WKU Media Scenarios Project Special Report

SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT

WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM & BROADCASTING CLOUD JOURNALISM 3

SOCIAL NEWS 5

THE PUBLIC OPTION 7

EXTREME MOBILE 9

SMART TV 11

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SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

1 2 3 4 5 ©2011 WKU School of Journalism & Broadcasting, Bowling Green, KY 42101 USA. Printing funded by WKU Honors College. Design

by Kelley Coppinger.

The Media Scenarios Project uses sophisticated scenario planning techniques to envision long-term developments in the relationship between journalism, technology and lifestyle – the intersection where news media operate. Narratives are an effective means to illustrate a scenario’s major points and help people understand their ramifications. The process often starts with a “what if...”

Cloud Journalism page 3

What if the cloud became where every form of information and media exchange took place? Naturally then, the cloud is also where journalism would happen. However, it’s not just about technology and remotely stored content. It’s about the radical changes in lifestyle that result from universal access and a searchable interconnectedness that the early Internet hardly dreamt of.

Jonathan Lintner I Abigail Harvey I Joshua Moore | Kate Parrish

Social News page 5

What if social media became the world’s primary information and media conduit? We would live in a thoroughly real-time society where anything that happens anywhere reaches anyone who cares before the echo even fades. People would be constantly contributing to the infostream, in the process redefining what it means to be “news” and what it is to be a professional journalist.

Colleen Stewart I Brittany Smith I Mary Beth Wimsatt

The Public Option page 7

What if the government had to get involved in making sure people get the information they need? Such intervention might be contemplated if today’s fundamental financial and digital realignment of private, commercial news media makes it more difficult for people to obtain sufficient useful information tomorrow about what is going on around the nation and the world.

Ethan Millspaugh I Celeste Laurent I Angela Oliver

Extreme Mobile page 9

What if everything converged into a single mobile device that connects you to… everything? The smartphone/tablet/netbook/laptop could evolve into the most ubiquitous device on the planet – a personal link providing individuals with information and media in a portable, well-connected form at a relatively low price.

Journalism would have to work differently in a thoroughly wireless, anything anywhere society.

Megan Edwards I Preston Anderson I Allison Case I Petre Freeman

Smart TV page 11

What if television developed to its full potential with connectivity and digital bandwidth? The media and information appliance at the center of most homes and offices could bear about as much resemblance to today’s broadcast receiver as the smartphone resembles early telephone handsets. And just as smartphones reinvented mobile communications, smart TV would reinvent visual media and journalism.

Alex Duke I Deonna Kelly I Corey Ogburn

For more information about the Media Scenarios Project Kerry J. Northrup | kerry.northrup@wku.edu | www.wkujournalism.com/msp

SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT CLOUD JOURNALISM

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What if the cloud became where every form of information and media exchange took place? Naturally then, the cloud is also where journalism would happen. However, it’s not just about technology and remotely stored content. It’s about the radical changes in lifestyle that result from universal access and a searchable interconnectedness that the early Internet hardly dreamt of.

Matthew Bell is one of the most successful reporters in the Knoxville News-Sentinel’s newsroom. A news writer who covers local government as well as various general assignments, Bell maintains solid contact with his sources and integrates multimedia into his storytelling. But most significantly, Bell uses the cloud – the online, on-demand, ubiquitous data repository that has essentially replaced file storage in most modern electronic devices.

As cloud service providers have come to replace simple Internet service providers, very little information and few files are physically kept anymore on desktop and laptop computers. Nor are memory cards used in phones and tablets.

Everything is stored remotely in the cloud so that individuals can access it from anywhere at anytime on any networkconnected device they are using.

The cloud has become a steady source in Bell’s reporting at the News-Sentinel.

For instance, Bell received a tip from a sister paper in Kentucky one day that there might be a problem at the Paradise Fossil Plant in Muhlenberg County, Ky. The plant is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which is based out of Knoxville, Tenn., where Bell works. Paradise is the largest power plant in Kentucky.

Sure enough, there they were – hundreds of pieces of information posted to the cloud out of what’s normally a quiet area. Just as search engines seek out links, images and video, the cloud has its own select tab too.

Bell found photos from the nearby highway of irregular black smoke rising from the plant. There was some amateur video from inside. He even discovered a before and after shot of the Paradise facility – the after photo taken once an un-

controlled fire began burning with workers and class tours inside.

While Bell went to work contacting a TVA spokesperson and those on the scene, the news organization’s online design team pieced together a photo gallery from the public cloud. Design laid it out with a tablet-first mindset, while a brief web story slid into its regular template as most stories do.

Much of the user-created content from the cloud was eventually replaced by professional photography and more authoritative sources in a longer-form story. But while the story developed online, the cloud allowed Bell to break a story he wouldn’t have otherwise even covered from such a distance.

The cloud has changed more than how reporters do their jobs. It’s changed how people compute.

Take a photo? It’s immediately sent off. The same applies to mobile phone contacts and music. As opposed to when people used to send photos to Twitter, Facebook or Flickr, the cloud is a one-step process. There is no “send to cloud option,” because anything that would normally be saved to a hard drive is already there.

The cloud has turned into a news gathering tool that Bell and most other reporters integrate into their everyday jobs. By using content such as photos and video posted to the cloud, Bell utilizes a new force in community journalism.

Really, Bell doesn’t consider the cloud much different than when social media boomed and he kept a constant eye on such services as Twitter and Facebook for story ideas. But now the cloud has become the primary area to store information.

Much of the usercreated content from the cloud was eventually replaced by professional photography and more authoritative sources in a longer-form story. But while the story developed online, the cloud allowed Bell to break a story he wouldn’t have otherwise even covered from such a distance.

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SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT CLOUD JOURNALISM

Files stored to the cloud are available to journalists as fair-use items. So long as the media use files for reporting purposes, they can be used in stories knowing it’s for the public good.

The cloud is a direct evolution – and a combination – of such technologies as remote email servers, GoogleDocs, photo/video sharing apps and file sharing. It’s about the ability to access a personal file from anywhere on any standard device.

Most importantly, it’s easy to use and instantaneous.

Users choose privacy settings to decide what they want to hide (typically email, contacts, documents) and what’s posted to a public cloud database accessible by all (typically photos, videos and music). But in a society that’s increasingly more open about technology and personal information, most leave at least their photos and videos open.

As soon as a file is saved, it’s sorted to become private or public, where it can then be accessed by search engines.

People don’t have to share anything, but as became popular in the 2000s with peer-to-peer networks, many choose to do so. And as society continues to dial back its collective privacy

settings, posting photos to the Internet that everyone can access is becoming more common.

Now the cloud is the place to share because of its ease of use.

In turn, the newspaper business has to adjust.

A larger than ever number of newsworthy stories are popping up because the paper has a better connection to what’s going on in the surrounding community via the cloud.

As such, deadlines are constant. It’s understood that the news cycle runs all day, every day.

Print editors and designers grab the best content from the day and design around that. News is kept short in print, as the paper now favors more analytical content, columns and commentaries – essentially the less timely elements that can retain a print product’s importance to a community.

The goal is to aggregate everything into one newspaper report for the public to consume. Key information may be out on the cloud, so the journalist’s role is to comb through information and determine what’s newsworthy.

The cloud as a newsgathering tool integrated into everyday journalism • Constant deadlines and a continuous news cycle • Journalistic storytelling and the job of professional journalists as a process that starts with crowd-sourcing and eventually leads to professionally produced material, based on all the cloud-based content sharing

For a complete version of this scenario narrative with resource links and analysis www.wkujournalism.com/msp

A larger than ever number of newsworthy stories are popping up because the paper has a better connection to what’s going on in the surrounding community via the cloud.

SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT SOCIAL NEWS

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What if social media became the world’s primary information and media conduit? We would live in a thoroughly real-time society where anything that happens anywhere reaches anyone who cares before the echo even fades. People would be constantly contributing to the infostream, in the process redefining what it means to be “news” and what it is to be a professional journalist.

News is not sought out by people anymore for the most part. It simply intersects with them as they go about their normal interactions with the constantly fluid collection of people they associate with through the dominant social networks of the day. It’s the full-grown evolution of the meme started by some college student who commented in some marketing focus group back in 2008, “If the news is that important, it will find me.” Back then when the New York Times reported that line and others picked up on it as pithy, it seemed a lazy and even intellectually dangerous attitude. But now that social networks have become so pervasive and complex in the range of people and attitudes to which any individual is connected, it pretty much works. Only people who seem to have made a conscious decision to really limit their worldview and idea exposure can avoid hearing about anything that seems to matter at least a little bit to some discernible subset of society. Once they hear about it, they can choose to mine their sphere of social connections to learn more. If they become interested or discerning enough to start caring about separating pass-along from fact, they can choose to focus more attention on the parts of their social sphere they would expect to be more in the know, such as some particular journalists they like. And if they really want to get into a particular story in a really serious, detailed way, they can always turn to the more slow-view media such as digital magazines. But for the most part, people feel that what they pick up on through their social sphere is good enough – especially when the public has come to value knowing something immediately when everyone else knows it, over waiting to know something completely and for sure. It’s actually a very American democratic free-speech “marketplace of ideas” approach, expecting that the truth will win out in the end.

§ I have grown up as a member of a socially connected society. Although I am now in college, I have been interacting with social networks since the day I was born. For as long as I can remember Facebook, Twitter and other social networks have been the primary means of connection with the world, as well as the news and information I am interested in. I can access a wide variety of information instantaneously through my social networks, and use this as a means of staying connected with news throughout the day.

Every morning I wake up and immediately reach for my smartphone. It is my mobile connection to my e-mail and news updates. I can access this connection anywhere, anytime, which allows my social news networks to keep me up to date with everything that I want to know, as it is happening throughout the day. Community, state and global news, as well as features about cooking, fashion and photography are the topics I have subscribed to. All other unspecified coverage I receive is local. Breaking news is broadcast and updated without my consent, which feels invasive, but these updates are rare and only used for situations that might be threatening to me- extreme weather, traffic jams, nearby crime. I am able to disable this device, but find it more assuring than intrusive.

The news and media I consume is constantly catering to me through my social networks. According to my mobile location, my social networks adjust. My “friends” on Facebook are a consistent factor in my social networking system preferences, but location is assessed so that nearby stores will reach me through advertising. I like shoe shopping and my social network knows that. When I go out of town, advertisements for that town’s shoe store will be the ones I see.

It’s the fullgrown evolution of the meme started by some college student who commented in some marketing focus group back in 2008, ‘If the news is that important, it will find me.’ …But now it pretty much works.

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SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT SOCIAL NEWS

This way I can stay up to date with breaking news updates, information about traffic or safety threats in the area.

The Internet has begun to utilize social media optimization in an underlying way, not overtly. This allows me to receive news that is socially relevant to me. The more my friends and those I follow on social networks ‘like’ or view specific news or media, the more that information becomes included in my own news updates. I read news briefs and emails for a half hour before even starting my day. This is my daily ‘briefing’ of all things Social Media Optimization has deemed relevant to me, as well as the news social media optimization has found to be extremely ‘liked’ by those in my networks. SMO is not an application running on the Internet.

It is a process by which information gets noticed because of how and why people “like” it. It serves you based on your connections to people. I like what my friends like, generally.

Some aspects of news have become “real-time.”

Social media has encouraged an entirely new style of journalism where news updates are continuously posted as new facts and information surface. In some cases, this takes the place of posting polished and completed news stories. Tangible forms of newspapers are long gone. They became obsolete when news started to focus on more real-time issues; people began to want their news as it was happening, not the next day. Magazines have become the only tangible outlet still in vogue. More in-depth reporting and broader stories are reported and analyzed in the magazines, slow-form journalism’s new venue.

The constant updating, real-time nature of most journalism has made the social media landscape apt for culturing celebrity journalists. As people publish an array of their own information and are barraged with information from every other social media subscriber, news becomes muddled

and overwhelming. This is where celebrity journalists come in. Following particular journalists who I trust to give me the news I want to hear about, allows me access to more specialized news.

I have chosen to narrow my scope on news by subscribing to one particular journalist, Kate Matthews.

Most people subscribe to just one because they all tell the same global/broad-scale news stories, just with a different spin. The information you get from each celebrity journalist is similar, but the style and angle of their reporting varies. I have become loyal to Kate, more than I am loyal to anyone who employs her. If she were to be hired by another network, I would follow her. When I want news outside of my local realm, I watch Kate’s five-minute daily briefs, a quick, nightly, compilation of her twitter notes and stories throughout the day. This makes it easy for me to catch up on global news, if I miss it in real-time. For entertainment news, my friends and I get together to watch Kate’s weekly 30-minute segment during primetime.

Kate has been on the rise to stardom since college, when she interned for the Oregonian and then The New York Times. She is now in demand and publishers/broadcasters compete to hire her or license her content that she produces with a crew provided by her publisher/licenser. She has had and grown with a loyal group of followers. Like most celebrity journalists, she has a niche market for her hour segments. She caters mostly to women and often addresses environmental issues more thoroughly than most journalists. Kate writes more in-depth stories for monthly magazines. Her monthly stories are usually in-depth pieces that she collaborates on with other journalists. The obligations of a celebrity journalist leave little time for long-form specialization.

Preference for trusted reports from citizen journalists and professional celebrity journalists in a fluid environment where immediacy is the most valued attribute • Essential social media optimization and location-based services For a complete version of this scenario narrative with resource links and analysis www.wkujournalism.com/msp

I have chosen to narrow my scope on news by subscribing to one particular journalist. Most people subscribe to just one because they all tell the same global/broadscale news stories, just with a different spin.

SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT THE PUBLIC OPTION

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What if the government had to get involved in making sure people get the information they need?

Such intervention might be contemplated if today’s fundamental financial and digital realignment of private, commercial news media makes it more difficult for people to obtain sufficient useful information tomorrow about what is going on around the nation and the world.

Every three years, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducts a survey of 15-year-old students in industrialized nations in order to evaluate their reading, mathematics and scientific literacy skills on a global scale. When the PISA survey began in 2000, the United States ranked 15th. In the following years, the U.S. fell further and further until, in 2020, it had fallen to the bottom of the 65-country survey.

The American public was outraged by the international embarrassment. Congressmen were bombarded by phone calls demanding education reform. The House Education Committee launched an in-depth analysis to determine the cause of the drop in PISA performance.

When the results of the study were released, education experts from across the country were astounded. It wasn’t just schools that had failed the students; a core problem was the students’ perception of fact. Tangible newspapers had essentially become an archaic medium for the current generation of students while broadcast news had become heavily opinion-based. Generation Z’s news came predominantly through social-media-based stories that assembled tweets and Facebook statuses into reports of the online buzz about a topic. Cable and online news programming mostly provided “viewpoint journalism” with news anchors and commentators from extreme perspectives adding their own perspective to every fact and figure.

With little distinction between hard news reporting and commentary, U.S. media had effectively created a gray area in which students struggled to differentiate fact from opinion.

The educational system reacted by emphasizing the teaching of media literacy and dissective content analysis at elementary, middle and high school levels throughout the

country. But educators also spurred the public to demand better core news content from the source – the media.

Unfortunately, commercial media responded that they could do little more than they already were, because of the decaying advertising business model and the impetus of stockholders to limit unprofitable activities. Non-profit media lacked sufficient resources to make a difference. That left the government to step in. Although Congress initially cited the First Amendment’s “freedom of the press” clause as a reason not to intervene, the public outcry was massive in demanding that government officials create a news system that would promote hard news reporting over viewpoint journalism. In 2021, Congress passed an act that expanded the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to include a mandate for a federally funded news source, the Federal Broadcasting System (FBS).

The creation of a federally funded news service was not unprecedented. The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) through which National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) were both funded. Though federally operated, the federal funding for the CPB was always minimal.

In fact, in 2009 only 18.1 percent of the CPB’s funding came from federal funds. Private donations made up the vast majority of CPB’s budget.

Similarly, private donations have taken on the responsibility of meeting the new need for FBS funds. Unlike the CPB, however, federal funding has increased significantly since it leveled out at around $4 per capita 10 years ago. Recognizing the success of other nations’ public broadcasting systems, the U.S. government eventually realized that the social benefits of funding a federal broadcast news source were almost

Although Congress initially cited the First Amendment’s “freedom of the press” clause as a reason not to intervene, the public outcry was massive in demanding that government officials create a news system that would promote hard news reporting over viewpoint journalism.

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SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT THE PUBLIC OPTION

limitless and included increased consumer confidence and renewed public trust in media and government.

Similar to the successful British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the FBS operates on a completely transparent level, offering background, income and expenditure information on any board member who controls how FBS funding is spent. The government is also restricted from censoring broadcasts prior to airing, and program archives are released to the public on a daily basis.

Since the transition, publicly funded media have gained independence and democratic functioning in a variety of ways. First, in several countries, funding is established for a given time frame, thus, lessening the room for government to intervene and directly link funding to either approve or deny certain programming. Second, advertisers no longer control the media. While some opinion-based commercial news outlets still do exist, their influence has certainly diminished.

With the FBS, citizens feel like they are more a part of media processes and operations because the FBS responds to their inquiries and suggestions. Since building this relationship between public media and U.S. residents, public news outlets have helped foster citizen engagement, involvement and accountability. Third, neutral public agencies and administrative bodies are in place to serve as buffers between broadcast-

ing teams and government officials. For instance, government funds for public news outlets are managed by legal and administrative charters. This ensures that allotted money is spent to best accommodate the public’s interests, rather than private or federal ones. And, while it may be impossible to completely eliminate partisan influence in journalism and news media, the FBS has at least begun to balance out the marketplace of ideas by providing more diverse sets of programming.

The success of the government’s role in providing news and other need-to-know content to U.S. citizens has hinged on the fact that it does not rely on an advertising-based business model. While traditional media outlets, such as ABC, CBS and NBC, were providing a narrow range of programming of similar shows in comparable time slots, the FBS’s program diversity, attention to public affairs and focus on international news has served to revitalize and engage today’s students. And, consumer cooperation with government-run media has led citizens to be even more involved in and satisfied with the news. Unlike the days of old, today’s media respond and react to the real-time needs and wants of the American people. In the FBS, the U.S. has found not just new life for the Fourth Estate but a viable public option for the American people.

Viewpoint journalism and social media come to comprise the majority of commercial news content and prove insfficient for society • Public demand spurs changes in the interpretation of ‘free press’ and in federal law to create new options for government support • Successful publicly funded and operated media in other countries provide models for a similar U.S. initiative

For a complete version of this scenario narrative with resource links and analysis www.wkujournalism.com/msp

Since building this relationship between public media and U.S. residents, public news outlets have helped foster citizen engagement, involvement and accountability.

SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT EXTREME MOBILE

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What if everything converged into a single mobile device that connects you to‌ everything? The smartphone/tablet/netbook/laptop could evolve into the most ubiquitous device on the planet – a personal link providing individuals with information and media in a portable, well-connected form at a relatively low price. Journalism would have to work differently in a thoroughly wireless, anything anywhere society.

Today, what used to be the mobile phone is technically termed a Specialized Social Services device. Most people just call it their Triple-S. It has essentially replaced their computer, laptop, smart phone, iPod, iPad and a host other former personal technology. In fact, the markets for most of those other mobile devices are gradually going away as their advantages and capabilities are incorporated into the latest generationTriple-S. Most significantly, the fact that most everyone has a Triple-S on his or her person most all the time has created a world where people from the same town, a different state or another country are constantly and intimately connected.

In this environment, news has become even more viral, fastpaced and digitally consumed. Stories are viewed in a less text-heavy, more infographic visually-based layout. Gone are the days when people scanned through pages and pages of text; news now is more concise and geared for fast consumption. Journalists more than anything now act as the traffic police of news stories, guiding the direction and flow of information.

Our story follows a day in the life of Al Jennings, a successful business entrepreneur and family man. With his Triple-S, Al is more constantly connected with his environment, including news, work updates and entertainment.

From the time Al wakes up in the morning to when he crawls into bed at night, the Triple-S keeps him updated with the news and entertainment he chooses. The advantage of the Triple-S compared to devices such as an iPhone, most popular 10 years ago, is users spend less time scanning through unwanted news. Journalists now write their stories keeping in mind the immediacy and personalization that the Triple-S is able to deliver. Journalists no longer have to write a story

that appeals to thousands of different people with differing tastes, interests and personalities. The stories journalists write are now delivered to people with similar interest graphs. For instance, Al receives his customized news through a select number of journalists, rather than a myriad of different writers. Journalists have begun specializing in one or two categories, rather than covering a variety of news stories.

Journalists gain popularity through digital word of mouth; people share stories and news with each other through social networking platforms. Beginning a journalism career can be difficult and there are fewer well-known journalists compared to 10 years ago; however, these journalists are highly respected and esteemed. Journalists are employed by news companies, major networks (such as ABC, Fox, etc.), newspapers, and digital magazines. A journalist is paid based on the level of consumer readership and popularity; the more demand a journalist has, the higher salary he or she earns.

The major networks and big news corporations often enlist journalists to write multiple stories throughout the day. This combined with the continual updating journalists must do to keep their stories current, causes journalists to constantly be glued to their Triple-S devices. Similarly, consumers are constantly checking their devices for the latest updates in news and entertainment.

Journalists work on their niche story topics to deliver to Al, as well as any other Triple-S user, a personalized newsfeed. Even though Al has never met these journalists face to face, he feels personally connected to them. When Al finishes reading a story he especially likes, he shares it with other individuals in his social circle. This in turn allows journalists to gain popularity and determine what stories they should focus most on writing. When Al initially purchased his Triple-

Gone are the days when people scanned through pages and pages of text; news now is more concise and geared for fast consumption. Journalists more than anything now act as the traffic police of news stories, guiding the direction and flow of information.

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SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT EXTREME MOBILE

S, he set up a user profile that gave him total control over the news stories and information that he wanted to receive.

Since Al is a businessman, he elected to be informed of the latest news in the business and finance world. He receives both local and national news relating to his field of interest.

As Al’s tastes and interests evolve, so does his customized newsfeed. The stories that Al receives over breakfast will continue to unfold throughout the day. Al will receive message updates from these journalists, providing him with the latest updates and happenings.

One such journalist that has delivered Al’s news to him since the day he activated his Triple-S is Fred Oliver. Fred is nationally known for delivering the best in entrepreneurial business and finance news. Though Fred lives on the California coast, far away from Al’s suburban home in Tennessee, the news content Fred gathers for Al is highly personalized to his daily work life. As Al leaves his home to drive to work, Fred is already working on updating the stories Al read during breakfast. Through text message alerts and audio message updates, Fred delivers the news to Al, and other users interested in the same category, as it’s happening, creating a live play-by-play. News can be read on the Triple-S or listened to. If Al isn’t interested in a particular story by mid-day, he sends Fred an instant message and he is removed from contacts receiving the story. It’s not uncommon for Al to hear from Fred throughout the entire day, during work lunches and even on the drive home.

Fred’s role as a journalist has certainly changed from the way in which he would have written and delivered news 10 years ago. The way he produces, edits and delivers news content has taken on a far more mobile role. All of Fred’s news stories are photographed, written, and delivered through his Triple-S. A significant portion of Fred’s workday includes traveling, updating his stories from various locations. Fred no longer has an office in a newsroom, like he did 10 years ago,

where he would sit and write news stories. With the use of his Triple-S, Fred can begin writing a story in his favorite coffee shop, edit it on the train, and deliver it to his readers while running errands on the way home.

In a sense, the Triple-S has become Fred’s newsroom, allowing him the capabilities to create, deliver and interact as a journalist. Being the veteran and prized journalist that Fred is, he does not hold a physical office. However, there are others in the journalism industry that typically inhabit the newsroom. Interns and upcoming journalists in training hold offices in the newsroom, frequenting them almost everyday.

These journalists need guidance at times as all beginners do, so the proximity of higher-ups serves well. They hope to become skilled enough at their craft one day in order to go off on their own much like Fred Oliver and have their own regular newsfeed and loyal readership base.

Journalists act as aggregators, cultivating a user friendly and personalized newsfeed just for Al. Today, journalists act like “bugs” in society’s ear, delivering news throughout the day. The style of news is less text heavy, focusing more on info graphics and audio. Journalism is now packaged in the forms of podcasts, video and images since people are always on the go and have less time to sit down and read a story from start to finish.

The everyday life of Al Jennings accurately portrays the daily routines of millions of other people around the world.

As described, the Triple-S has successfully fulfilled just about every need or want people could hope to gain from the use of a technological device. The function and capability of the Triple-S is applicable to every individual, regardless of the average person’s lifestyle, age, occupation, personality or geographical location. The Triple-S has been so successful because it offers people what they want most from technology: fast and absolute access, anywhere, anytime.

Convergence of technology in a mobile device • Public preference for visual-style content • Specialization of journalists in the role of guiding information flow, attaining near celebrity status For a complete version of this scenario narrative with resource links and analysis www.wkujournalism.com/msp

Journalism is now packaged in the forms of podcasts, video and images since people are always on the go and have less time to sit down and read a story from start to finish.

SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT SMART TV

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What if television developed to its full potential with connectivity and digital bandwidth? The media and information appliance at the center of most homes and offices could bear about as much resemblance to today’s broadcast receiver as the smartphone resembles early telephone handsets. And just as smartphones reinvented mobile communications, smart TV would reinvent visual media and journalism.

Bill Simmons likes to wake up early. On most days, it’s the only time he has to himself. After all, his life is hectic. He works 40-hour weeks as the senior editor and columnist for a national news outlet while juggling his other priorities as a husband and father of two young children.

So he’s up at 5 a.m. every day and into the kitchen for his morning routine: coffee, oatmeal, and the IQ. It is the ultimate “smart” evolution of yesterday’s dumb television set, and a technology now central to life and work in almost every facet of society.

The IQ’s welcome screen greets Bill with his customized slew of information. A mini-Q sits atop the living room table, next to his still-too-hot cup of coffee. This is his remote control: a miniature replica of the much-larger screen that hangs on the wall at the front of the room. At all times, the miniQ is a smaller representation of the larger screen – making navigation much more seamless.

With the flick of a finger, Bill scrolls through the specified news that his IQ delivers to him this morning. Videos of the day’s weather forecast. Highlights from his favorite sports team. Updates on the stocks he has invested in. All he has to do is press play, and the IQ plays his personalized news show.

Even the personalization is customizable. With the IQ’s Q-News feature, users picks how often, how long, when, and what kind of Q-News updates they get per day. Bill’s selections are simple: he wants two per day, both an hour long, ready to go at 5:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. Through an advanced computer algorithm, encompassing the latest artificial intelligence technology, the Q (as it’s now known more colloquially) sifts through videos, articles, interviews, and news from all forms of media: television, Internet, and radio, to name the most prominent.

Based on previous site/channel/purchasing history and a lengthy interest preference questionnaire, the Q finds information that Bill would like, re-packages it and presents it to him in a seamlessly streaming video form. If he finds any of the sections of the Q-News to be irrelevant or uninteresting, a simple skip feature is in place. With the Tell Me More feature, if he wants to know more about a certain piece of the Q-News, he simply presses the associated section of his mini-Q. At the end of the hour-long Q-News, there’s also a What About This? section, which lists a collection of more information that existed outside of the 60-minute timeframe.

Some say Q-News can be a “never-ending rabbit hole.”

But nonetheless, it’s a rabbit hole that is predominately embraced by the culture at-large. As news became more interactive – and as a result more visually enticing – its popularity has burgeoned. Long-form text has been reassigned to magazines and regular niche publications. In nearly every respect, the news media has turned visual, interactive and almost exclusively digital. § The office is busy this morning. The phones ring constantly as many journalists are looking to finish and polish their pieces for publication.

These days, there is one universal deadline: Now. The Q intensifies this mindset.

But with that being said, the Q is also Bill’s best friend because it has distilled the wide array of conflicting technologies down to one device – thus focusing a journalist’s job on one medium. No longer does the Internet siphon viewers and advertising dollars away from more “traditional” media – television, newspapers, magazines. They are now two sides of the same coin.

Some say QNews can be a “never-ending rabbit hole.” But nonetheless, it’s a rabbit hole that is predominately embraced by the culture at-large.

12

SPECIAL REPORT: MEDIA SCENARIOS PROJECT SMART TV

Bill walks through his door, sits down at his desk and turns on his office Q. This is a two-screen model, different from the one at his home. As he thumbs in, the left screen details his schedule for the day, the current status of prospective stories, an inbox of pieces he needs to edit and video messages or emails that need answering.

With the touch of his finger, he pulls up videos and articles that his writers have submitted. From there, he edits.

This particular article is rife with discrepancies and Bill is not happy about it. He wants answers to his questions. He presses Contact Writer and, seconds later, the writer of the story appears on the Q’s right screen – all the way from his home in another part of the country.

As he finishes the conversation with his fledgling writer, another message appears on the screen.

“I’ve got to go,” he says. “Just do what we talked about.” He slides his hand over to the other visual; it’s his secretary.

“Mr. Simmons, we’ve got an applicant here for his interview. Should I send him in?”

“Yes, yes. Do that,” he says, motioning his arms. “Bring him in.”

Half an hour later, Bill smiles politely as he lets a middle-aged, nicely dressed man out of his office. The interview went well. The man has nearly three decades of experience in the traditional media environment and he clearly came prepared. But his lack of familiarity with the Q – especially with its visually focused presentation – makes him much less of a commodity. Maybe for a monthly magazine, Bill thinks, but not for modern media that relies on instantaneousness, interactivity and multi-faceted skill sets from its journalists.

Bill embraces this new tide in journalism, envisioning it as a blend of the best of the traditional and the modern.

Storytelling remains integral, the most important aspect of any piece. But now, stories are increasingly aesthetic, championing visuals over prose. § Around 6:00, Bill arrives back at home to an empty house. This is incredibly unusual, but he remembers that the kids are at baseball practice and his wife is at her weekly yoga class. For the next hour, he takes some much-needed time to unwind from a particularly hectic day at the office.

He boots up the Q and watches the baseball game that just started. It pales in comparison to actually being there, but the interactivity makes it a worthwhile experience. As the commentators drone on, Bill does his best to be a part of the action by using his mini-Q to answer trivia questions, poll questions and to post real-time comments about the game with a community of fans. The commentary comes from all avenues – from fans just like Bill to a slew of professional journalists covering the game for their respective news outlets. All of these comments appear in a very organized fashion along the edge of the screen. Using Q-Talk, Bill notices that his best friend is also watching the game, so they begin a one-on-one chat.

Between innings, Bill often uses the commercial breaks as tiny shopping excursions. With the Q, even commercials are interactive. Each spot accompanies links that directly connect to any advertiser’s website, granting regional Q-users with exclusive and regional coupons.

Later when Bill’s family arrives back home, the Q will factor in their evening activities as a platform for the weekly community game night, a video chat with good-loser neighbors, completing the kids’ homework and planning a summer excursion.

Journalism that is visual, interactive, highly customized, social and community-based • Convergence of digital technologies and digital lifestyles

For a complete version of this scenario narrative with resource links and analysis www.wkujournalism.com/msp

Storytelling remains integral, the most important aspect of any piece. But now, stories are increasingly aesthetic, championing visuals over prose.