20 Apr 08 Today’s Interactive Feature: ‘How the Pentagon Spread Its Message’ (NYT)

The New York Times has a pretty hard-hitting article today by David Barstow about how the Pentagon and the Bush administration used military analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance.

Politics aside, the interactive feature included with the story really brings what could be a confusing and convoluted story and turns it into a coherent narrative. Using a combination of stock video from media outlets, animated graphics and an audio narrative, the story is told in a short, three-act structure. They almost follow a movie’s three-act structure, an impressive feat in just 12 minutes of content. Though it does bog down in the middle (they needed a love interest or something), it does keep you engaged and you want to watch all three pieces.

Also of note is the ‘Document Archive’ item at the bottom. It’s self-explanatory but it is a nice addition to the story, especially the copies of the memos and transcripts the article references. All are viewable in the Flash window or you can download them as PDFs.

An impressive package all around.

Now, a bit of a disclaimer. I’m going to try and stray away from the big three (or four) papers when looking at these interactive features from now on. It’s no surprise that the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and LA Times can churn out great interactive packages when they have a lot more resources than most. So, in the future, I’m going to try and be a little more intrepid and seek out features that smaller and lesser known news organizations are doing. Sometimes the best stuff comes out of where you would least expect it.

CREDITS: David Barstow, Gabriel Dance, Michele Monteleone, Amy O’Leary/The New York Times

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Tags: Interactive, journalism, new media