This week's posts will focus exclusively on my hometown newspaper's website, uticaod.com. More specifically, I will be evaluating and critiquing the site based on several of the topics that we have discussed thus far in my online journalism class.
Today's topic: Non-news related videos
Videos (along with other multimedia) are no doubt one of the fastest growing elements of newspaper websites. Videos can do things that written stories sometimes can't. They can show a user the faces of the subjects of a story and provide actual visual evidence of a story rather than simply describing a situation with their words.
Put simply, videos are a great way to tell a story and to supplement print stories.
However, not all videos on a publication's website need to be story-related pieces. Sometimes, sites can - and should - have fun in delivering videos to users.
The Observer-Dispatch did just that when sports reporter Anne Delaney - alongside videographer Peter Franchell - created a video tutorial of a soccer penalty kick. The video, while not relating to any specific conflict or game, was a fun way to teach users about penalty kicks and to introduce more sports fans to the site's multimedia content.
A video such as this is also a good reminder that, while news sites must continue to deliver important hard news coverage, there is also some time for interactive, user-friendly content.
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