Monday, March 29, 2010

TV going videojournalism


David's back in the Mid East this month helping state broadcasters with plans and logistics to set up videojournalism in their newsroom

In many ways television news is as close to videojournalism as football is to field hockey. Both sports I love by the way, which have a ball at the centre of play.

That's why any announcement about television going videojournalism creates such a fuss. As a former network television producer, I get the arguments.

Yet I also know where videojournalism, IMVJ or cineVJ as I call it can play a huge part and I'm looking forward to what results the PhD research I'm involved in yields.

I have been practicing and writing about it in trade magazines since 1994. These screen grabs below come from a 2001 edition of the magazine "Producers". I'll provide a link for you to download later in the week.

Videojournalism's sole gain is not necessarily its soloism, though it's a strong feature. One of its true zeitgeist is enabling the practitioner to perceive what works where and how to accomplish it.

Think of it as the mechanic who has a good grasp of a cross range of cars. My local mechanic knows cars like the back of his hand; he builds them and also races them.

So its with great excitement - finally the point of this post - that I'm back in the Mid East this month working with a state broadcasters on maximising videojournalism in their newsroom.

And believe me it's not just a news gathering, more cameras to spare, exercise.




David writing in The Producers about a new world order in 2001. Videojournalism is tool agnostic. In the rh shot I'm shooting with a digibeta 700.