Behind-the-scenes at CTV News Southwestern Ontario

Hey, mainstream media organizations, do you want to build your audience’s trust in you? Appear more transparent? Help them understand the hours of reporting, writing, shooting, editing and interviewing that went into the latest story you published?

Hey, mainstream media organizations, do you want to build your audience’s trust in you? Appear more transparent? Help them understand the hours of reporting, writing, shooting, editing and interviewing that went into the latest story you published?

Why not give them a look behind-the-scenes? That’s what CTV News in Southwestern Ontario has done.

“We get questions all the time about our jobs when we’re out reporting in the field,” Kang said in the segment that introduced a web-exclusive series that gives viewers a look inside the processes of being a journalist. “So, we thought we’d show how everything on the news is put together.”

The first video in the series features video journalist Lee Boyadjian. She explains her day step-by-step – from story meeting to interviews to those last few minutes before 6 o’clock when a story is in its final editing stages.

Matt Kang pitched the idea to his editors to see if producing web-only content would drive traffic.

“In the past, we have featured exclusive web content such as extended video of very visual stories or picture galleries of breaking news events,” Kang said in an email. “However, this content was all based on material already shown on TV.”

The behind-the-scenes footage is the first time they have produced content strictly for the web. And the feedback thus far has been positive.

Along with flattering comments and re-tweets on social media websites, Kang says that Kevin Newman, who writes a daily newsletter to CTV affiliates, applauded it. “He thought it was a great way to build trust between mainstream media oganizations and the audience, and suggested more stations take on a similar project themselves,” Kang said.