Yahoo Media Group Launches Original News Program

Yahoo Media Group leader Lloyd Braun’s entertainment savvy might encourage expectations that the first original programming from his new unit would be something along those lines. Instead, YMG’s first announcement is in the news arena: Kevin Sites, the TV journalist who gained fame on the internet as a war-blogging reporter for CNN and then for NBC, will cover the world’s war zones for Yahoo. The multimedia “Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone” launches Sept. 26; Sites will work solo on the ground but will have help off-site from a producer and staff at YMG headquarters in Santa Monica.
The LA Times (reg.req.) calls it “the clearest evidence yet that Yahoo feels ready to compete with TV networks for viewers and advertisers.” That may be the case but it should be noted that Yahoo also has gone to some effort to showcase news from traditional media outlets. The idea isn’t to replicate what’s already being done; Yahoo will leave that to other with deeper staffs and broader coverage. As Braun told the LA Times: “We’re presenting an experience that does not exist anywhere else. There will be other voices besides Kevin Sites that take advantage of what this medium has to offer.”
Update: Braun also chatted with the NY Times: “If we execute this the right way, it is a great first step to show people how we can present content in a different kind of way than television.” Yahoo’s goal is to create signature programming across a spectrum — not a news organization.

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