Webcasts: News Dissemination in the Future

News is breaking new horizons. While newspaper, radio and TV used to be the main media of information, the Web must surely be the new means of transmitting information to a wide population worldwide. Add iPod, the mobile phone, and other gadgets where information can be downloaded instantly, and the picture changes even more dramatically. News broadcasting networks are fully aware of these changes.

While news can be broadcast live on the Net as CBS has done on CBSNews.com to capture the viewership of office workers who are not near their TV sets for the 6 o’clock evening news, other networks prefer to change their broadcasting methods to lure younger viewers.

ABC’s World News, broadcast live on the net in the afternoon, is targeted at the Net audience who are familiar with live interviews, investigative stories, raw pictures, YouTube, and a more casual approach. Thus, one of ABC’s 15-minute long World News segments features video clips of its correspondent on a sled covering the issue of global warming in Greenland. The medium has changed, so have the method of delivery and the types of stories covered in the news slot of the various TV networks. The idea is to make the news content relevant to a whole new generation of Net browsers who disdains the tie and serious high-brow news delivery.

Besides, as technology improves, news can be brought more directly and personally to the individual through the PC, notebook, iPod or mobile phone. This heralds a whole new way of manipulating and transmitting information by news networks, search engines, organizations and even bloggers. New ways of interaction with correspondents, interviewees and the audience are made possible. The race has just begun!