'New York Times' to increase distribution of video news

Broadcast news is getting a serious new competitor. “The New York Times” is increasing video distribution beyond its Web site.

In a keynote address last week at Streaming Media East 2007 in New York, Martin Nisenholtz, senior VP of digital operators at the newspaper, said the “Times” intends to increase its video audience by four to five times during the next 18 months by allowing blogs to embed video.

What started as an operation to create video for the newspaper’s Web site has grown to about 25 people now integrated into the “Times” newsroom.

Reluctant print reporters are now carrying cameras into the field, Nisenholtz said, noting that the journalists now create more than 100 video segments that are distributed in 5 million streams each month.

Nisenholtz said the “Times” was not competing with CNN or MSNBC, emphasizing that the newspaper is pursuing probing pieces and news analysis.