mentioned above. These devices will make the new stories a lot more interesting.
My experience in writing for new media
I have just interned in CNBC Asia, a financial news channel which based in Singapore this summer. One of my tasks is to title the interview videos. These videos will be viewed worldwide - not just on CNBC’s website, but also in the iphone app!
Here is the work log I have blogged in Tumblr:
http://cnbc-internship.tumblr.com/
At last, I want to show everyone a video:
This baby thought the magazine was a broken iPad.
It reveals that technology is replacing the physical magazines, or even newspapers!
