Rajdeep Sardesai's CNN-IBN website
(www.ibnlive.com) homepage
has an innocuous button that highlights
"IBN blogs". These blogs are
sometimes related to what has
appeared on TV, sometimes not.
What is interesting is the level of
interactivity with CNN-IBN viewers.
What is more interesting is that the
blogs seem unpoliced, often selfregulated
by the contributors. The
maximum response noticed by us
thus far is to CNN-IBN's breaking
news coverage of the individual who
immolated himself in full view of
the CNN-IBN camera. This raised
the debate: should the cameraman
have stopped rolling and tried to
prevent the tragedy or should he
have continued with his "job"?
Sardesai sprung forward in defence,
only to be pummeled by a barrage of
responses from irate and different
minded viewers. We reproduce
(with permission) Sardesai's rejoinder
to the responses, and a few,
select responses to the rejoinder.
Why do we reproduce this
exchange? Because we are intrigued
by where this exercise could end up.
Could the opinion of the letter writers
cause a channel to change tack?
Could the writers define the stance,
and indeed, a positioning and segmentation
for the channel - and create
a community of loyalists?
Impact also spoke to Sardesai on
his views on the glasnost.
What is the role that you expect the blogs on CNN IBN to
play?
a) in the short run - story by story.
Blogs create a strong basis for interactivity. They enable the viewer in
a sense to feel more "involved" with the journalist doing the story; to
that extent, a blog on a story enables the viewer to "connect" to a story
b) in the long run - for the channel
We want our journalists to be more than just people who do P-To-Cs
on camera. We want them to express themselves, relate to their audiences
more closely, more intimately. A blog in the long run is part of
this process -- its part of our commitment to create a "journalist-driven"
channel
Do you think this interaction with your viewers will "hand
over" some degree of editorial control to the viewer?
A blog doesn't hand over control, but makes journalism a two way
process, based on constant feedback from audiences. Channels often
"talk down" to viewers. We don't.
What was your initial expectation of the effectiveness of the
blogs, and could you compare it vis-à-vis the actual experience?
I had no idea initially how effective blogs would be, but it's turned
out to a real differentiator. It's creating an entirely new audience for us,
its giving our website a feel of genuine interactivity.
Could you compare blogs with Letters to the Editor in the
newspaper/ magazine paradigm?
I think blogs go even beyond letters to the editor. Not only do they
give viewers a chance to express themselves to a story, they create a
process of constant engagement between journalist and viewer. And
that's what we want to intensify at CNN-IBN.
