The Media Management Center at Northwestern University recently came out with a report called “Six Competencies of the Next Generation News Organizations“.

The introduction scopes the report’s objective:

Advances in technology continue to spur great innovation in media — especially in the news industry. At the same time, these rapid-fire innovations have upended the ways in which news is gathered and distributed and threaten the financial core of the news business. This study seeks to identify technology trends that will have an important impact on the future of news reporting and delivery in the near term. Like a scout surveying the frontier ahead, this report also explores technologies to come and recommends ways news organizations can prepare themselves for ongoing and impending change.

While I can’t say the 92-page tomb is an easy read the recommendations around six capabilities that news organizations must build or strengthen to compete in the changing media landscape did catch my attention.

Lo and behold one of the six capabilities captured is “The Complete Storyteller.” 

I think we can all agree that the ”Incomplete Storyteller” is not the way to go.

When YouTube debuted, I remember thinking what’s all the fuss?

You obviously don’t want me reading tarot cards at the local county fair.

Universal McCann’s study on social media on video traction shows that more than 80 percent of Internet users watch video online:

With that said, I don’t know if anyone predicted that video would transcend the short-term gratification of youth and become a mainstay of business communications. Virtually every media product – from The New Yorker to The New York Times to EE Times – now showcases video.

The state of video creation today reminds me of the early days of desktop publishing when PostScript and the laser printer essentially put the tools of the designer, typographer and printing press at the disposal of the masses.

Not a pretty picture.

You see the same dynamic with business videos as everyone jumps on the bandwagon.

Like the early days of desktop publishing, most people don’t have basic video skills much less the ability to tell a story through video.

Back to EE Times (targets an engineering audience), take a quick look at a recent video in which the reporter Mark LaPedus interviews an executive from Global Unichip Corp.

I venture to say the only people who watched all 399 “scintillating” seconds were Global Unichip employees.

I know LaPedus, and he’s a damn good reporter. No doubt the powers that be at EE Times have charged their reporters with creating videos but have neglected that one small detail called training.

On the positive side, compelling videos in the business realm are finding their way to various media platforms. And thanks to increasing demand, there’s a huge opportunity for those who can package a compelling yarn on video.