Newswise — If public broadcasting pursues more opportunities to engage news audiences through digital technologies such as social networking and mapping, it will be in a position not only to compete, but perhaps flourish in the new media landscape, according to a new report authored by American University’s Center for Social Media.
“Providing high-quality news and information to the public is crucial for our democracy and public broadcasters are among the most trusted news providers in the United States,” said Jessica Clark, one of the report’s authors. “To retain trust and justify taxpayer support, public broadcasters need to engage with publics across the range of new platforms.”
The report, Scan and Analysis of Best Practices in Digital Journalism Both Within and Outside U.S. Public Broadcasting, was funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). To read the full report, go to http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org.
The report identifies eight best practices in digital journalism and provides examples of use by public, commercial, domestic, and international news outlets:
• Involve: Use digital platforms to provide information, motivation, and tools for users to participate in current affairs debates and related communities.
• Go deeper: Integrate databases, maps, conversation tools, and video and audio extras to give users the information they crave by adding expanded coverage, or take on in-depth specializations such as investigative reporting or science news.
• Reach new and non-traditional publics: Use digital platforms to engage with more targeted networks of users who share common identities, problems, issues or interests, including minority, ethnic, and low-income publics that are often underserved.
• Repurpose, remix, recycle: Repurpose content by shifting it from one platform to another or aggregating news and data focused on specific issues. This helps build the layered information attractive to users.
• Collaborate: Maximize resources focused on shared issues, locations, and user communities by involving different media outlets as well as related organizations, institutions, and publics.
• Enable media literacy: Help users participate by teaching them how to take advantage of new media resources and become more frequent, more effective users.
• Play with form to innovate and integrate new technologies: Innovate with new formats, interfaces, and platforms for delivering news and information and for fostering audience engagement.
• Promote political discussion and participation: Political issues spark rigorous discussions and inspire action. Take advantage of the opportunity to strengthen connections to users by informing them how to get involved, who to contact, and where to participate.
Public Broadcasting’s Advantages
Not only is it one of the most trusted sources of news in the United States, but with 356 PBS-member television stations and more than 860 NPR stations across the country, public broadcasting is perhaps the most prevalent news source in the nation. With its extensive reach into American communities and its commitment to civic issues, public broadcasting is ideally positioned to engage these communities through digital journalism.
“This report represents a genuine commitment by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to consider how journalism practices are changing,” said Clark. “We hope it will help CPB explore how it can fund effective new media projects through support to stations as well as collaborations among large and small players in the public broadcasting arena.” The report is part of the Future of Public Media Project at American University’s Center for Social Media. Located in Washington, D.C., the Center for Social Media showcases ways to use media as creative tools for public knowledge and action. The center, a cornerstone of American University’s School of Communication, provides a laboratory for professional education, communication research, and innovative production across the fields of journalism, film and media arts, and public communication.
To read the report on the CPB Web site, go to http://www.cpb.org/publicmedia2.0/.
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