For Breaking Online News Content, NYTimes Rings True

For using web resources to break the news of Eliot Spitzer's resignation and link to a prostitution ring, The NYTimes.com won the Breaking News award for large sites as part of the Online News Association's Online Journalism Awards Sept. 13 in Washington, D.C.

NYTimes.com created a superb multimedia web package devoted to all-things Spitzer when the story broke in March. It offers an interactive way to expand their coverage of the story and feed readers' need for news. If seeing a video of Spitzer's tear-filled apology isn't enough, an interactive timeline of his life and career highlights-- complete with pictures-- offers readers another glimpse into the former Governor's life.

In addition to linking all relevant stories, the package includes a podcast and link to an in-house bio complete with all archived Times stories relating to Spitzer.

This gives readers a place for one-stop shop coverage, and its easy-to-navigate, reader-friendly site makes the Times worthy of its award.

Las Vegas Sun Shines Online

The Las Vegas Sun’s website, which was the winner of the General Excellence category for medium sites in the 2008 Online Journalism Awards, provides a ton of information in an easy to use format while taking advantage of multimedia potential. When first looking at the page, it is clear that the first priority is news. It has the latest news at the top of the page, followed by prominent stories in other news categories. The front page provides so many things to look at, yet is not overwhelming. It also encourages readers to get involved by providing a “Most read,” “Discussed” and “Most E-mailed” near the top of the main page.

Once you scroll down a bit on the main page, the multimedia aspects of the site shine through. Currently in their “spotlight” section, they have a history of Las Vegas with tons of multimedia options, all of which are interesting and informative. The interactive casino map provides a more interesting look at the strip than just reading about what each casino offers. The “Implosions” section provides some fun (who doesn’t want to see an empty building being blown up) and some history, with a blurb about each of the casinos that are no longer standing.

Off the main page, in addition to the usual Arts and Entertainment, Sports and Opinion sections, the links off the top also include an entire multimedia section. This section includes videos, slide shows, and other multimedia options on everything from sports to a flight delay calculator. There is also a blogs section covering all topics with multiple blogs on each one. Most of the blogs had been updated within the past week, and some had been updated within the last few hours. Overall, the site serves those living there with the latest news as well as those visiting or looking for information with their variety of articles and multimedia sections.

"Bearing Witness" to an Award-Winning Multimedia News Site

After looking at the Web sites of the Online Journalism Award winners, I observed that the incorporation of multimedia is key to creating a successful news site. Reuters’ online feature “Bearing Witness” is one such site; it was named the best news site for a Multimedia Feature on a large site. The site tells the story of the Iraq War through testimonials from Reuters reporters, photographers, and other staff using photos, audio and video.

I find using multimedia elements is more effective in creating an emotional impact on viewers (specifically myself) than simple text. Not only do photos, audio and video on the site spotlight journalists who were on the ground, they also depict war photos and footage that bring their personal stories to life and make them much more compelling than they would be in textual form.


Other features such as a comprehensive timeline and maps provide further understanding of the war for those who would like to know more.

Investigative Murder Piece wins Small Site Award

RecordOnline.com, the winner of the Online News Association's award for Investigative Journalism, Small Site, is a multimedia reporting package with several compelling features.

"I Didn't Do That Murder": Lebrew Jones and the death of Micki Hall includes not only the investigative report, but additional video interviews, maps and timelines. Being a Law & Order fan I was immediately attracted to this story and wanted to read the entire article and check out everything else on the site.

The story is laid out in 10 chapters with accompanying photos, and users can click through and read the entire story. Within the story are links to video interviews with sources in the story.

This site also features a map of the murder scene and a timeline of the investigation and arrest of Lebrew Jones. The map and timeline are very detailed and offer users a visual image for better understanding of the entire investigation. The map includes links to an expert's analysis of the crime, including the expert's contact information.

Armytimes.com blasts through the competition

Armytimes.com won in the “general excellence” for a small site category in no small part because of the overall sheen of its site design. The multimedia box located on the right side of the top of the page, for instance, harnesses the Internet’s full capabilities of delivering non-text-based, non-linear news. Without taking up space or being overly bulky, the feature presents five multimedia elements in a creative way. Each item has a tease that, when the cursor moves over a different item, cascades away, imitating the motion of flipping through file folders.

Also noteworthy is the site's feature on the 2008 Paralympics—it takes full advantage of the Internet’s ability to display stories in a non-linear manner. Instead of displaying one long, texty story about which athletes won which events, it displays links to six short profiles of events and people of interest in the Olympics. It also links to an entire page done by militarytimes.com that is bursting with multimedia features on military Olympians. ONA cites its knowledge of its audience as one of Armytimes.com’s assets, and this is very evident: almost all of the articles somehow relate news back to the Army or its soldiers.

An Old guard Breaks Spitzer's Bubble with New Methods

NYTimes.com, the New York Times' Web site, won the 2008 ONA award for large site breaking news for its coverage of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's resignation in March.

The Times deserves distinction because it did what most print newspapers are afraid to do: It broke the story on the Web, with full coverage, before anyone else. The Times used the Internet to its full advantage, breaking the story as soon as its cool and providing supplemental multimedia.

The story comes with an interactive sidebar, a timeline of Spitzer's rise and fall, which allows users to click on dates for photos and blurbs about events in his life. The Times also included video of Spitzer's public apology. In addition, the Times' Sewell Chan takes visitor's on a full back story of the Spitzer scandal with a 6-minute audio clip.

But still, the Times is most commended for not hesitating to break a major story -- with in-depth reporting and supplemental material -- on the Web, before its newspaper went to the presses.

Talking to the Taliban

This was an in-depth look at the Taliban that included more than 40 interviews with Taliban fighters. Without the internet a piece like this would be almost impossible to distribute because of all the video footage. The footage could have been edited but by leaving the interviews whole it allows the consumer to interpret ourselves.

There are many different parts to the piece including one that explains the methodology used which gives the piece more credibility in my opinion. If all of this as put into paper form it might take up an entire newspaper and would be incredible dull but the video makes it seem more real.

There are also several Charticles explaining the different tribes of Afghanistan and the rates of suicide attacks.

See for yourself, the piece can be found here.

Online Journalism Awar Winner- Las Vegas Sun

The main thing that struck me at looking at the website of the Las Vegas News Sun is the amount of information they have posted on their front page. While some may consider it crammed, I see it as a very easy way to be able to view all the local news stories from the day in Las Vegas. I also enjoyed the interactivity of the site, from its blogs and comment section to the amount of video they link you too. For example, the UNLV football team had a big win over Arizona State Saturday and directly on their home page is a big video with highlights from the game. It is probably the one of the highest quality online highlight videos I have seen on a news site, and that includes ESPN. They also have links to videos from other sites, including a link directly to the NBC site for video of the Palin/Clinton SNL skit which many people will click on if they happened to miss it.

"The Hidden World" Uncovers Secret to Great Online Journalism

The Hidden World at GEO.fr won the 2008 Online Journalism Award for best multimedia feature on a small Web site.

The Web site presents digital maps and interactive graphics as the focal point of the page to attract users. The sleek black, white and green design makes the page look somewhat mysterious, which suits the purpose of the Web site: to investigate and report "hidden" stories around the world.

Each story is accompanied by online video clips, photos and colorful maps. The Web site seems to be designed to appeal directly to people who prefer to get information from visually-appealing graphics instead of the traditional article.

Overall, the site is very innovative and takes full advantage of the user interactivity that online journalism allows. Thanks to its various multimedia features, "The Hidden World" has gained recognition for being able to collect, connect and present its content in a creative way.

WebMD takes the award for Specialty Site Journalism

I reviewed the winner of the Specialty Site Journalism site WebMD. I thought this site had a lot of easily searchable information, which I’m sure was the main reason it won the award. The site’s search feature makes it very accesible and easy to quickly use when searching for a particular medical problem. Typing in “headache” for example in the search bar yield information on different kinds of headaches, causes, and remedies. The information on the site isn’t limited to a simple text descriptin either. Many of the pages conain links to other sites yielding more relavent information and in some cases there is actually movie clips you can view with information on certain conditions. There is also a blog link spot on the home page which gives users the ability to block about various medical conditions and cures. You can also ask an expert a personal question in diagnosing a problem you may have. The real value of the site comes from simple and quick accesability to a large amount of useful information.