A Scanner's Lament

I like to scan the news.  Since I often read a couple of newspapers, see news online on Yahoo, Bing and various other sources, and listen to newscasts when I am driving, I tend to scan the news, looking for something new or something of particular interest to me.

Earlier this week, I opened what I thought was an online news story on something I was mildly interested in.  Expecting to see a written story flash across my screen, I was surprised instead to be greeted by the loud (read obnoxious) opening music of a video report on the story.

I know that everyone is supposed to prefer video in these You Tube inspired days.  I know that I am a pariah for not having short videos on my website or a link to a YouTube channel for the organizations I work for.  And I am not immune to the power of a well crafted video.  But most of the time, I would prefer to read things.

Videos have their very important place in the communication tool box..  They are excellent for persuasive and emotional messages, wonderful for entertainment purposes, and unparallelled for providing a record of significant events.

But as a means to relay a news story, I don't think videos make sense. There are several things I don't like about news stories in video form:

• The video often just involves talking heads.  There is nothing of additional value provided in many news vlogs.
• Videos have sound.  I am often reading the news at times or in places that make a blaring soundtrack disruptive and insensitive or just plain embarrassing.  Most often, there is no indication as to whether the news story you are opening is written or amplified.
• Related to the above, if I want to learn the latest on the debt ceiling, or Lindsey Lohan, I don't need the person at the next table at Starbucks to know.
• For videos to be a viable option, you need to be able to watch them without constant buffering and delays.  Bandwidth availability can be a significant issue.  With slow bandwidth (or heavy use) videos are usually just an excuse to get frustrated because they either don't play or they stop every few seconds to buffer.
• You can't scan video.  You can't listen to just the sub headlines.  You have to listen to all or most of it, often to find out, it didn't involve Lindsey Lohan at all!
• Vlogs, which are video blogs, can be very entertaining, but the are usually more about the vlogger than about any particular topic.

So, if you are considering a video version of your next newsletter or doing a video newscast

, please consider those of us who who woudl rather "Read All About It!"