By Rick Kaempfer
THE RIGHT PRESSES
STOP THE HAND MAN
I
f you follow the stories about newspapers in this country, you've probably
come to the inescapable conclusion that
the end is near. Yet, right here under our
nose in Chicago, one of those old
"dinosaurs" is actually expanding one
division of its newsrooms – and it could
very well be the wave of the future.
Clark Bender is the Director of Digital
Video for the Chicago Tribune, and former
radio and television producer Jim Wiser is
room saw what we were able to do and
what we could contribute creatively, that
really helped. That gave us some wind
behind our sails."
"That's true," Bender concurs. "I think
there was skepticism at first. That's why
the election was such a big night for us. We
went from zero to a hundred miles an hour
overnight. To create a six hour livecast like
that at the drop of a hat, right in the middle of the newsroom, with a dozen or more
Photo: Rick Kaempfer
(Left to Right) Jim Wiser, Junru Huang, Jonathan Vogel, Katie Teuber, Kes Akalaonu,
Tim Desrochers, Brian Ernst, and Mary Horan. Clark Bender, and Thomas Owen
the Executive Producer of Digital
Programming. The two men are overseeing what they envision to be the newspaper newsroom of the future; a newsroom
that has a very active and engaged video
department. The Tribune has really taken a
chance, and it appears to be paying off.
Two years ago the department consisted of two people. A year ago it was a half
dozen. There are now 16 people on staff
producing and creating video for the
Tribune's website, and in ways that had
never been done before.
"We've been granted an opportunity to
extend the already fantastic work our
reporters and columnists are doing and
advance it," Bender says, "but also to find
new areas that we can branch out into that
can help establish a new identity for the
Chicago Tribune. We'd like to think that we
won the trust of everyone here, and we
won't do anything stupid or misuse the
brand we've been granted, but we also
want to see if there's anything new we can
do to branch out – to engage with the audience in new and exciting ways."
They've developed a number of regular
livecasting shows for chicagotribune.com,
featuring Chicago Tribune veterans like
movie critic Michael Phillips ("Reel
Thursdays"), theater critic Chris Jones
("Culture Lunch"), beat reporters
("Metrodesk"), and sports reporters (the
Bears show "Three & Out").
Having an old radio and television producer like Jim Wiser on hand has been
invaluable in creating these shows. "It's a
lot like producing radio or television,"
Wiser explains. "To me it's always come
down to content. Do we produce great
exclusive content that you have to come to
us to see? That's what it's all about."
The breakthrough for the department
occurred just over a year ago. Election
night was a watershed moment. "We were
on for six hours," Wiser explains, "and
brought on television anchors and
reporters we have here. Once the news-
20 illinoisentertainer.com december 2013
participants behind the scenes and in front
of the camera, that was a real game changer, internally and externally. It added an
electricity to the newsroom."
And while they used the tricks of other
classic media like radio and television to
launch thi s venture, their continued
growth relies heavily on another secret
weapon: their youth.
"A lot of these young people in the
department bring a wealth of production
experience to the table that really boosts
our capabilities here," Bender explains.
"They may be young but they are digital
natives and have been for most of their
lives. It's second nature to them. They've
been editing for ten years. That's one of the
reasons we wanted to bring them in
because they do provide an extra creative
spark – not just for us, but everyone in our
newsroom. They have a great respect for
the Tribune, and have a real can-do attitude, and that has gone over very well
with the more old school newsmen."
Both Bender and Wiser are convinced
they are riding the wave of the future. "The
possibilities are endless," Bender says,
explaining his vision. "I don't know what
the timeline is like, but in a few years
when people's televisions start to look
more like their smart phones—when you
turn them on and get a series of icons to
click on – I want to make sure that for people living in Chicago, one of those icons is
the Chicago Tribune. I want them to expect
to see video when they click on it. I don't
know whether it will be live video, or
some algorithmically cured stream of
video, or whether it will be editor's picks
of what video to watch—but I just want us
to be there. It really feels like we're actively taking control of our destiny. We're creating the newspaper newsroom of the
future here."
It's not often that you'll find a sentence
that contains both the words "newspaper"
and "future". For those of us who love the
business, that's encouraging news indeed.