The Multimedia Newsroom gave KU graduate Roger McCoy a warm homecoming when he returned to KU and his hometown for a class reunion. McCoy, a reporter with the 10 Investigates unit at WBNS-10TV Eyewitness News in Columbus, Ohio, visited classes to speak about his converged news experience. Before coming to Columbus, McCoy had anchored and reported at WIBW-TV, Topeka, KCTV-TV, Kansas City, WKBD-TV, Detroit and WILX-TV Lansing.
In Columbus, he reports for broadcast and turns his investigative reports into print stories for The Columbus Dispatch, but not every story he investigates gets into print. But, he added, those stories that do cross media have a bigger audience and more clout.
"Convergence can keep eyeballs with your product," McCoy said.
Every outlet that publishes a converged story, means more people see the reporter's work. McCoy said about 17,000 people saw a story aired on television, but a cross-platform story was viewed by about 200,000 people.
Future journalists should realize that convergence makes the journalist's role even more valuable because they have the opportunity to reach a larger audience, McCoy told students. And, he added, sources respect that power.
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