One of the big UK tabloids, The Mirror, has relaunched its website with a heavy emphasis on video.
Online editor Steve Purcell boasts that the site has “hundreds of channels of streaming video“. It is following a trend among newspapers to offer much more video online.
There is something strange about going to a UK newspaper and seeing an American TV news report. That’s because the video comes from companies such as Associated Press, complete with American voiceovers.
As one reader commented: “I like it! But what’s with all the American sports telly?”
That aside, are newspapers doing the right thing by putting so much emphasis on video? Sure, people love watching clips of the weird and the wonderful on YouTube. But the internet is an interactive and participatory medium. Streaming video online turns its the net into a delivery channel to a passive audience.
If I want to watch TV news, I watch the TV news. If I want to find out more about a story and explore the issue, I go online. Each is a fundamentally different experience.
By the way, The Mirror has simplified its navigation with five tabs labeled news, sports, showbiz, blogs and, wait for it, more. The more page acts as a mini-index for the site, warning readers that “we’ve made a few changes to the site lately so you might be having trouble finding what you’re after. Please use the site map to help you get around the site.”
Filed under: internet, new media, newspapers, online
