Civic Catalyst Newsletter
Summer 2001

Web Cams: A New Take on Getting Fresh Voices

By Jeanne Jakle
San Antonio Express-News TV Writer

San Antonio's Spanish-language television station, KVDA, made international TV history in May by integrating viewers into its newscasts through Web cameras in their homes.

"It's not new to say I watch a channel; it's new to say that channel's watching me," said KVDA vice president and general manager Emilio Nicolas Jr. of the interactive breakthrough that debuted on his 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. news broadcasts.

The aim is to give a voice to folks who may not be heard on the news and to ensure that officials and experts are held accountable by the people they're supposed to serve, said Nicolas.

The new feature, started with funding from the Pew Center, has been named "TeledirectoTV" and is an extension of the station's "Sesenta Directo" news.

Here's how it works: A special coordinator, who'll be funded partially the first year by Pew, will peruse the news line-up. When a story involves an issue affecting one or more of the correspondents, the coordinator will contact their homes and ask them to appear on the news that evening.

When the time comes to participate, the correspondent clicks on a couple of icons to get in. The Web cam (a video camera with a built-in microphone) atop each computer sends the correspondent's live image to a large plasma screen on the set that's situated between KVDA co-anchors Ramiro Sanchez-Cordova and Laura Rojas.

Photo by Jerry Lara, San Antonio Express-News >>

Sharing the screen is a reporter and/or an official or expert on a particular issue. The participants provide input from different points of view.

"We're letting the people speak for themselves on issues important to them," said Nicolas, who stressed that the new program isn't "a gimmick," but a way to flesh out stories. It's nothing like the sound-offs by callers and guests on radio talk shows and TV programs like "Jerry Springer," he added.

Nicolas said he hopes the station will have 100 West Side and South Side "neighborhood correspondents" within a year. The station will choose correspondents on the basis of their involvement and interest in the community.

The station planned to eventually install 40 computers in San Antonio homes. The station kicked off the feature with two homes on the city's West Side that were equipped with computers, software, Web cams and Internet service provided by KVDA.

The first correspondents were Mary Lou Mendoza and Andrea Garza, who are wives and mothers and active in community or church organizations.

Mendoza, who's involved with special education at Loma Park Elementary, was the first to appear on TV sets in city homes. Garza had a test run at KVDA prior to the webcast.

Garza, who works for a dentist and is a volunteer at her church and other organizations, said she was nervous and excited during the test. She said she tried to look at KVDA reporter Ruben Dominguez and the station's co-anchors rather than the unnerving sight of her own face on the computer screen.

"It's good for viewers to hear from regular people like us on issues important to them," Garza said. "It also is an encouragement to others to become more involved in their communities."

Garza also was chosen because she and her husband are battling diabetes, a disease that's prevalent among Hispanics. In medical reports for KVDA, she supplied information on her experience with the disease and her attempts to keep it under control.

The Telemundo affiliate is the first-known station in the world to install computers and Web cams in people's homes for the purpose of integrating them into a news broadcast, Nicolas said.

Nicolas said he hoped that the feature would improve ratings for KVDA, which lags behind Univision affiliate KWEX.

"We want to show people that we're interested in giving them in-depth news and that we care about the community," he said.

In June, Nicolas addressed radio, television and newspaper journalists around the country at a Pew Center workshop in Indianapolis. He gave a progress report on the station's use of the Web cams.

"I wouldn't be surprised if most stations in the country were doing this in some capacity within the next year," Nicolas said. "The technology is simple and by applying it in this way, it adds another dimension to broadcasting by bringing audiences into the mix."

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Copyright 2001 San Antonio Express-News. Reprinted with permission.