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Rome News Tribune Bio Feature Video Series
Scroll down to get started. The info below is a brief backstory. The video links below it have no RFN commentary.
Like alot of newspapers across the country, the Rome News Tribune has been on a steady decline for various reasons but
especially due to the internet changing the way information is delivered. Newspapers can no longer hold information until they
decided when to release it or for the sole purpose of selling a print copy (old news) a day later. A story posted by another
local business news website revealed that RNT is in serious financial distress facing foreclosure on several buildings
occupied by the paper along with other legal troubles NOT mentioned by the RNT in their own modest self-report.
New Year's Day 2013, RNT finally came clean announcing it was filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The day before, there was a
"secret" meeting held with employees but again RNT failed to break its own big announcement because the "secret" meeting was
leaked on another website at least 15 hrs ealier. Then early that morning, RFN informed thousands about it before RNT posted
it on its own website 9 hours later so it could sell the info to the public first. To see RNT's BIG announcement along with
some incredible wishful thinking, click HERE.
The 12 video links below are located under each set of video preview excerpts.
Considering RNT's extreme efforts to keep their operations & strategies internal and secret over the decades, the publicizing
of the video content in the candid behind the scenes feature below is highly unusual, not to mention arrogant considering
their market size, their continually degrading product and the state of the industry in general. It clearly demonstrates that
RNT management up to the highest level is not in touch with reality which could at least partly explain why they are in their
current situation. This RNT feature is believed to have been produced around the end of 2010 so it reflects knowledge & opinions
at that time which hasn't changed much, if any. Why RNT management would appear on camera and make such foolish statements is
beyond comprehension. So why is this info important for you to see? Well, it clearly shows
that they think they know how all of us think and what's good for us by replying to questions like "what
would happen if RNT went away?" with answers like, "The biggest problem is that people just
wouldn't know about anything". Apparently, these oracles aren't aware that the internet provides unlimited sources
of local and world news & not just RNT's version or copy & paste of it. The order of video selections starts from the top
management position to the lowest because we all know BS rolls down hill. Be sure to watch ALL of the Alred videos. If the
arrogant statements he makes aren't funny enough, his immitation of a living Homer Simpson bobble head doll (see
for yourself >> here)
will do the trick. He also seems to be quite nervous alot of the time, especially when mentioning all of us "others" that
he claims don't even exist by the way. Please spare everyone of the trauma Mr Alred, please, oh please stay BEHIND the cameras
because you do NOT have the on-screen talent or the "look" to be in front of them. Scroll down to get started.
RNT Backgrounder (.PDF)
OTIS RAYBON VIDEO 1 PREVIEW EXCERPTS:
(1:27) ". . . It's very important to us that our front page be local news. It's gotta be a very big story for our front page
of RNT and the same way with our weekly papers to not be local news. We think that's what differentiates us from the 6p news
. . . and even online."
(2:20) ". . . I'm not sure that we all understand just what hyperlocal means . . . we try to, using our website and our newspapers
give our readers and our audience a great perspective and a great view of what's happening in their community . . . It could
be a kindergarten graduation . . . we probably have more than 5000 local produced videos such as kindergarten graduations,
breaking news events . . . a bank robber being chased & taken from a wooded area for arrest"
(3:40) ". . . if we ever lose that understanding that we have to build a sense of community . . . then I think that's when we
begin to lose to the internet and to the cable and whatever else is out there."
RNT Publisher: Otis Raybon
Intro and Contribution (6:06)
OTIS RAYBON VIDEO 2 PREVIEW EXCERPTS:
(1:35) (Could a digital-revenues-only operation support a quality newsroom?) "A digital only operation may make money. I
don't think it would make enough money to support the infrastructure that's needed to produce the daily news operation that
RNT produces. The revenue model, the business model for online has yet to convince me that it's strong enough to sustain 180
full time employees."
(2:35) "all things combined cost alot of money and I just don't see yet, the benefit to an advertiser as strong as the benefit
that that newspaper brings to that advertiser."
VIDEO 2: Strategic Changes (7:40)
OTIS RAYBON VIDEO 3 PREVIEW EXCERPTS:
(2:53) ". . . We've got reporters that take video cameras with them that in addition to shooting a still photo that's going
to be printed in the paper, they can do a video that capture's the heart of what your interview is doing and you put that
online, you put sound with that. . . . get as diverse an eduction as you possibly can because when you get here, we're going
to give you another education."
VIDEO 3: Adaptation & the Future (2:56)
VIDEO 4: Prospects and Preparation (3:43)
RNT Editor in Chief: Charlotte Atkins
Introduction and Contribution (7:52)
VIDEO 2: Ethics & Content (7:03)
VIDEO 3: Strategic Changes (6:21)
CHARLOTTE ATKINS VIDEO 4 PREVIEW EXCERPTS:
(:17) ". . . I'm really sick and tired of hearing about the death of newspapers"
(4:40) ". . . I do think newspapers have a primary responsibility as the originators of content but I suspect we're going to
find ourselves more in the role of curators of helping people navigate the other information that's out there . . . validating
what is the important news and what is the accurate news from just all the other noise that might be out there because any
Tom, Dick and Sally can get online and have a blog or a website and I like to give our readers credit for knowing the difference."
VIDEO 4: Adaptation & the Future (5:40)
CHARLOTTE ATKINS VIDEO 5 PREVIEW EXCERPTS:
(2:49) ". . . fortunately here, I've had bosses who have been committed to keeping feet on the street and actually augmenting
staff and creating a multimedia department at a time when others have been cutting back . . . We've faced the same struggles
but not by slashing staff."
(3:21) ". . . young journalists need the curiosity and that drive to want to tell those stories is what's going to seperate
them I think."
VIDEO 5: Prospects & Preparation (3:43)
JIM ALRED VIDEO 1 PREVIEW EXCERPTS:
(2:14) "Alot of people when they get into journalism, they want to go cover the big leagues and I was that way at one time too.
But now it's the case of I want to go out and cover the great things"
(2:30) "When I got here video was almost non-existent on our website, since I've been here we've produced almost 3000 videos"
(4:08) (What would be the effect if your newspaper were to close and not be replaced?) "The biggest problem is that people
just wouldn't know about anything. I'll be honest, there are 2 or 3 blog sites that have tried to come in to our territory
and there's one that does business news, fairly well. They've tried to do prep sports and failed miserably at that. One tries
to do video and puts a couple of videos up per month. I think the biggest crying shame about it would be that these events that
we think are so important, nobody would ever know about. The only recordings of them would be whatever the parents did . . .
You know we have professional videographers going out, recording these"
(5:57) "I mean it's like ESPN showed up. We're not ESPN quality, I never pretend we are"
(6:13) "If we go away, you lose all of it. Because no matter how someone tries, they're not going to be able to do what we do."
RNT New Media Director: Jim Alred
Introduction and Contribution (6:07)
JIM ALRED VIDEO 2 PREVIEW EXCERPTS:
(:20) ". . . I spent about six months at the college campus tv station"
(:51) ". . . to be honest, I had never done any HTML coding at all . . . I'd be sitting there saying what am I doing here? . . .
I kind of felt like a trained monkey . . . it was a very big learning curve . . . those same HTML codes learned years ago
are extremely important to what we do on a daily basis . . . HTML is getting outdated"
(2:31) (What additional skills will be needed for a new media job in the next 3 - 4 yrs?)
(4:05) ". . . get interships, hey come work for me! I'll train you up on everything, you'll get to work with an Emmy nominated
crew"
(4:20) ". . . The more you know, the better chance you have of getting hired."
VIDEO 2: Skills (4:28)
JIM ALRED VIDEO 3 PREVIEW EXCERPTS:
(1:11) ". . . We've got to think we're big and we've got to act like we're big because if not, we're going to get left behind"
VIDEO 3: Adaptation & the Future (4:52)
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