THE POWER OF MULTIMEDIA

Convergence at Media General combines multimedia resources – print, television, the Internet and, though partnerships, radio – to serve more people better. Convergence delivers stronger local journalism by sharing news gathering and reporting resources. By becoming the preferred local provider of news and information, and increasing audience share, convergence drives revenue growth. With the Internet, every Media General market is a convergence market. In six markets, Media General has implemented convergence across three media platforms.

Tampa, Fla., is our most advanced convergence market, the home of The Tampa Tribune, WFLA-TV, TBO.com and beginning in 2005, CENTRO Grupo De Comunicación. Sharing tips, leads, information and background knowledge has become routine at our Tampa News Center, the world’s first facility built for multimedia production. These converged operations are part of Media General’s Florida Communications.

A fiber optic cable links the newsrooms of Media General’s WJHL in Johnson City, Tenn., and the Bristol (Virginia) Herald Courier, speeding transmission of photos and video, and facilitating coordination between the newsrooms, which are about 25 miles apart.

With a production set in the newspaper’s newsroom, the Bristol Herald Courier provides live reports on WJHL. In Roanoke, Va., WSLS is similarly linked with the newsrooms of The (Lynchburg) News & Advance and the Danville Register & Bee. In South Carolina, WBTW built a mini-studio in 2005 at the Morning News in Florence, S.C., to allow live broadcasts from the newsroom. In Alabama, the Opelika-Auburn News has ongoing partnerships with WRBL in Columbus, Ga., and began live broadcasts from the newsroom in late 2005. And the Dothan Eagle works closely with its local Media General Web partner as well as a local television station since there is no Media General television station in the area.

Also in Florida, the Jackson County Floridan and WMBB in Panama City have an advisory board to discuss ways the two can work together to better serve their audience of readers and viewers. In addition, a camera in the Floridan’s news room offers live news broadcasts on WMBB.

During the past several years when multiple hurricanes have devastated the Gulf Coast, Media General’s pooled multimedia resources gave us advantages competitors could not match. The company dispatched support crews, including meteorologists, reporters, photographers, editors, producers, and satellite trucks, to the locations where they were most needed. We arranged satellite uplinks so all Media General television stations had access to our live coverage, some of which was used by the national networks.

Media General’s Web sites play a key role in convergence because they can quickly combine and convey content from both newspapers and television stations 24 hours a day. Our Web sites provide the first opportunity to break news, and they are the best conduits for continuous updates as stories unfold. Each Web site works closely with its Media General newspaper and broadcast partners.

Since 2004, Media General has offered nine-month, post-graduate multimedia internships in four of its converged markets. Three of the four 2004 multimedia interns were hired by Media General newsrooms. The interns work for nine months each in markets in which Media General owns a newspaper, a television station and related Web sites. They will spend an equal amount of time at each property in the market so they can develop their multimedia journalism skills, and they will primarily produce content that can be presented on more than one platform.

Awards for journalistic excellence provide another testament to the value of our public service through multiple media. For example, the Winston-Salem Journal and JournalNow.com received the prestigious Associated Press Managing Editors award for media convergence in 2004. The award noted the effective interplay between a story in print and the same story online, specifically in a series entitled “Murder, Race, Justice/The State vs. Darryl Hunt.” This multimedia project included flash audio, photo galleries, an interactive map and a timeline.

Media General has proven that convergence provides our customers higher quality news than they could obtain from just one medium. In short, Media General’s journalistic excellence and commitment to serving its communities has earned the trust of millions of people in the Southeast, and is the cornerstone of our competitive strategy.

Videos:
The 2004 Hurricanes and the Power of Media General's Southeast Focus
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Convergence 2004
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