KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

[pzarquon]

Is anyone watching KGMB9's 5 p.m. newscast? They've made it an "interactive" newscast, incorporating live feedback via e-mail and Twitter. A story is designated the "i9News" story, and then comments from viewers is shared throughout the broadcast.

Here's my review of the first interactive news broadcast. Jared Kuroiwa, the station's Director of Interactive Strategy, has also posted some blog entries about the experiment:

• Hawaii’s Interactive Newscast… What Does That Mean? It Means Social Media… It Means You Get Involved!
• Hawaii’s Interactive Newscast… Day 1 - So What Did YOU Think?
• KGMB9 News at 5: Hawaii’s Interactive Newscast - 1st Week (and a Little About Yelling into the Void).

I find it an interesting mix of newsgathering and interactive technologies. Newspapers have op-ed pages, but apart from random "person on the street" soundbites, usually there's not much of a feedback platform on the broadcast side. It certainly makes connected viewers feel like they're part of the show, and maybe gets more people to watch as friends tell friends their comment was on TV.

On the other hand, a lot of news is left on the cutting room floor as it is to fit into a 30-minute broadcast (minus commercials, national stories, sports, and an incredibly disproportionate chunk of time devoted to weather). I can see how critics would find this exercise way too gimmicky, and from a journalism standpoint, you can wonder if "giving viewers a voice" is really a core responsibility of a television newsroom.

[anapuni808]

Re: KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

I have been a faithful watcher of Ch. 9 news for more years than I can count. Since the Twitter-news started, I've changed channels. I watch the news for just that - NEWS. I don't want social networking taking place and I'm truly disappointed in Ch. 9 for doing this.

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

Will you use your real name or twitter username?

[infinitypro]

Re: KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

I just returned from Chicago, where newscasters and journalists were being laid off in groups due to lack of viewership and readership. We're familiar with that here as well, so innovation and creativity are very important tools in maintaining longevity. (I met these journalist at a social media conference.)

My schedule sometimes does not allow me to be in front of a television for the six o'clock news, and by the time it's repeated at 10, discussion are already occurring on Facebook, Twitter, and even here on Hawaii Threads.

Preparation for tomorrows consumers began yesterday, not everything can remain the same and certainly not the way people will receive their news.

[anapuni808]

Re: KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

Will you use your real name or twitter username?

were you replying to my post? if so, it kinda went right over my head. If not, then carry on.

[Nords]

Re: KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

Is anyone watching KGMB9's 5 p.m. newscast?
... and from a journalism standpoint, you can wonder if "giving viewers a voice" is really a core responsibility of a television newsroom.

If it's entertainment, is it still a newscast?

Today's evening news could be anchored by Edward R. Murrow & Walter Cronkite yet people still wouldn't bother to tune in to boost ratings (and advertising revenue). After trying just about every other hard-news gimmick they could think of, this is probably the best of what's left.

It's a lot easier for a station's advertising staff to set rates based on their website hits & tweets than to wait for survey data.

[scrivener]

Re: KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

The experiment is intriguing enough to me (especially the number of on- and off-air personalities' buying into the interactive thing) that I make an effort to catch the 5:00 KGMB news as often as I can. The 5:00 has been the throwaway news program (especially on KITV; sheesh) all over the local dial; now one of the stations has done something that really explores the relationship between these multiple modes of communication and the many ways we get our information.

For the most part, I'm with anapuni808: I want news ('though one of us thought the overly long Kim Gennaula farewell was appropriate and one of us didn't! ). But the 5:00 broadcasts really weren't delivering us very much news to begin with, so as a place to try out this new idea, I like it. I'd like to see where this goes.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

Maybe it's because I'm a cable news junkie and I regulary take in Rick Sanchez's newscast on CNN that KGMB's experiment doesn't seem like such a big deal to me. The idea that print/broadcast news should be free of any form of reader/viewer interactivity is becoming an antiquated view, frankly speaking. When people have comments they want to share on a news story, they don't want to wait a couple of days to have their snail mail or e-mail to appear in the op-ed page, like in the old days. Folks today are used to the idea of leaving an instant comment on a newspaper's website, and to have their comments reacted to by other readers just as quickly. After all, this is 2009, not 1979. For better or worse folks, the trend towards audience interactivity with the news is only going to grow over time.

The biggest hurdle to TV news-audience interactivity may come, not from techno-phobic viewers, but from old-school (or is it big ego?) news anchors who resent the idea of sharing any space on the screen with viewer feedback. And I suppose that as long such anchors are able to maintain sufficient ratings, they can make a case to station management that their newscasts remain twitter-free. But if not,..... well, we all know that TV news is a business.

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

were you replying to my post? if so, it kinda went right over my head. If not, then carry on.

Sorry, I meant those postings in general. There's probably someone to monitor any shout outs to their friends or inside jokes. Another red flag is a prank username.

[anapuni808]

Re: KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

well, you're still not making sense to me but then again, I am a little slow at times. so, just ignore me and carry on.................

[tvnewsguy]

Re: KGMB9's "i9News" Interactive Broadcast

Guess its working. KGMB is the new #1 5 p.m. newscast in the market, going from 3rd in February to 1st in May.

It's probably just a matter of time before the other stations copy KGMB with their own form of interactive segment.