MAY 14 — I’ve noticed that, in recent times, so many online news sites have emerged in Malaysia. It’s like I just woke up one morning and the number of people holding grey-coloured press tags at press conferences increased threefold.

It’s a great thing of course. It just means that the news industry in Malaysia is developing. And in fact, it is also democratising since many of these websites seem to be giving a relatively equal representation of the news.

I’m enjoying this. I have a menu to choose from every day when I need to get my current-affairs fix. And I know exactly where to go for whatever kind of information I’m in the mood for.

The only beef I have is the fact that many of these New Media organisations are not fully utilising the tools that are available through the online medium. Well, not enough anyway.  

Many of these websites tend to be like a traditional newspaper. There are texts, some photos, and not much else. So why should anyone even bother going to New Media if there’s nothing new to it.

What I really mean is presenting the news in a multimedia way. Don’t make the news site just an electronic version of a newspaper. If that is the case, the only advantage of being online is that it saves trees.

It’s really very simple. Reporters that go out pursuing stories just need to carry with them one slightly decked-out mobile phone. By decked out, it needs to have still photo and video capabilities. Forget professional video cameras and SLRs.

The reporter doesn’t need to do anything more than what he or she is already doing. Attending press conferences, conducting interviews, etc., still go on as normal. No additional job specification is needed.

The only thing that is needed is for the reporter to hold up that mobile phone during a press conference or an interview. Make sure that the video recording function is on and just press record. After that, use the same mobile phone and snap some photos.

Once the reporter feels that he or she has gotten enough information, go back and write the story. While writing the story, choose a couple of interesting clips from the recorded video to complement the story. Same thing with the photos.

There is definitely no need for sophisticated video editing. Let it be a straight, unedited clip. If anything, news is supposed to be real and raw anyway. So now, you have an article, with accompanying video and a couple of photos. Truly multimedia.

I know that some news organisations might say that hosting videos and such would increase their bandwidth, hence increasing the total operating expenditure of their organisation.

Come on. There are so many free video-hosting sites on the Internet that allow for embedding. Do you really need me to name them? I didn’t think so.

It makes a world of a difference to me when I’m reading an article online and I get to see a few pictures that illustrate the story, and also see one or two video clips of an interviewee actually saying the words that are being quoted in the article.

Simple, ain’t it? Can I collect my consultation fee now?

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.