On the go journalists like me engaging into multimedia journalism and works in a convergence zone requires sophisticated gadgets to complete a task on time.
Thanks to the technologies present nowadays, which from time to time, revolutionizes its products (so long we could afford to buy).
An iPhone4 is one example gadget tested and proven as digital convergence tool based on experience.
Afternoon of July 15, 2011, a powerful car bomb went-off in Tacurong City in Central Mindanao targeting a convoy of politicians, this was captured by my iPhone seconds after the explosion.
Instinct for a journalist, I ran to the crime scene, which is 200 meters away, took action-packed scenes of the incident, conducted interviews and broke the story with exclusive enthralling footages.
I was in a travel that time and have not brought with me my laptop, the iPhone has served as my all purpose communication, from calls, texts messages for the script advisory, photo, video, audio recorder and serves as PC to the story submitted for national TV newscast of GMA network.
Aside from that I have the chance to tweet my story since I was connected with a 3G signal on the web.
The iPhone 4 is one of the varieties of tools that work for convergence. In fact, I’m using it as a back up for my DSLR camera with video and audio capturing features, digital audio recorder (zoom) and a MacBook Pro laptop, which are the ideal and present tools I use for processing news stories and multimedia projects.
Integrating the story in content management systems for news operations works great on blogs and storify.
In blog, you can package the story with all the pictures, video and texts, just like the storify where you can curate also the contents based on the opinions from other social media sites like Facebook and twitter.
Citizen journalism invites more people participation but is it fading the role of journalists?
Citizen journalism is not yet the answer; we still need professional journalists who follow standards in the news making. However, citizen journalists can help bolster news content since we are getting closer to the audience and they tell personal accounts of what they witnessed, observed or wish to call for an action.
Media companies, which embrace convergence, are reaching out now to the audience by inviting them to share their stories as citizen journalists like the Youscoopers of GMA Network and Bayan Patrollers of ABS-CBN Network(Philippines).They treat the audience as part of the story.
Although news organizations used their stories for free, they are credited for videos and photos shared. And acquiring of this kind from citizen journalist is happening by coincidence or very seldom.
So if the issue is about ethics to take free or cheap content from the audience and not paying them, my idea is its better to give them a token from to the company or a recognition plaque, unless the citizen wish to ask for a payment.
It is understood that they are fan of a certain news company or an avid reader of their online, which is why they share to them the story.
Somehow citizen journalists also threaten the job of many news people or stringers. I had a case learned once from my fellow, he rushed to a tragedy site, shot better video with all of his equipment, spent time to write, travelled too far, and only to find out the visuals sent by a citizen journalist was the one picked-up by the producers for a TV newscast.
User-generated content and the changing news cycle like the mushrooming number of bloggers is seen as the future news.
Coming from the community and using technology to really engage with other people than doing the jobs of journalists is agreeable that traditional media would have to change because “moblogs” or v-blogs were the next major step in publishing.
The battle soon is seen more on a “personal media revolution” but will the audience rely on their credibility, balance and accuracy of the story?
In its first decade of existence, the Mindanao Commission on Women (MCW) based in Davao City honored 11 Mindanawon women and one man who have “broken silences, barriers and new ground for women.”
The Mindanawon achievers for MCW’s 10th anniversary given last December 8,2011 in Kamindanawan event were Mindanews founder and editor Carol Arguillas; Islamic scholar Prof. Hamid Barra; renowned Moro woman leader Hadja Bainon Karon; and peace activists Raissa Jajurie, Myla Leguro, and Obo-Manobo tribal chieftain Bo-i Era Espana.
The other honorees are national artist for dance Agnes Locsin; Davao-based obstetrics-gynecology specialist Dr. Regina Dela Paz-Ingente, and Betty More who is executive director of the Kababayen-an Alang sa Teknolohiya nga Haum sa Kinaiyahan ng Kauswagan, Inc. (KATAKUS).
Also recognized were Major Rosa Ma. Cristina R. Manuel, the first female battalion executive officer of the 10th Civil Military Operations (CMO) Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; and Chief Inspector Grace Taculin of the Davao City Jail.
Director Zenaida Hadji-Raof Laidan of the Department of Science and Technology in Region 12 was also among the Mindanao achievers. Laidan initiated the establishment of the only existing halal laboratory in the country.
According to MCW, the recognition was based on the achievements of the honorees from the three categories set by MCW.
The categories are: those who broke the silence (i.e. spoke of issues not openly discussed), barriers (i.e. engaged in fields traditionally dominated by men), or new ground (i.e. introduced innovations and breakthroughs).
MCW chair emerita and chief executive officer Irene M. Santiago said, “MCW believes that it is only fitting that we give recognition to these persons at this year’s Kamindanawan.”
Santiago said that the occasion has centered on the theme “Women. Seriously!,” anchored on MCW’s slogan and goal: “for women to be taken seriously.”
Santiago said that MCW has “tremendously advanced the status of women in Mindanao since it was established on December 8, 2001.”
She admitted though that “much still needs to be done.”
Maria Ressa, author-in-residence of The International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore, was the keynote speaker who discussed the new media, the "Social Media Evolution for Social Change.”
She was formerly head of the ABS-CBN News and Public Affairs.
Another resource person is executive director of Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP) Jean Enriquez who tackled on “The Scourge of Human Trafficking.”
Program manager Myla Leguro of the Catholic Relief Services Peace and Reconciliation Program has talked also on “Peacebuilding from Below” during the event.
The celebration started its opening rituals at at the People’s Park in the morning of December 8, 2011.
This was followed by a short parade to the Royal Ballroom of Royal Mandaya Hotel for the formal opening and recognition ceremonies.
Aside from Santiago, MCW chair Margie Moran Floirendo and MCW vice-chair Dr. Melchora Ambalong has taken the lead in the occasion.
Minister counselor for Development Cooperation Program Titon Mitra of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) honored the celebration.
MCW was formed and institutionalized ten years ago by Muslim, Christian and indigenous women leaders of Mindanao.
The group aims to “influence public policy and public opinion by incorporating the women’s perspective in peace and development with the goal “For women to be taken seriously.”
During a gathering of Mindanao’s young women leaders in October this year, Santiago has stated: “For if women are taken seriously, I have no doubt that the challenges of our era for human security and peace will be resolved with a combination of good sense, compassion, and boldness which are hallmarks of women’s leadership.”
GMA Network, an example of successful media convergence in Philippines
One great example of a successful convergence news operation I have noticed and admired in this country is GMANews.tv owned and operated by GMA Network Inc.
Well, given that I am one of their stringers serving in the Southern part of the country, I can say the network’s GMANews.TV website is the leading and future of media in the country as it becomes the crossroad for all of its News 'products'. They have the articles and photos there (online/print), live stream for DZBB (radio), and the videos they air from (TV) news, current affairs programs and which the social media could interact.
Since 2007, GMA News website has utilized social networking sites in their news dissemination and newsgathering, making the news processes and operations very interactive. People can like a page, comment on articles, or even submit articles, photo or act as youscooopers or citizen journalists. News became too friendly for people that headlines appear instantaneously at our Facebook and twitter feeds.
Netizens follow the twitter accounts; favorite celebrities, sports icon, several government offices and trends like fashion and technology and sometimes ended viral in the social media.
Strengths.
* Cost efficient in delivering the information to online audience
* Worldwide Interactive access, 24/7
* Centralized site for the network, all-in-one information shopping
* Feedback is immediate
* Viewers can replay and watch anytime favorite news /article
* Could serve as research site
Weaknesses
* Choice fatigue in terms of platforms and channels, too many choices, platforms used, and hard for audience to ‘keep up’ with it all
* The quality of video streaming, audio is unstable, depends on quality of Internet access
* Online/Internet illiterates mostly the old and rural folks could not avail this medium
Opportunities
* Home for the fast growing numbers of netizens
* New business ventures or merging could come along
Threats
*Copyright issues
* Print media will become obsolete
* Less media people will be hired
* Destabilizers could penetrate and give negative, malicious feedback about the news organization that aims to destroy reputation and spread it in the social media.
In Convergence Journalism, how will community media cope up?
I still couldn’t think what exact business media model will pay for provincial journalist if convergence is implemented in the newsroom when economics in journalism is a crucial topic even in the traditional system.
Given the fact that the new platforms requires a lot of resources, time, and technical skills, poor revenue of local media operations like we have here in Mindanao is a major factor.
Where will they go now?
Economics of journalism reminds me of the “ Maguindanao Massacre” in November 2009, which happened my area of operation, where 32 of the 58 slain victims were members of the media. (I was just lucky to escape the real death; I was one of the invited).
They were supposed to cover a political story of filing a candidacy of an aspiring governor who luckily won the election later. He got the sympathy of the people, ended the fall of his adversaries who were known political warlords, and now charged behind the gruesome killing and ended up in jail.
Behind that story of the most numbered journalist killed is “ economics of journalism”, in some reports those press people killed were offered cash to join the dangerous coverage.
(It’s a long story if I will elaborate further.)
But there’s a brighter side I see on this difficult situation.
This will give opportunity young generation of journalist to level the playing field; in convergence journalism they could congregate all their effort and operate by just putting a web based local news sites or a local netizen social media site. This is more less in operation expenses like the printed newspapers or broadcast entities.
In fact, I knew some who operates alone, like my classmate Anthony Bayarong of Subic Times.
The only way they can achieve to survive will be more creative, dynamic, and have a quality-produced materials to achieve a strong viral marketing or campaign and penetrate the emerging huge Internet, even at the local level.
The new media offers a variety of opportunity to everyone now; organizations could link each other to gain a stronger package but the question is, how to capture the market is a big challenge still.
Convergence in response to audience’s different media, peak hour preference
By: Ferdinandh Cabrera
While news could easily be accessed now on smart phones, computers connected to Internet and tablets, still majority in my province in Mindanao people nevertheless get the news and information with the traditional and the usual access to listening radio, watching TV and reading newspapers.
Given that only few are engage in digital media or obviously few only owns a computer, tablet or smartphone, local news are treated still the antiquated way.
But the way I see it, convergence has a big role to fit the demand in schemes of different audiences using different media at different times a day. We cannot deny news consumers will adapt the changes in information access, this time via Internet.
In digital news convergence, anybody who wishes to access information if they had missed the scheduled broadcast airing or unavailable presence yet of newspaper, convergence can cater the information all they wanted in the preferred multimedia news site.
In this format, it’s not only the details the audience could avail but they have the chance to avail the visuals like short videos, photos, animations, podcasts and comments from social media uploaded instantaneously.
This will also save time to busy news consumers mostly in the workplace who choose only their preferred information or news interests like horoscope, sports and showbiz entertainment.
Indeed, convergence will detail how the story has developed as it happens in breaking news in radio, seen live on TV and photos shown taken in the area where news happened and how experts gave analysis or commented the story in the later hours news.
It may be a different audience using different media at different times of the day, but in convergence access of news consumers will become easier and better.
I like the beat of the song, this really caught my attention though I’m not that really keen on listening music bands. But the music took me to bang my head while listening on it.
Journalism blue’s song message is clear, I can relate. Especially in my everyday dealings with my veteran fellow journalists here who are close to me.
“Maybe we live in our own time, and this is your time boy”, said a senior journalist Charlie Senase as he told me in one of our sharing conversations.
He recounts how they manage the hardships before on sending stories in a national paper using a long distance call where they had to fall in line first, takes time talking to a costly phone booth just to describe or transcribed what they had written in the typewriter or from their notes.
In the case of photos and videos, they need to rush up to the airport to catch the first flight just to send the materials, and then the next day or second day after they could see it landed in the newspapers.
Today is too far different, speed matters he said. He is thankful, at least he knows how to use Facebook in the present time.
And thanks to this social media site, surely I will share the Journalism Blue’s song to his account, so he could relate.
So what happened to the news as relayed in the message of the song?
Well in present time where digital media and gadgets like iphone could produce multi-tasked functions, this also accompanied with more responsibilities asked by editors--- imagine you will not only asked get details but as much as possible, a photo, video or audio interview of it.
The advantage however is less effort in newsgathering (with the advent of social media), less expenses for the company, faster dispatch of stories using twitter and more convenient to reporters.
What is lost is the quality of news gathered, fact checking and obvious advertisers are seen in the front-page as seen mostly in the web sites.
I like how Dr. Juan Antonio Giner, founder of the Innovation International media consulting group define convergence in his online edition of Ideas, the journal of the International Newspaper Marketing Association.
He said “Media diversification is the past. Digital convergence is the present. Multi-media integration is the future,”
This development has opened me on how to engage more in the digital media industry by providing the wider audience, with a quick, visually and audible presented information and easy access with the burgeoning presence of tablets and smartphones.
Newly founded and now gaining name in Philippines social news network Rappler.com, when asked how they will generate revenue, CEO Maria Ressa said they will come up with innovative ways to shift to digital advertising.
Believing the numbers are there, with the Internet penetration rate of 33 % and 91% in the mobile phone and hopes to increase aggressively this year, Philippines she said would move beyond computer access to mobile/phone access online.
In fact according to Ressa, Filipinos are early adaptors of technology, was dubbed once as “ text capital of the world and once a top Facebook market in the mid-2010.
More people now are more exposed to the Internet compared to television. In the Philippines at least 80 percent use Internet daily, with at least 6.8 hours a day and 3.7 hours on TV based on the research.
In this world of multiple-platform publishing or integrated journalism working in the web 24 hours, I am convinced editorial managers are adopting it to save money or to do better journalism, and two issues go hand in hand.
Online spending is much less than print and broadcast media. In convergence, newsrooms now are challenged on helping on-the-run readers for a quick, in-depth perspective on the news.
