LEANN BURKE / THE DEPUAUW
In a New York Times article titled “Vox and BuzzFeed Obtain Interviews With Obama,” writer Sydney Ember explains how these interviews “are a further sign of the Obama administration’s efforts to connect with millennials and broaden its reach beyond traditional media outlets.” The fact that these news sources have landed interviews with the President of the United States of America is a huge step in journalism’s evolution.
Ember says these organizations “are both leveraging Facebook to publicize the conversations,” and that BuzzFeed “plans to post video of Mr. Obama exclusively on Facebook.” What makes these interviews different from a typical Presidential interview is how these media sites take full advantage of a digital platform. CNN or Fox need not house our nation’s political discourse. Now, YouTube and Facebook can.
Regarding the efficacy of this interview style, there are some pros and cons we need to evaluate. Let’s start with the bad: digital media is so fast and frequent that it often desensitizes the readers to the significance of a news story, as more and more stories continue to pile into the servers. It also seems likely that reading news on a digital format can lead to lower reading retention, as Twitter and Facebook are only a few clicks away on a phone or computer. Another key drawback to digital journalism is the fact that it is a less established platform for intensive, meaningful content.
The golden age of celebrated journalists like Woodward and Bernstein has ended. Who will replace them on the battlefield of hard-hitting journalism? Who will become the champions of the journalism’s contemporary era? Ezra Klein of Vox and Ben Smith of BuzzFeed seemed to have answered the call to arms.
While digital media could be too fast, it still is fast, lightning fast even. Information can spread across the world in literal minutes; this power of our human civilization cannot be underestimated. The accessibility inherent in our digital age allows societies to enhance their education and political awareness. And while digital journalism is still earning its wings, so to speak, it has a lot of room to grow, especially in an aesthetic sense.
Multimedia is evolving rapidly, and great evidence of this can be found on Vox’s website and on their videos with Obama. Throughout the videos, Vox integrates clean info-graphics that expand upon Obama’s comments. The data is cited in the video and it only enhances the content. As journalists of our own brand, The DePauw is pleased to see such successful integration of multimedia into relevant and important journalism.
Vox has uploaded six videos of their interview with the President to their YouTube page. They range from various topics, such as why Obama is considered a polarizing President and what his goals are for foreign policy. Two videos are extended cuts of the interview: one about American politics and economy at 29 minutes and the other about “the state of the world” at 39 minutes.
BuzzFeed has its own unique spin on the Presidential interview, as they have been reaching out to readers via social media to hear what questions they would like to see the President asked. In this way, the media outlet doing the interviewing is not skewing the questions toward a particular political agenda; in fact, they are making the interview more democratic by taking on the responses from the general public.
Vox and BuzzFeed are digital media sites that are quite popular with millennials, which is why these interviews give younger generations a stronger voice in political and global discussions.