What Newspapers Can Learn From MySpace and YouTube

via I Want Media (9-Aug-2006)

"User-generated content could enable newspaper Web sites to stay (or become) the dominant player for local events. Wedding videos and clips of local high-school sports could be posted on newspaper sites. And adding video to classifieds "is a no brainer" [...]. IwantMedia is pointing to

Kevin J. Mireles who wrote in his Column Shoptalk (on Editor & Publisher)

Video: The Next Great Internet Land Grab

and it is about much more than just 'Video', it is an educational piece for local publishers and editors

Quote 1: Why You?

[...] "what do newspapers have that YouTube, MySpace and others don’t?

1. A controlled environment. Nothing gets published without being screened for quality, content and context. This appeals to advertisers and audience members.

2. Strong local brands with a well-trained audience. The audience knows exactly where to look to find what they want.

While anybody can publish anything on YouTube under any category, nobody can publish anything on a news site without it being reviewed for quality and appropriateness of the content and placed in the correct category.

As a result, readers know exactly where to look for specific categories, e.g. local high school sports’ scores are in the high school sports section of the sports pages [...]

Quote 2: (His Vision)

[...] "High school sports are immensely popular -- and at every game there is either a student, staff member or parent video taping the event. Currently, the creators can post their video on YouTube or burn DVDs for sharing with friends.

Wouldn’t it be great if the video could be uploaded to the newspaper site and have a link to the video placed next to the score or embedded with the story?

While the unedited video, might not be great and only a small percentage may be interested in watching the entire game from start to finish, a higher percentage would want to see the highlights.

A video editor could easily create a highlights clip featuring only the best moments. Instead of having to invest significant time and expense actually filming the game, the newspaper only has to pay for someone to edit the video [...]

Read all of it!