Cape Town banks on the FIFA hype

Considering the world’s eyes have been cast on South Africa, you could be forgiven for thinking that Cape Town has been left off the World Cup map.

Cape Town looks like a party host that forgot to invite guests. The city has never looked fresher or been cleaner, with a redeveloped airport, new shopping districts and entire apartment developments all ready for the influx of the world’s football community.

But local business owners and taxi drivers are worried that the reality may not live up to the hype. Several locals have remarked Cape town is quieter than usual, with the usual winter visitors giving the city a wide berth. But with less than a week to go before kickoff, the city remains surprisingly quiet.

Many people are actually a little surprised to speak to a foreign journalist – few have arrived in the city so far. And with the media centre not open until Sunday, I’m yet to see many either.

Every taxi driver I meet hands me their number in a bid to secure repeat business. The restaurants and bars I’ve wandered past are still quiet, as more temporary venues go up around the touristy Waterfront district.

I may be getting well ahead of myself – after all Cape Town is probably the jewel of all South African cities. After a gloomy first day, the sun shone brilliantly and Table Mountain emerged to impose itself over the city – truly a stunning sight.

But I do worry that all the billions invested across the country may fall a little flat. Few Australian friends genuinely considered the trip to South Africa, frightened off by security concerns and the imposing cost. In fact the official Fanatics tour group is less than a quarter of the size of the one that went to Germany 2006, and that’s not counting all the European based Aussies who made their own way there.

But ironically most of those concerns appear unfounded, particularly on this side of the country. Once you’re on the ground its relatively cheap to eat out at the myriad of excellent restaurants Cape Town has to offer, and security is incredibly tight, even though most Capetonians feel safe here (especially compared to Jo’Burg).

But tomorrow I throw off the tourist/media shackles and head to Blikkiesdorp – also known as Tin Can Camp – as so-called camp for ‘undesirables’ supposedly moved out of the city for the tournament. There I’m due to meet ‘Aunty Jane’, a community representative, who will give me a sense for the other side of South Africa, one that FIFA probably doesn’t want you to see.

I just hope enough comes of this tournament to help build this fledgling democracy and improve the standard of living for the millions of poor and unemployed South Africans who are yet to bask in the sunshine of this hugely wealthy tournament.

Stay tuned.

The social media revolution (with funky beats)

I am the bastard child of old & new media

Putting my money where my mouth is…

I gotta admit, I’m one lucky son-of-a-bitch.

I’ve been given the enviable job of heading to Cape Town in South Africa for the duration of the World Cup as part of the SBS broadcast team. My main job will be as the producer of sports news reader Craig Foster each morning, ensuring he gets all the scripts and background information needed to go to air.

But once that is done (by 11.30am Cape Town time) – I’m putting my money where my mouth is as a multi-platform, mobile journalist, filing for online, radio & TV.

Coming with me is a veritable feast of gadgets and prosumer equipment, and there’s little doubt I’m going to be extremely busy for the 6 weeks in South Africa, with requests already piling up.

Here’s what’s coming with me:

- MacBook Pro 13″ with Photoshop CS4 & FinalCut Pro

- JVC HM100E video camera

- Canon 7D DSLR

- Canon 400D DSLR

- Canon 70-200mm f2.8 zoom lens (camera buffs drool now…)

- Canon 16-35mm f2.8 lens

- Canon 18-135mm f3.5 zoom lens

- Canon 85mm f1.8 prime lens

- Gorillapod Focus

- Velbon CX480 fluid-head tripod

- Flash Microphone

- FlipHD Mino

- iPhone 16GB laden with content producing apps.

With it I hope to spend my days shooting video for TV, filing interviews and doing live crosses for radio, photo galleries for The World Game & World News Australia online and a couple of other bits and pieces I can’t really discuss yet

With today’s incredible and cheap equipment and with a bit of technical nous, I’m hoping to prove the point that truly mobile journalism is possible and can still be of the high quality, despite he claims of many traditional media journalists (including many workmates) that new media is killing off quality journalism.

I’ve laboured the point a million times before, but I’ll labour it again. Quality journalism isn’t only the domain of 2,000 word feature articles or 25 minute mini-documentaries, especially in the new media world. With media outlets facing such dogged competition from all platforms, the true skill of a quality journalist is telling stories in an engaging way for their audiences.

This requires journalism to evolve, to grow, and to adapt to the new breed of media audience that demands more from their media outlets.

Just have a look at the list of online news winners from this year’s Pulitzer Prize. Or the fact that, for the first time, an online-only publication won one of the prestigious awards.

Isn’t it time we all started moving past online as a ‘value-add’ for newspapers & TV? Here in Australia we may be bombarded with tabloid reporting in our biggest online publications, but as the saying goes, you are what you eat. It’s out there, you just need to look for it…

Here’s hoping I can contribute in a positive way to finally ending this debate over online as a legitimate journalistic endeavour.

Media140: I am the bastard child of old & new media…

This was my presentations for the ‘Do journos do it better’ session at the Media140 conference in Sydney. It was a fascinating day. Next time around I’d love to see a few of the ‘new media’ evangelists mixed into the same panels as the ‘old media’ protectionists.

EDIT: Just added the video – sorry it’s ropey as a workmate screen-captured it direct from the live stream:

Media 140 – do journos do it better? from Valerio Veo on Vimeo.

Talking to many of the attendees last night it was obvious there are SO many other issues people want to discuss – the paid content debate, the internet filter, the future of mainstream media in a rapidly changing media environment. I hope we can do it again and really set the cat amongst the pigeons! Anyways… my blurb below:

Do journos do it better? “Of course they do – as long as they know the rules before breaking them”

I am the bastard child of Old and New media.

As such I hope to provide some unique insight into this debate as I – like a child of a broken home – care deeply for both my divorced parents, despite their temporary differences.

I’m a child of the 80s who grew up with the daily newspaper, the six o’clock news over tea, The Goodies on the ABC, A Current Affair with Mike Willesee (when it was actually current affairs), movies on VHS and a love of the mixtape.

But ever since my Dad borrowed an early Macintosh for a week in about 1985 and spent the whole time playing Moon Lander – something always fascinated me about technology.

So for those who know me – it’s no surprise that after 5 years in radio and TV news at the ABC & SBS – I launched into new media the first chance I had.

I’m deeply passionate about the opportunities provided by the real time web and the instant impact it’s had on journalism – especially after witnessing so many historic moments this year. (Plane in the Hudson, Iranian uprising, Michael Jackson’s death etc etc).

But after being beaten into shape by so many sub-editors over the years I’m glad my fan-boy tendencies are tempered by a healthy dose of cynicism and just a touch of distrust.

So yes – I reckon journos do it better – but only if they respect the rules of Old Media, before breaking them in an increasingly New Media world – because the role of the journalist is changing … fast.

The new role of the journalist

I’m still surprised me that so many “mainstream media” types scoff at Twitter, dismiss the blogosphere and ridicule Facebook – when in reality, being a one-platform pony is an express ride to oblivion.

Look I know the language sounds ridiculous… Tweeting? The Twitterati? Tweet & Meets? Followers? It sounds like a religious cult.

BUT – it’s no longer enough to present a weekly radio show, write a newspaper column or bash out a single TV news package a day.

You must self-publish. You must go to your audiences instead of expecting them to keep coming to you. Because the media game has changed… permanently.

However – there is a massive upside to this new responsibility – by taking control of your destiny, you can find yourself suddenly at the centre of your own media network.

Take Leo Laporte – a radio jock and TV presenter who freely admits he’s had more programs cancelled on him that hot dinners…

“Leo the tech guy” eventually went out on his own – starting a This Week in Tech podcast – or Twit – which has grown into a network of 16 tech-related podcasts. Last month Leo told the Online News Association conference in San Francisco that Twit is pulling in annual revenue $1.5 million – a number that’s doubling every year.

Old Media – meet your new competitors.

As the audience fragments into a thousand niches – mainstream media will need to fight hard to maintain its place as the dominant voice of credibility. Savvy journalists who are on top of this trend can leapfrog many budding bloggers and establish instant credibility by association – depending on the association…

But the line between old media cred and the new breed of publishers is blurring. The passionate blogger does as much verifying and fact-checking as a good journalist – and is more transparent in the way they go about it. The audience is often the toughest sub-editor out there.

With blogs increasingly curating the best content across the web media organisations need to embrace the real time web.

So forget embargoed content– if you don’t meet the demand for instant gratification – your audience will find someone who does. Your audiences – young and old – expect more from a classy old dame such as yourself.

Follow these new media rules and apply your old media nouse… and you can’t go wrong.

In the meantime this kid from a broken home will continue to split his weekends between his Old Media and New Media parents… until they can get their acts together…

The social media revolution (with funky beats)

I had a very inspiring chat with an old friend last night on Skype who’s working on an amazing cutting-edge social media marketing project that could really change the way companies/brands/the media interacts with their audiences.

It’s definitely reinvigorated my appreciation of how important this space is and how quickly it’s become an intimate (and huge) part of our day. I guess it’s not that surprising considering that us humans are such social creatures. And we all love a recommendation – which is why Facebook reckons it can take on Google in the lucrative search market.

So what better to underline the point than a dramatic video (complete with Fatboy Slim soundtrack) to smack everyone about the head as to why Social media is the “biggest shift since the industrial revolution”…

Thanks Piero – always an inspiring chat my old friend.

Perspective

I tweeted this earlier this week but I wanted to stick in here as well…

Just when you think events in your world feel all-encompassing and you’re at the centre of your own little universe – a video like this comes along.

Watch what happens when the Hubble Space telescope is pointed at a totally black part of the universe:

Five ways paid content can work

A couple of days ago I outlined five reasons why the paid content model will fail in response to plans by Rupert Murdoch to lead the charge consumers to read their news online.

But that’s not to say people simply won’t pay for any online content – I just think it requires a new type of thinking and a different business model to the one being bandied about by commentators (what Murdoch and other publishers actually plan to roll out remains largely a mystery).

So here’s a few ideas I think newspaper publishers need to keep in mind when they hunker down to thrash out the details of the paid content model.

1. Don’t charge for what’s free somewhere else

   OK - forget charging for breaking news or news headlines. The audience simply won’t value it enough to pay when they can find another site that will give it away for free. Sure micropayments work well for iTunes but you get to keep a song forever. News is a fleeting, constantly evolving commodity that waxes and wanes in value from one day to the next. Concentrate on hitting the right audiences and content that people can’t get somewhere else.

2. Conquer your niche audiences

   Newspaper publishers love to tout the success of the Wall Street Journal and The Economist as examples that the paid content model can work. But these properties serve niche markets (ie people who make money from this information) or serve up unique content to a highly-engaged and cashed-up audience. Then there’s the elephant in the room – the huge number of corporate subscriptions or personal subscriptions that end up on corporate credit cards – these don’t cost the end user a cent. That model cannot be simply applied across the board to all mastheads to a general audience. But there are highly engaged niche audiences who will value content if its relevant to them. In an earlier blog entry I looked at an early proposal for a New York Times subscription model and applied it to a niche – food (no surprise I wrote this shortly after MasterChef finished to record ratings). If you look at Fairfax – an obvious working subscription model could be some kind of ‘foodie’ subscription leveraging all the recipes, restaurant & bar reviews and tied in with the Good Food Guides in Sydney and Melbourne. That model could work across Murdoch and Fairfax  properties by building new brands serving niche audiences – instead of trawling through the huge archives of a raft of newspaper sites to dig up info of your interest. It would work for sport, politics, business & finance (AFR access debarcle notwithstanding) and several lifestyle areas. Publishers need to come up with new content or new ways of packaging up content – not just expect people to suddenly start paying for something they’ve had for free for the past decade.

3. Build loyalty through services as well as content

   The text story is dead … long live the text story! OK I’m being facetious, but no longer can media organisations rest on their laurels of dishing up a 1500-word text story or a nightly news video as the be-all and end-all of their output. It’s time to build your online presence through various platforms, and across all the mediums offered in the online world. The Guardian’s podcast network has built huge and loyal audiences through its webby-award winning podcast network, which remains oddly ad-free, despite being a sleeping revenue giant. Add video to the mix, throw in a few PC or TV widgets, iPhone apps and other use-on-the-go services, and suddenly your content is looking like a valuable – and revenue raising – product. It’s about thinking outside the square and for God’s sake, not thinking of news/content delivery in old media terms. Do that and you’ll be just fine…

4. Let your audience dictate the news

   Personalisation and interaction with your audiences are becoming an essential part of responsible and relevant publishing – and can play a major role in raising your profile and credibility via in this social-media connected world. Tap into that rich vein of conversation and allow your audience to have a hand in what they want to view online. Wrap this personalisation up as part of your services/content strategy – convince the conversation-starters and online influencers (yes, including those pesky bloggers) and it will do the work of an entire marketing department… with credibility to boot. Then charge for it!

5. Turn your reporters into entrepreneurs

   Journalists can no longer exist solely as writers , TV reporters or photographers. The days of the one-trick pony are over… and look over your shoulder there, buddy, every bright young thing under the age of 25 knows it. Journalists need to embrace this new media world as the new playing field and, put simply, do more. You have to be taking photos, writing blogs, working with your online people to build multimedia applications, and unfortunately, at times when you are your busiest. And you shouldn’t be paid extra for it either. On the flipside there are enormous benefits from doing this. You are now your own brand, one that can exist out from under the umbrella of your media organisation. A brand that can grow from organisation to organisation. One that can earn you money via Google Ad sense, get you invites to speak at conferences, make you worth more to your employer. In the US several bloggers are making up to $200,000 in revenue a year. You’re more likely to recoup costs and maybe get some pocket money – but at least you’ll feel it’s worth the effort.
   Your bosses will be happy – they can use this great personal content to help sell their content (if it’s good enough). They can help you raise your profile by exposing you to your readers, your viewers. They may even pay you more or give you a promotion.
   It’s a win win – got onto it. And tell your online editor I said hi….

Of course now that I’ve listed all these ideas I can’t for a moment guarantee it will work. The paid content debate will continue to rage until someone – apparently Rupert Murdoch – throws down the gauntlet and put his money (a lot of money) where his mouth is. It will either be a spectacular financial train-wreck, or it will surprise the hell out of everyone and actually work. Somehow I don’t think there will be a middle ground.
Let the games begin….

Five reasons why the paid content model will fail

Let the great paid content experiment begin.

After months of hints, guarded comments and innuendo from publishers around the globe, it was the big kid in the playground, Rupert Murdoch, who has ended the speculation in one foul swoop with plans to charge for all the online content of his newspapers and television news channels.

In a rare move by the savvy media mogul, Mr Murdoch clearly outlined his plans to begin charging for online news following the success of the Wall Street Journal, which keeps much of its content behind a pay-wall, and was acquired by News Corp in 2007. Obviously it’s hoped that dozens of other global publishers will see the move as an open invitation to follow the huge stable of Murdoch mastheads into what they hope is a river of cash (come on in, the water is green!), or at least enough to stave off the wolves at the door.

Here in Australia, Fairfax have opened the door to charge for content via a two-tiered system, claiming “we can’t afford to keep the big newsroom staffs we have”.

Can it work? Sure – it can work – and in my next entry I’ll show you five ways how.

But will it? Here are my five reasons why I think it won’t…

1. News is a commodity

   The reality about many online newsrooms is there is almost no discernible difference between much of the wire-driven copy from one masthead to another – just plug a breaking news story into Google news and click on a few results. Short, text-based breaking news simply doesn’t have enough value to exist behind a paywall, especially as there are competitors in every market who are willing or even keen to give it away for free. Sure newspapers are the repository of some of the world’s best journalists who are able to craft articles or comment pieces of incredible insight and clarity, but in this fast moving world of 24/7 news, are they able to keep up with the demand in time. And what about the rapidly growing notion of news a service instead of a destination? How will you charge to get your news onto the platforms where your audiences are gathering (Facebook, Twitter, mobile phones) when news starts to find them.

2. Net natives don’t have masthead loyalty

   The idea that new media audiences will continue to flock to a masthead simply because it’s an old-guard newspaper or broadcaster is, put simply, delusional. Not only is the credibility of these organisations drying up at a rate of knots, but Net Natives are going to respond to new news organisations that reflect their needs via the thousands of niche sites who represent them. It’s time to respect the audience and deliver news on their terms, not ours.

3. Journalism is not a profit-making exercise

   It’s pretty simple really. Newspapers made their money from classifieds and advertising, not from charging at the news-stand. Unfortunately thanks to the internet that business model is broken. But without the cost of printing and distribution, it’s going to be a tough sell to charge on the basis of the content. Slapping a membership or a micropayment system on an existing infrastructure will result in disaster. It’s time the business model was pushed aside for a whole new type of thinking.

4. Online shouldn’t prop up bloated newsrooms

   As a journalist, this will get me into trouble, but it’s time we all acknowledged the elephant in the room. Newsrooms are cumbersome and over-staffed with journalists filling up dozens of sections that barely get lip-service in a daily newspaper. It’s time to make decisions based on what audiences want, not what advertisers want. Do that and suddenly  a whole crop of new business models and niche markets will unfold before your eyes.

5. Blogs are a credible alternative source of comment

   Another furphy of old-school thinking by old-media journalists – that bloggers simply can’t do the job of trained journalists when it comes to commentary and analysis. The notion of bloggers as over-opinionated, ignorant raving lunatics is as out-dated as the newspaper model itself. Today’s blogs are a collection of professionals or passionate observers whose expertise often circumvents the knowledge of their so called professional peers. To denigrate The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, Mashable (for all things social media) and individuals like Jeff Jarvis, is akin to ignoring a dozen new competitors opening up within a block of your retail store. And unlike newspapers, they want to give away their product for free.

Don’t get me wrong – despite the gloomy points listed above, I do think the great paid content debate can be resolved by a compromised, workable solution. But it requires far more thought than simply throwing a bunch of content perceived to have value by old newspaper hacks behind a paywall.

What’s needed is a far more considered and somewhat sophisticated approach that treats consumers of new media with a lot more respect than is traditionally given by the old-media guard of newspapers and TV broadcasters.

In the next day or two I’ll give you five ways the paywall can work – but it will require media organisations to tear down the notion of what’s valuable and rebuild it from scratch.

What the F**k is social media?

Haven’t had time to post this week what with late nights on Insight and frankly, a couple of well needed lazy days lapping up the incredible sunshine across Sydney.

But I came across the great, simple powerpoint presentation which sums up why everyone is all abuzz about social media. Yeah I agree it sounds a lot like marketing speak – but hopefully this will break it down for all the nay-sayers out there (if there are any left??)

Enjoy… more to come in the next day or two..

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