Television broadcasting takes another hit at The Republican Convention. Google Hangouts are another nail in the broadcaster coffin.

Another nail arrives in the coffin of Television news broadcasting.
It's called Google hangouts.

What once was the exclusive domain of the Television networks, is now fully open to citizens and with encouragement from Google, they used it at length from The Republican Party Convention. Without the need to call "lights, action, make up", a whole new breed of citizens reported back live about the convention.

No trucks, no cables and no, media types.

Standing in front of small cameras or smartphones they did their report, their piece to camera, just in the style of Sky News, Fox or CBS. Some perhaps were a little unpolished - but that will come in time and some broadcasts were a bit, well, "fuzzy" but so too will that be corrected.

We are so used to Skype and dodgy cameraphone pics, that perhaps there is an honesty about this type of broadcasting. The fact that it's not manufactured, means it's real.

However, in return, what we got was honest news from honest attendees and the start of a technical revolution where "ordinary" people will become adapt at sending pictures back live via streaming networks. And easy it is.

Indeed. Google I suppose, is now a TV network in its own right with video "journalists" literally in every street, every home. Whilst the quality might not just be up to standard yet, it will be and one wonders how traditional TV stations are going to compete with this?

The answer is they can't unless they got involved in creating their own citizen network which they haven't and they won't. They see the intenet as a threat and so they pooh-pooh it and run away whilst their newspaper competitors embrace it and jump onboard. It is newspapers that will be the new TV.

Whilst Google isn't a "content company" (like Streamabout), it is a network that facilitates the distribution of content and although not quite "there yet" it's well on the way. The Huffington Post Live is one of the great early adopters of this type of hangout news.  And I blogged here about that recently http://streamabout.blogspot.ie/2012/08/tv-broadcasters-watch-out-newspapers.html

See what you think and then ponder the future for TV news.
Then think about Netflix and the future of TV entertainment.
Then think about Apple TV and the future of TV companies.
And wonder how they let it all get past them.

 

Peepol.tv gets funding to start citizen journalism news. This could change everything.

News is transforming and video of news is transforming too.
Irish publishers already understand the issues and are dealing with it.


But here's a brand new citizen journalism concept called Peepol.tv which is stunning. Stunning. Here's the url they're working with at the moment http://publiclaboratory.com:3019/ and yes, early early stages.


Just awarded funding by the Knight Foundation, who focus on funding media innovation and freedom of expression. Since 2007, they've invested over 100m usd in new technology ideas although largely with a focus on fostering democracy. They believe that open and honest news gathering, is key to creating a better, open society and so they support ideas financially, in that space. And I'm pretty sure, on a non-profit basis. 


The Knight Brothers themselves, are former US Newspaper owners, so they understand the role that news plays. Indeed, we've seen the role of social media news recently in nurturing revolution through the Arab Spring, Syria and others.


Felipe Heusser is the driver behind Peepol.tv and he was motivated when student protestors took to the streets of his home, Santiago, Chile, last year. He felt the press covered the darker side and to give his fellow Chileans a more "unfiltered" view, he attached his iphone to a helium balloon and sent it high above the streets, live streaming the events back to a server. (photo thanks to Niemanlab).

Within an hour, it was viewed by 10,000 and then, he saw the mainstream media embedding his content in their own websites. In fact, I saw the footage on Sky News for example. That event inspired his idea to extend it through Peepol.tv and now, he has the funding to start it.


Using mapping too, it allows you to view live streamed citizen journalism of events across the world. And, by embedding Twitter feeds for example, allows others to make comments on what they're seeing. Importantly too, he can encourage more citizens to get to something that's happening and start filming to stream it back.


This changes everything.


They are creating an App that's quick to open and immediately starts streaming the footage back. Which also means, that if the Police take your phone it won't matter, the footage has already been streamed back.


Although not trained journalists as such, this type of video news has massive potential as more and more citizens sign in and start filming. A new TV network based on news gathering. And they'll extend to other events such as Concerts, Sports, Traffic or anything making it real easy for others to watch exactly what's going on - as it happens.


Apart from the high and lofty democratization ideals, utterly important as they absolutely are, it has the potential to be a real game changer. 


There are issues - libel potential being only one, copyright being another - but there are also no limitations.


Peepol.tv is possibly the new face of news. Or one new face.
They have an idea, they have funding, it works (we know it does because Streamabout is a live streamer too) and we expect to see it within months.


Congratulations to the Knight Brothers too for having the foresight and more importantly, for giving something back in encouraging businesses like this.


A stunning leap forward.


Remember, you heard it here first.