WSJ launches Worldstream

The Wall Street Journal announced Monday the launch of WSJ WorldStream, a global video news gathering and publishing platform for short-form videos shot via smartphone by journalists from across the global Journal and Dow Jones news organization.

Launching in conjunction with the start of the Republican National Convention this week in Tampa, Fla., WSJ WorldStream is the latest addition to WSJ Live, the Journal’s video initiative, which has launched four new shows in the past year from New York, London, Hong Kong, and Washington, DC.

Available on WSJ.com and as a free web app, WSJ WorldStream is powered by Tout, a San Francisco-based technology company.

“Our video viewership has more than doubled in the past six months to over 20 million streams, and the creation of this video blog is a milestone in the expansion of video at the Journal,” said Alan Murray, deputy managing editor and executive editor, online, for The Wall Street Journal, in a statement. “From Greg White’s footage of riots in Moscow to Jeremy Page’s reporting in China, many of our reporters are demonstrating the opportunity that technology has given them to capture powerful images that enhance their great journalism. We now have the opportunity to deliver that video more quickly and efficiently for use in our rapidly growing video operation.”

Overseen by Wall Street Journal editorial video director Shawn Bender and real-time video deputy Mark Scheffler, WSJ WorldStream consists solely of footage captured on smartphones by Dow Jones and Journal reporters and editors, utilizing the resources of more than 2,000 journalists worldwide. Each video is under a minute, and all footage is reviewed by an editor before being posted to the stream. Using a custom video publishing app from Tout, turnaround time is condensed to just a few minutes between shooting and posting video so that the content can be delivered from the journalists in near real-time.

The videos will be embedded in stories on WSJ.com, incorporated into the Journal’s daily live video programming, used in produced video packages, easily discoverable on Twitter under the hashtag #worldstream, as well as shared and watched on WSJ WorldStream itself.