NEWS, NEWS! READ ALL ABOUT IT! everywhere and anywhere you can.
Although I stepped out of the journalism ring well over a year ago (trading pad, pen and comfortable shoes to hunt down soundbites from "men on the street" for a computer-at which I am always on-nice heels, a creative eye and endless emails about the amazing movies our studios and puts out -and the amazing movies I wish our studio put out-), I am still enthralled with the way of journalism--how it's been in the past and where it's going into the future. I haven't yet kicked the news junkie habit; I still sneak onto NY Times and CNN at work to get my daily fix. In the four years I previously worked in news, I was all about the multimedia way, despite the fact that I was mentored by some of Journalism's most noted old-school reporters (i.e. CNN's Richard Roth). One-man marching bands were the new breed to fear, the predators who had even my veteran icon nervous about keeping his job.
I consider myself a "digital native" despite my previous obsession with broadcast and cable. I knew then that mastering the art of shooting and editing video and mushing it together with a well written VO was going to be the way to tell interesting stories. What's even more important? These stories would be told in a way to capture a different kind of audience, one with shorter attention spans and faster access to the next piece of coverage on the same subject. The digital consumer market (for news, entertainment and any other industry of commerce) is a dramatically different from the traditional consumer market. What's even more important, because the consumers are changing, those creating the content (the movie marketers as well as the news reporters) have to adjust how they create, compile and deliver content.
Read The Kids are Alright to get a better idea of the new breed of journalists coming to the forefront. The term "multimedia" is no longer associated with one's inability to master one certain medium rather the ability to master the adaptation. What Tom Davidson says is just as true for the entertainment (movie) marketing business as it is for news in general. It's not enough to merely acknowledge digital platforms; it's not enough to just throw digital media into the mix; what might be enough is finding those "digital natives" who believe the technologies are a means to an end. The truly talented ones are those who can use those technologies to deliver a message (call-of action to buy) or tell a story. Digital channels should be tools used to "service" the message, the story; they are not channels even the most traditional storytellers or marketers should be "fighting" or "defending" themselves against.
