Wednesday, May 21, 2008

yourweek: reddit-powered television news

I've been looking forward to this announcement ever since we started talking with PBS (public broadcasting here in the USA) about YourWeek early this year. Here's the Valleywag and NewTeeVee coverage.

It's a weekly television news program powered by you (really). Material for the show will come from hot stories on the reddit front page every week. Meta discussions about that content and the show itself will all take place at yourweek.reddit, so please submit all your wittiest and smartest comments there. And don't worry, the pilot (and hopefully all the future shows) will be available online.

Whereas traditional television new stories end once the show airs, YourWeek -- like reddit -- will just be the beginning. Throughout the week you'll be able to share your thoughts on yourweek.reddit and followup with content you think was missed or corrections that should be made.

We're hoping to get some content directly from you, the reddit community in the final days of this week. We're curious to hear what you think about lab-grown meat, NFL cheerleaders in Bangalore, and your most boring job - ever. These are just a few of the reddit headlines that are being produced for the pilot.

Also, if you're musically inclined, we're partnering with JamGlue to remix the YourWeek theme song -- for prizes. The tracks of the original and all the music editing tools you'll need are all there on the site. I suspect it won't be long before we get a RickRoll remix...

We're finishing taping on the pilot this weekend and I can confirm that the reddit alien will be getting on-camera time. Oh, and we've even got a fellow redditor (hueypriest) working on the production end with us. Our antennae tingle with excitement.



And here's the press release version of what I just said:

YOUR WEEK is the beta version of a planned interactive public television and internet show from WETA Washington, D.C. and funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It's hosted by Michelle Cottle and Rich Lowry and powered by reddit (yep, that's us). YOUR WEEK covers politics, arts, international, science, tech, social, sports, and pop culture. The Web feeds the show, the show feeds the Web, and anyone who wishes can get involved at any time to view, vote, rate, tag, comment, contribute, and learn. Visit us online at http://www.yourweek.org or http://yourweek.reddit.com
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