The Washington Post has been streaming live video to its Web site since 2001. In that time it has covered shuttle launches, senate hearings and major news conferences.
But for this year's presidential primaries, washingtonpost.com took its commitment to video a step further by building a TV set in the newsroom and broadcasting live and continuously on Super Tuesday for seven hours.
The show had an anchor and cut between studio interviews and live reports from the field. It even featured television staples, such as multiple camera angles and basic graphics.
Rhodes says the Post aims for high production values. Nevertheless, the team is not concerned if a coffee cup is in shot or if an interviewee's tie is loose. "We're not trying to pretend we are television," he says. "It's for the Web, and nothing other than that."
Even so, the challenges of broadcasting a seven-hour show meant that the newspaper had to bring in outside help, hiring a four-man production team and a professional make-up artist. "That meant our staff could focus on editorial content, while the others focused on technical content," says Rhodes.
The broadcast was successful enough for the Post to leave the newsroom TV set in place so that it can cover the remaining primary nights through the end of the campaign. And it plans to use the set for future major events, such as the April papal visit.
Learn more about washingtonpost.com's live webcasting projects in "Live from the Scene: washingtonpost.com
" or return to the main live webcasting article.
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