News at your fingertips

(Editor’s Note: While Bibsy Carballo is on her month-long annual vacation abroad, representatives from the three networks will alternate in writing Live Feed: Butch Raquel for Kapuso, Peachy Guioguio for Kapatid and Kane Choa for Kapamilya. Every now and then, Bibsy will email a story from wherever in Europe she is.)

The first news stories were carried aboard ships that sailed the high seas and brought back to their homeports. These were stories of what was happening elsewhere in the globe that took months to literally get the information that would decidedly impact the lives of thousands, if not millions.

Today, news plays the same role, in its ability to transform people’s lives, guide the course of humankind and societies, and open our eyes to what is out there beyond the limited circles that define our community, our affiliations and our professions. The main difference is that we do not have to wait for news anymore; through the workings of digital technology, news can come to us at the speed of a light.

This is what TV5’s revolutionary online portal called News5Everywhere (N5E via http://news5.com.ph) is all about. The cloud-based online video management platform allows all Internet-capable devices, real-time access to news as it happens and as documented by NEWS5’s reporters. It also serves as a springboard for live-streaming services for NEWS5 journalists reporting from places that are not reached by the conventional communication grid. Anyone with a cellphone or PC tablet, wherever he or she may be, could have live news feed delivered in a couple or so keystrokes. N5E turns the expression, “reporting to you live” on its head, seemingly transforming the viewer as if he/she was on the scene himself/herself.

N5E complements NEWS5’s operations by integrating audience preferences and interests across various media to deliver TV5’s unique brand of journalism and public service that is indeed Higit sa balita, AKSYON. What this creates is not just an informed public but one that is also more socially engaged. This revolutionary technology is what chairman Manny V. Pangilinan had in mind when he acquired TV5. “We have been discussing about convergence for almost a decade now and with N5E, we are seeing that this will be the start of more convergence projects in the near future.”

One audience group that would feel right at home with N5E and news at their beck and call are today’s digital kids —  born by the time the Internet first made its presence felt, and 20 or so years later had grown literally with the binary code between their ears. Take the case of Miguel Ordonez, your typical, everyday netizen who keeps his social media activities dynamic. He posts his thoughts on Twitter, updates his status on Facebook and uploads photos of his gimmicks on Instagram. He is so connected in the cyberworld that his only source of news and information is the Internet. I guess Miguel represents the millions of millennial babies who were suckled at birth by these state-of-the-art technologies. They are the generation who has learned the myriad byways of the virtual world faster than they could learn the traditional languages of their elders or how to read a book.

N5E comes at a time when young Filipinos have begun to stir and make their wishes heard and their votes counted at the polls. Let us just take the last 2010 elections in which young people, many of whom were voting for the first time, had turned up in huge numbers to vote. With this 2013 elections, my fervent hopes are high that they will once again show their strength in both dedication and numbers by voting again in their millions and make a difference in the way politics is seen in this country. According to NEWS5 chief Luchi Cruz-Valdes, “With NEWS5, TV5 is able to leverage the power of both media and technology in making the news accessible to everyone. The platform is designed to encourage more citizens to share their perspectives on the news, which will help empower them to become more responsible and vigilant members of society.” 

During the press launch of N5E, the crowd of press people, bloggers and business executives led by MVP were treated to a preview of how this new platform works through a demonstration by news anchor Martin Andanar, project head of N5E. We witnessed how an ordinary citizen can easily become a citizen journalist by submitting a video, or for example, an on-going fire in the neighborhood together with his/her narration of events. “The ordinary man on the street is empowered to contribute his story provided that he has a smartphone or an android that is Internet-capable,” according to Andanar. To further demonstrate the versatility of N5E as a news platform, TV5 host Manu Sandejas, using his iPhone5 and LTE connection, did a stand in somewhere in Makati, reported the goings-on in his vicinity, and was clearly viewed online.

Above everything else, N5E  is part of the vision and direction set by ABC Development Corporation chairman MVP, which sees the Kapatid Network leading the charge towards a digital future for the Filipino driven by state-of-the-art technology infrastructure and quality user content.

Today, as the nation troops to the polls, Cruz-Valdes promises the viewers that News5’s Pagbabago 2013 will bring the most comprehensive, multi and trans-media coverage of the polls from various sites across the country with the power of News5Everywhere. For the nation’s young people, like Miguel, this could be an opportunity to be a part of history by using a technology he had grown to love and help make this elections fair and honest throughout the archipelago. He can easily become an on-site citizen journalist, by reporting live, on the goings-on this Election Day via the revolutionary new medium of N5E.