At the rate of the changes that impact digital journalism, in less than two years, according to the predictions of experts, the news traffic on the web will consist a lot more of videos and audio, which only will keep progressively outnumbering texts.
But these would be short videos made with certain originality and creativity, contemplated to satisfy the sense of immediacy of the newer audiences, preferably in a vertical mode so that they adapt to this whole consumption through mobile phone screens, which constitute the quintessential device for “seeing” and “ hearing” the news, rather than reading them.
Naturally, there won’t be any shortage of equally brief texts that help add to the news those elements that are not recorded in a film, such as those that refer to data and special background that allow a much better contextualization of a fact.
Modern journalism schools now focus on the formation of communicators who learn the skills of filming, editing and telling stories based on these parameters. The audiovisual format a core of the training of these new professionals, and for a proper learning course, it is indeed necessary. This implies gaining some knowledge about the new and emerging technologies that are appropriate for this uprising model of journalism.
It’s estimated that by 2021, more than 80 percent of the content in the digital newspapers and social networks will predominantly be visual. The making of videos for the digitals is not the same as the production of television content, and that detail is to be kept in mind. The former should never exceed 15 minutes long, they’re even recommended to last no more than 5.
The most important platforms in the world, such as Instagram, already bet on vertical visual content for smartphone users, knowing well that more than eighty percent of digital content consumers do so through such devices.
Another fundamental principle that accompanies this change in the digital journalism ecosystem is that of the interaction between the media and their audiences. As networks are spaces for socialization or bondings between people, it will be inevitable to “talk” with them to have their opinions on the news and, as far as possible, provide significant data on the following events.
As you can see, this modality of communication will be decisive in the digital sphere, while the printed newspapers, which also act on these platforms, should be encouraged to empower their journalists and photographers of the capabilities to respond to these challenges, and then assume the changes in whatever sense the paper can support, about which I have extensively spoken before and will keep updating on this, in the future.
– Translated from Spanish by Randy Rodriguez.
Director's Thoughts 