The Toronto television broadcast market has recently seen a rise in something we at Women’s Post like to call the “New Reporters.” In essence, these are a new breed of journalists networks have been hiring to act as the bridge between their TV audience and those that are simultaneously surfing the web, a trend that now represents almost 60 per cent of American’s according to Nielsen’s latest report.
Amber MacArthur kicked off the profile series with some insights as the first to don the cap of the “New Media Reporter” for CityTV near half a decade ago.
This week we look at Maurice Cacho, CP24’s Web Reporter, who joined the team in 2008. In his role, he has integrated the web into CP24’s broadcast news flow and brings viewers “their say” three times per day with online reaction from viewer polls, Twitter, the blogosphere, and CP24’s Filemobile technology.
Why did you end up being a cross-platform reporter instead of just sticking to a traditional medium, like just being a TV reporter? Or just being an online reporter?
I've worked in all mediums – web, newspaper, magazine, broadcast – and web is really the most exciting to me. Deadlines are evolving, the tools are changing. Today, all journalists, whether they're reporters at a daily newspaper or national correspondents for TV, are doing more for the web. I like to think of myself first and foremost as a journalist – who happens to deal with the web most.
What do you think CP24 is doing in this cross-platform space that is unique from other networks?
CP24 does breaking news like nobody else and Toronto turns to us because we have a hardcore team making it happen. June’s G20 protests are the most recent example of how we can own a story. We had reporters in the streets talking to us on the phone as they were in the midst of rioting while cameramen were sending us stills on their smartphones. Ordinary people were submitting pictures and videos to our MyBreakingNews tool, plus I was trawling the web for related tweets. Back in the newsroom we were incorporating staff images on our site, sometimes even faster than they could set up a live signal for TV. I tweeted updates from reporters on the phone using our @CP24 account. We put up a crawl on TV of tweets from the public and we created a gallery of viewer pictures and videos.
We blew our ratings out of the water here at CP24, setting a record of 3.6 million viewers on Sunday, the most-watched day in the station’s history. CP24.com more than tripled its average daily online page views too, and we grew our Twitter following by at least 5,000 people.
We couldn’t own breaking news without a lot of tips from viewers, whether it’s via email or over Twitter. But it’s really, really important to remember that with all the information that is available, as journalists, we still have to verify facts and accuracy. If everyone's tweeting or re-tweeting something, it might not be right. CP24’s relationship with officials and others allow us to confirm or dispel a lot of the tips.
The industry has taken notice of our unique abilities as a team and earlier this year we won an RTNDA Edward R. Murrow award for best use of video for our coverage of the tornados that struck Vaughan and other parts of the GTA last summer. That video came from our viewers and it all came over the web. Our viewers are amazing and we’re so thankful for their support.
You tend to cover a lot of events live on TV as well as online, like the recent mayoral elections. What's the value in this, in your opinion?
With the mayoral debates the web has become an organic part of the show. Years ago you would just read stories on a website or hear candidates debate on TV. Now, the flow of information is both ways. People watch the debate, read stories about the issues online, and then comment and/or send us their tweets in real time. It's not just about the man on the street interviews anymore, it's now about the person on the couch watching it on TV while sending us a tweet on their Blackberry, then seeing me read their question to the candidates before messaging their friends to tune in, then they blog about it the next day. It's amazing how fluid the information flows.
The concept of a Web Journalist is one that's quite fresh and there still seems to be some exploration with how to best utilize them (ie. different networks are using them in different ways). Can you shed some light on what kind of stories you cover and what you're striving to achieve with this role?
I think a Web Journalist is a marriage of news and technology. At heart I'm a hard news guy and I strive to tell the stories online, bring online elements to our TV broadcast all the while using the web to get and verify facts. I'm also a tech guy and cover technology news for Webnation, which airs on Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. It’s a nice relationship because one informs the other. There's a lot of free-flowing movement in the CP24 newsroom in that sense and it's great to have the position of Web Journalist. It’s got great freedom as I’m not scripted and have great leadership from journalists I work with.
One of things that works well too is posting raw, uncut video rather than re-purposing exactly what aired on TV a few minutes ago. Unedited footage from a cameraman in the streets covering an active situation does way better, with a web audience, than a packaged reporter piece – and that's something we've put on our site with great feedback.
Why do you think it's important to establish this role of a Web Journalist in mainstream news?
Traditionally, I think when people used to think of the web they're thinking geeks, glasses and pocket protectors, but that's changed. The web and technology is what people are talking about more often than ever before, and it's where they go to talk about things in general. If news organizations aren't where the audience is, they're nowhere. CP24 has been embracing the web for a while – we get it and I'm really lucky we're on the right path to incorporating the web into mainstream media.
What do you think major networks could be doing better with regards to leveraging the net?
I think they just need to keep an eye on the technologies and tools that will become available, how journalists can use them to tell stories and how people use the web to consume news.
Follow CP24’s Twitter.
You can find out more about Maurice on his website, Cacho’s Cache, and on his MSN Blog, GeekTown.ca.
You can also follow him on Twitter.
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