Tech Notes
By Joshua Loory Posted Jan 1 2007
At a time when many editors and producers are wringing their hands over the matter of who is or is not a journalist, CNN has decided that all of its viewers in the United States and around the world have the potential. All they need are a digital camcorder or camera, a mobile phone with a lens and a nose for news.
From Thailand, the Philippines, Budapest and the Lebanese-Israeli Border to the blizzard devastated mountains of Oregon and the shores of British Columbia, CNN viewers have contributed video, voice and written reporters to i-Report, a system that brings interactivity between news organizations and their customers to a new level.
Mitch Gelman, vice president and executive producer of CNN.com, said i-Report is intended to engage viewers. “We got submissions on the first day,” he said.
CNN has built a state of the art production center at its Atlanta headquarters to receive the material, sift through it, vet it, and reformat the images to broadcast standards.
“Nothing submitted sees air before it is vetted. All material must include contact names and numbers. A staff member speaks to everyone who submits material before it is aired, ” according to Jennifer Martin, a CNN spokesperson. “We are taking eyewitness accounts to the next level,” she said. “We are able to capture it (breaking news) as it happens, and replay it for our audience,” she said.
On the newsroom floor, i-Reports are being greeted enthusiasticly by producers. “So far most of the pictures have been weather related,” said one producer. “We have gotten some good stuff. It’s an exciting concept.”
As expected, the I-Report does extremely well during breaking news. In October when a 6.7 magnitude quake struck Hawaii’s Big Island, CNN got early word when contributors began emailing still pictures of the damage to the network.
The pictures included roads blocked by boulders, the stone siding shaken off of a church and mud and landslides. “One contributor was surveying the damage to his home when he captured several aftershocks on camera, all of this material helped us stay on top of the story,” a CNN producer said.
“Stories like September 11 and the London bombings generated lots of user content that gives our stories new content,” Martin said.
In early September, when Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter, was killed by a sting ray, CNN i-Report received over 500 submissions, many of them from children. According to Martin, the submissions ranged from pictures taken with Irwin to drawings and written memories of Irwin.
One drawing from Florida, showed a teary-eyed croc. It was drawn by an 11-year-old boy who uploaded it to CNN without his parent’s knowledge. They only found out about their precocious son’s journalism when a CNN producer called to verify the drawing. Viewers and visitors to the CNN exchange web site voted Matthew Cheek’s drawing the best submission for September.
Later Matthew and his family were given a behind the scenes tour of CNN when they showed up at CNN during a visit to Atlanta. According to a blog on the CNN exchange website, Matthew was interviewed on air and given as much swag – CNN hats, coffee mugs, t-shirts, wrist watches and the like — as the producers could come up with.
The i-Report is just the latest example of news gathering operations taking advantage of ever changing technology. In the early ‘90’s CNN encouraged viewers who caught news worthy events on camcorders to call the network and become a CNN “Newshound”. Submissions then had to be taken to a domestic news bureau or contributing station for transmission by satellite to Atlanta. Now video, images and sound are being transmitted over the Internet directly to CNN.
Not all amateur videographers are willing to give their material away. Years ago as an elephant went wild and charged the crowd at a small circus in Florida, one of the spectators captured it all on home video. The videographer was shopping the tape to all three stations in the market. I was the executive producer for the CBS affiliate in Orlando. We dropped out when the bidding reached a thousand dollars. The tape was sold for much more, and when I saw the compelling tape on a competing channel, I couldn’t stop kicking myself. By 11p.m., we had several offers of video from others who were on the scene, and we aired a report on the incident without paying a cent.
CNN does not pay i-Reporters. They must give CNN a non-exclusive license forever. In return, the citizen reporters get bragging rights. The network requires pictures to be jpg or gif formats no larger than one megabyte in size. Video files can be almost any format and can be no larger than 30 megabytes. The CNN Exchange website, where i-Report submissions are posted, also features a tool box, offering tips i-Reporters can use to improve their submissions.
The i-Report isn’t just video and still pictures. Reporters are urged to send in drawings, essays and audio essays and reports. CNN editors have even taken citizen journalism a step further, assigning topics for i-Reports.
Here’s a list of assignments on the website at the end of 2006:
1) Muslims making the pilgrimage to Mecca to share their thoughts and feelings.
2) Pictures and video of New Years Eve celebrations with a promise that some of them would be seen on Anderson Cooper’s New Years Eve coverage.
3) “How big is your carbon footprint? Do you step delicately on the environment or are you a bit heavy-footed? Tell us what you are or are doing for conservation, or why you choose not to do anything.”
4) Paintings or artwork by artists
5) Art, stage and literary criticism.
6) Editorial cartoons
CNN accepts all of this material in its digital production center in Atlanta. The material is logged into a data base where producers in its many networks see it. The first user to show an interest in the material has the responsibility of verifying it. “Nothing goes on the air before someone from CNN speaks with the person who submitted the material,” Martin said.
Jon Stewart and Comedy Central’s Daily show parodied the i-Report. According to Stewart’s spoof, “CNN wants you to spare them what is the most arduous part of what they do, reporting. And not just anywhere. Apparently they want you to get as close as you can to an exploding building during a hurricane.” CNN loved the attention, posting the three-minute clip on its website. “You know you’ve arrived when you make the Daily Show,” Martin said.