Japan's earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis is perhaps one of the biggest natural and chemical disasters of the century. The country can't catch a break. While relief efforts are under way, they most likely won't commence for a long while.
In the midst of this disaster and all of the reporting and documentation, I couldn't help but notice the large amount of digital coverage. In light of competition, news organizations suddenly had an optimal way to increase their website hits and draw in viewers.
Who has the most recent information? The best pictures? Video?
I decided to take a look at The New York Times, MSNBC, and CNN's digital strategy in attracting "news-goers" to their website, opposed to others.
The New York Times was the only website of the three to feature a blog dealing with the latest news, pictures, and videos to surface from the disaster. I find this to be a very effective strategy in inticing viewers to stay and click through information because it is in a conversational and brief format.
I also liked how MSNBC did an entire page dedicated to the diaster. If you look at the page, you will see tha they feature the most breaking news or major news story of the day, in addition to a database featuring all of the news articles that they have already published on the issue.They also have a video database that is really effective because it is extremely accessible and organized.
I wasn't too impressed by CNN's strategy in featuring news on Japan. It was a bit more difficult to find the information on Japan first of all. Secondly, once I found a section devoted to the diaster in Japan, it was not organized as effectively as I feel it could've been. A video archive was the first digital media I stumbled upon while searching the website. Aside from this, I had to really dig to find the news articles on the subject. After clicking through some headlines I finally found a relevant article. It was only after I found this article that a database of videos and articles appeared on the side of my screen that were related to the disaster.
The most easily accessible and well-rounded news organization to cover the disasters in Japan in a digital format was definitely MSNBC in my opinion.
It's also interesting to note that YouTube became a leading source of information when videos began to appear that were created by citizen journalists. You can watch home videos of the tsunami on YouTube and witness first hand the true devestation this disaster has brought to Japan. With some videos having over 6 million hits, it has become one of the most popular ways for viewers to consume information.
