The need for a niche
on May 19, 2008 6:19 PM
| 1
There's something genuinely touching about
Michael Rosemblum's testimony to Ken Krushel. Together they devised
CitizeNews, and launched it last summer:
Then we went out to try and raise money for it. It was not easy. We were late. After Youtube and just as newspapers were starting to migrate into video. We talked to everyone in Silicon Valley. (If you’d only been here six months ago, we would have funded it).
A familiar story. So, left with a good idea and no funding, what to do?
...Ken never gave up on the idea of a new kind of video online journalism. He begged, borrowed, cajoled for content. He worked selflessly for free. He continues to do so to this day. It’s more than a labor of love. It’s driven by a deep belief on his part that television journalism can be much much better than it is; that there is enormous potential here that we are just beginning to tap into. It’s more than a business decision. It comes from someplace deep inside and an intense dedication to making the world a better, more interesting and better informed place.
But here's the thing, or at least one of them. For Citizen News to work, it has to become both a natural destination for quality video contributions
and a valuable destination for an audience looking for alternative news (from what I've seen, little or none of the content here would be of interest to a broadcaster so commercial syndication seems unlikely).
However, like most citizen journalism sites, its remit is far too wide. What connects Olympic protests in San Francisco with a driving on ice course in Colorado, or a circumcision clinic in the Netherlands with Romanian troops in Afghanistan? Nothing, other than all being published videos on CitizeNews this April.
Without a strong identity - 'come here for Content X, because that's where we excel' - it's hard to see why anybody would visit twice. It's equally hard to see why anybody would contribute when they could reach a far wider audience elsewhere.
To me, it feels like Citizen News needs a niche. That would give:
~ contributors of Content X a place to share it
~ viewers interested in Content X a place to find it
~ Citizen News the differentiator it needs to attract a loyal following.
As is stands...
Our mission is to aggregate the work of talented video journalists of great diversity and distinction whose work is characterized by a powerful individual vision.
Sounds good - but it's essentially meaningless. As is this:
CitizeNews is building a community of credentialed video journalists whose work is memorable for the quality of storytelling. We realize there are dozens and dozens of video web sites competing for your work. We are striving to differentiate ourselves from this mass of miscellaneous video by offering unique craftsmanship, the result of your sincere and sustained journalism efforts.
To a potential contributor this just begs the question: ok, so what EXACTLY is it that you want from me?
My guess is that Citizen News waited to see what it would get before defining the parameters of what it wanted. I'd argue that this is the wrong way around. The site needs to define its content requirement first - the narrower, the better, imho - and then issue a crystal-clear call to action.
Who knows, it could just end up aggregating and delivering the best possible Content X available anywhere.
Dear Kyle: Your commentary on 19.05 was only recently brought to my attention, thus the delay in responding. Much of what you write ring true, and some of your criticism of CTZN.TV is perhaps well-founded. However, you also miss some of the more subtle, and practical realities of nurturing a professional video journalism site.
We have not been successful in raising funding. CTZN.TV, as it exists at this point in its development, is not commercial, at least not in a way that will attract investment seeking a justified ROI.
Currently, the site is subsidized, entirely, out of my wallet. We depend upon "pro bono" video submission, although from time to time I subsidize a video journalists efforts. We have, slowly, attracted a group of professional video journalists who believe in the idea of forming - and indulge the presumption - a "community" along the lines of what Magnum is for photo journalism, or at least the original impetus behind the creation of Magnum.
Some of our submissions are world class, some are not. Some pieces focus on issue sof global scale, others are "provincial" in scope. The various pieces do and will continue to range across a wide thematic spectrum, but the "remit", or at least what we are aiming toward,is the power of narrative.
We are not YouTube, Veoh, VNS,or MetaCafe, or one of dozens and dozens of other sites that are a combination of miscellanous thought, self-promotion, soap-box ideology, or home-movie offerings. Don't misunderstand, there is a place for all of this, and you can even find some fabulous video journalism on all of these sites. There are also a few fine sites (for example TIVA and StormMedia) that suggest there is a path to creating a self-sustaining professional video journalism enterprise.
We are not in a position, not yet, to claim a specific thematic identity. Unlike The Washington Post, or AP Video, or Reuters, CTZN.TV is not covering current and headline stories, nor can we afford to subsidize documentaries. These organizations do splendid work, and thankfully contribute to the livelihood of some eminently talented professional video journalists.
We have attracted some of these very journalists who are also seeking a platform for their personal narrative. This doesn't mean something autobiographical, but it often means a story that more conventional platforms will not be interested in. Why? Perhaps the story is not uplifting or is of marginal interest for a broad-based audience. Perhaps the story is a little "unfinished" and rough around the edges because of lack of financial resources,or time. Or perhaps the story is deeply personal, and is not appropriate for more conventional media distribution.
We take risks, and consequently the "quality" varies, and the subject matter migrates somtimes unpredictably.
CTZN.TV did not in fact wait to determine what the submissions would be before defining "the parameters". We are building relationships, and steadily building an audience. It is not, by any means, easy, nor have we figured out the best equation for "success". We are in a gestation period, and will probably stumble, continue to take risks, make more mistakes, and occasionally offer video journalism that will make an indelible impression.
It may sound hyperbolic, but our mission really is "to aggregate the work of talented video journalists of great diversity and distinction whose work is characterized by powerful individual vision". I do not think this is meaningless. When I was a print journalist, the famous editor who I worked for used similar language. We might not succeed at meeting that objective, but the words are not only real, but have actual have resonanted for several video journalists who have contributed their work to CTZN.TV.
What do I want from you. Submit your work. Even if it has been distributed else where, even if it isn't fresh out of the oven, share it with us, share it with our audience as we work to build the quality of the content, and the quality of relationship with our viewers.
kk