Everyone will be a multimedia journalist, says ex Bloomberg editor

For Bloomberg’s former multimedia editor, Abhik Sen, the debate is redundant.

“In five years time pretty much everyone will have to be a multimedia journalist.”

As the times change, news organisations are increasing and expanding their multimedia coverage of big stories. Journalists’ skills are improving and graphics are becoming more sophisticated, so much so that the most substantial part of a news story can now be found online.

Abhik gave the recent example of  the swine flu story:

“Online there was a comprehensive 360 degree view of the story. There were interactive maps, pictures, figures, videos, first person accounts and graphics. This holds true for pretty much every big story now.”

The BBC’s ‘Swine Flu: mapping the outbreak’ interactive graphic.

There are a good five or six multimedia packages or reports that can be done by news organisations. Abhik talked us through the main ones at a talk at City University this week:

The first is the news driven package. This involves a quick turnaround that can fit into a rolling news agenda. It is the most basic form of a media package. Links and tagging in these packages are very important so readers can quickly access all of the material on offer.

This BBC news story is a basic example of this type of package. The turnaround on this video must have been relatively quick, as there is only one location and one subject in the film.

The evergreen package is designed to stand the test of time; it may still be relevant in years to come. There will be no sell by date on the package. It is usually a piece that requires thought and deliberation.

Detroit Free Press’ 40 Years of Respect tribute to Aretha Franklin is a great example of an evergreen package.

Interactive graphics are great for transforming chunks of dry or difficult information into a good piece of journalism. It saves readers the bother of trying to interpret the statistics themselves and you can make important subjects come alive.

The Guardian’s interactive package on Obama’s 100 Days in office is a fantastic example of a good graphic illustration of a story. It includes all of the elements that only a multimedia piece could.

Calendar and diary based reports are great for being a bit creative. You can find a way of covering an event in a original and refreshing way, and you can complement other reports by building on what has already been done.

The G20 Summit reporting is a great example of this type of package.

Abhik said that the planning stage is the most important when creating a multimedia report. The most important questions to ask is ‘What do I really want to communicate through this work?’.