On Non-profits Becoming the Media

Human Rights Watch is beginning to bypass the middle man (i.e. the press) in favor of making their own approachable content. 

From the MIT Media Lab:

The organization now produces multimedia releases, with edited and disaggregated formats of video available. News editors can grab finished, produced pieces, or take and use raw footage for their own pieces. We watch a BBC story that makes use of HRW-provided video as well as a live interview with a HRW correspondent.

Nieman Lab published a story today on HRW’s deputy executive director for external relations, Carrol Bogert, a former journalist for Newsweek.

Here’s what Justin Ellis wrote:

Mimicking the look and quality of journalism increases the chances of their message getting across, Bogert said. “It’s meant to look like a wire service story, so that when it arrives in the inbox of a wire service reporter, it moves seamlessly into the mainstream media,” she said.

And it’s working. Bogert said HRW’s media mentions rose steadily in 2012, appearing in The New York Times almost daily. Stories from Human Rights Watch appear in Google News alongside other headlines. Broadcasters like the BBC and Britain’s Channel 4 have aired its video. They’ve also won a Peabody award for their multimedia.

Here’s an example, and it’s a good one: an interactive on Syrian torture centers that includes a video with interviews of former detainees, a map highlighting specific torture centers, and a full report on researcher and reporter findings.

FJP: Bravo!

(Source: futurejournalismproject)