With experience at Corbis and MSNBC.com, Brian Storm says his time in mainstream media taught him what he needed to create MediaStorm, the multimedia story creation station noted for its quality production and innovative model.
At The Poynter Institute on June 8, Storm shared his ideas for creating an encouraging model for journalism in his keynote addresses to the Poynter Six-week Summer Program for Recent College Graduates and the High School Journalism program.
In an interview (which you can watch below), Storm discussed his vision for MediaStorm, storytelling and the future of journalism. While many news organizations are struggling to sustain online economic viability, Storm points out examples of what some organizations are doing to get on the right track — including finding new ways to reach their audience. In one year, Media Storm saw an increase of 500 percent in traffic to its site — with no money spent on marketing of any kind — mainly through bloggers virally sharing stories.
Storm has developed unconventional ways for MediaStorm to make money — including putting some of the multimedia stories they produce into an eBay-style marketplace where news organizations bid on the rights to run the content on their sites.
Storm’s vision for the future of journalism is optimistic. “How can you kill something that people will do for free?”
You can watch the complete interview (26 minutes) below:
Or, you can watch excerpts of the video here:
- What is your vision for Media Storm?
- How can news organizations become economically viable?
- How can news organizations produce higher-quality breaking news coverage?
- What are news organizations doing that is on the right track?
- What skills do future journalists need to thrive in newsrooms now and in the future?
- MediaStorm saw a 500 percent increase in traffic in the past year. What was the marketing plan?
- What tools are you using to extend your brand beyond Mediastorm.org?
- What do you envision for the future of journalism?
- Where do you find inspiration online?