The Newark Star-Ledger is a newspaper.
Several years ago, thanks to Jeff Jarvis, we were invited to their offices to talk about taking them into video.
Over the course of the next few months, we trained about 15 of their reporters to shoot, edit and produce their own stories.
It was a kind of experiment.
The experiment has succeeded beyond all expectation.
Last week, the Star-Ledger, a newspaper, won 3 Television Emmy Awards and garnered an astonishing 19 nominations, not only more than any newspaper in the country, more than most local TV news operations.
And they do this at a tiny fraction of the cost of conventional TV news.
How do they do it?
Newspapers are magnets for great reporters and great storytellers. The Ledger is no exception.
Many newspapers today have moved gingerly into the realm of TV (as opposed to video), and have tried to create a kind of ‘online TV’ network, circa 1982. This doesn’t work. At the Ledger, the decision was made early to make their reporting staff ‘digital’, as fluent in video as in text, and to provide them with the right equipment and the right training.
Empowering and unleashing already talented and motived people is no bad thing.
The results are quite clear, as is the future.
In a world of smart phones with screens and iPads with screens there is more to taking a ‘newspaper’ online than simply moving the printed page from paper to laptop or phone. You have to rethink the content and how it is both gathered and presented. The Newark Star Ledger has done both.
Congrats to all the winners, and to the management team that had the vision and the courage to see it through properly.
• Andre Malok for Journalistic Enterprise, a portfolio award. This was his second Emmy.
• Adya Beasley, Seth Siditsky, Bumper DeJesus and Jennifer Brown, for “State of Reflection: New Jersey Ten Years After 9/11,” in the Human Interest Program or Special category.
• Seth Siditsky, Bumper DeJesus, George Frederick, Adya Beasley and Jennifer Brown, for “Enduring Memories of Sept. 11,” in the Interactivity category.
Copyright Michael Rosenblum 2013
