News-Record.com

Yep, it's just as I thought: the End of the World. Nothing personal, Lex, but this about made me puke.

Hey, while you're there, learn how to be a reporter in just 5 easy steps! No really, if you're an English speaker, you're qualified to be a journalist! The whole world is just waiting with baited breath to see what you have to (film) say! Why get it from the newspaper when you could get it from your next door neighbor? No skills or craft required - just the desire to put shit out there is all you need!

Puke, puke, puke.

Chewie, journalism does have its means and mores -- Andrew Cline of Rhetoria.net likes the term "discipline of verification," which I think pretty much gets at it -- but it is not rocket science in either the literal or metaphoric senses.

That said, instructions on how to shoot better video could be helpful whether or not someone ever intends to commit journalism, and it is in that spirit that I linked to the site.

Mild indigestion, perhaps, but puking three times strikes me as an overreaction. :-)

Funniest Home Videos maybe, journalism, no. While I too am offended by the notion that a quickie, Cliff Notes review can replace a degree, years of study, and intense practical experience, the horse is no doubt out of the barn. That we will have thousands of video clips on the internet is a given, indeed a reality. Even as devalued ( read: free) as video production has become it will be hard to find willing eyeballs, much less the patience and analysis needed to resolve intellectual content from the noise. Of course, as a wordsmith you should know the analogue to this first-hand. Why don't you offer a forum to allow video posts from the commenters at The N & R. Imagine how much more informed our world will be.

Allow me to respond with a small, tasteful counterpuke.

This reminds me of the Orwellians (original sense) appalled at plodding cliche-rich writing.

There will be people near tsunamis. There will be people near Rodney Kings, near imploding buildings, near "news", whatever it turns out to be.

Yeah, they might not be anywhere near as good as the pros. But there will be times when they're the ones with content that the rest of us need. The style might be crappy, the logic might be murky, but a) can we keep in mind that substance matters too? and b) wouldn't it be great if thanks to the BBC the style was a little better?

disclosure: I haven't actually, like, looked at the tutorial or anything.

Anna:

I do agree that the BBC tutorial is of value in helping upgrade the competency of novice videographers. The part that I objected to was the notion that capturing something on tape is equivalent to journalism or reflects the skill of working videographers. It's clear that a news event captured, even poorly, is of news value and possibly offers a more democratic view of the world, but a lot of unmanned surveillance cameras do that every day. The Rodney King tape, as one example, required context for many to interpret what had happened. Indeed, viewing the tape wasn't "proof" to the jury that a transgression occurred.

It's not the spontaneously captured news event that provides the exception to "wanna be" journalists. Imagine assigning off- the- street camera owners or commenters to this N & R column to cover a meeting, or illustrate a non visual event. It requires a tradesman's second nature with the aesthetics of the visual, knowledge of story structure, as well as competent writing, editing, and use of on-camera talent. These are skills that are learned over time and constantly refined. I don't know any working journalist, of any media who isn't still learning her craft well into her career.

Lex offered a resource which was intended to give his readers value added content, which it does. But it left an impression that these skills are cheap and easy, which, as even Lex has written about his own efforts, they clearly are more involved than that. I hope that my thoughts nuance additional value to Lex's post, since I'm a big fan of his writing. If his readers are able to become more discriminating in the good and bad applications of videography and journalism, he will have done a great service.

Gary:

First, thanks for your kind words. I think you have greatly clarified the thinking behind my original post, something I should have done myself before posting. :-)

As for the suggestion re posting submitted video, that's on our to-do list. Unfortunately, we've pretty much exhausted the list of quick 'n' easy stuff we could do on our road toward open-source journalism. Most of what's left on the list requires implementation of the new Web-publishing system, and some also requires time and/or technical resources that we don't (yet) have.

But the list lives, and our desire to check all items off it burns undiminished.