Monthly Archives: October 2007

WWED: What would Evan do?

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Trev evan.jpg

Whether you call it citizen journalism, crowd sourcing or USG, there is always a lot of discussion about how the media’s relationship with its audience can be used to everyone’s advantage.

And it struck me that for it to work , I think, journalists need to start thinking more like Evan Davis (the BBC’s economic editor) and less Trevor McDonald (Veteran newsreader).

So when thinking about how a journalist can engage with community online and really make it work for them. I like to think that we should start asking – What would Evan do?

Is it just his easy charm, his wit and repartee we should look to emulate? No. I actually think he knows what he is talking about and would listen to what he had to say on the subject of money.

Sir Trevor is also a respected voice, has an easy wit and sophisticated charm, but would we go to him for mortgage advice?

Presenter or correspondent?
Do you want to be just a presenter of news for your community – a nice delivery but no one really thinks you really know anything?*  Or would you rather be a correspondent who people turn to for your analysis and knowledge?

Be the Evan Davis of your patch.  Make connections and build relationships with your community, online and off, and they will turn to you (and your publication) when they want the ‘expert’ view of whats going on in their community.

*not that I think Sir Trev is is clueless about news or that newsreaders are somehow a lower form of journalist.

Newspaper video: PA style

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There are a few nice at the Editors Weblog that offer an insight in to way PA are training people in video.

Jean Yves Chainon spent some time with delegates on a PA video storytelling class taught by the irrepressible David Dunkley Gyimah and gives a number of points that he picked up that are invaluable to people looking to speed up and improve on their video storytelling skills.

There are some real, practical, pearls of wisdom in here. Like these points for preparation

- 4Ps of preparation: prepare the story (just as for any other medium), prepare the location (background, noise, frame), prepare the camera (make sure everything is set up) and prepare the journalist / interviewee.
- “mise en scène”: the ‘language’ of the background must match the story. If the story is about sailing, don’t accept if the interviewee offers to meet you in his office.
- 3 questions is optimal for quick pertinent content: “if you’re not going to get it after 3, 4, 5 question, you’re not going to get it,” says Dunkley.

This is a partner article with an article by PA’s , Head of Training Tony Johnston abut how their training in multimedia has grown and developed.

He makes a great point about the impact multimedia has had on quality:

Doesn’t this multimedia craze, with its emphasis on hits, increased audience, and bells and whistles, risk taking journalism the wrong direction?

Multimedia is simply what’s asked by customers (newspapers and news organizations in the case of PA) as well as the audience, explained Johnston. Although some journalists don’t like to think of themselves as profit-making companies, “it’s ultimately about business.”

But the basic journalistic requirements and points of contact with the audience haven’t changed – people still want to hear about their local school and hospital. Simply the ways in which information is delivered have changed. So, as long as journalists continue to learn how to produce quality journalism, as well as multimedia, there’s no reason for quality to decrease. (Not to mention well-led multimedia storytelling can improve journalistic coverage too).

A great set of articles.

Video survey: More meat on the bones

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As I said in my last post, my little survey has kicked up quite a bit of comment.  My 1 hour of edit for 1 minute of video was especially vexing for some who feared that this may create unrealistic demands from ‘managers’.

Although I do have some figures from the survey about who is doing what I thought I needed to get a bit more depth.

So, I’m asking people to take another survey.

It’s similar to the last in that there is no personal data collected and it’s 20 multiple choice questions that I hope are short and sweet.

If you do have a spare five minutes it would be really useful. If nothing else to stop ‘managers’ making stupid decisions based on basic data.

Click Here to take survey

Reuters mobile journalism toolkit

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An article in Journalism.co.uk highlighted Reuters new Mobile Journalism project.

Working in partnership with Nokia, reporters in the field have been equipped with lightweight kit – based around a videophone – to file and publish stories without the need of any additional technical or editorial support.

There is some interesting stuff on their site already. But, of course, I was interested in the kit.

I was especially keen to find out how they had connected  an external mic to the phone and it turns out that it’s been done with a special adaptor developed by Nokia.  I want one!

Of course the cunning bit of technology at play here is really the application that sits on the phone. According to journalism.co.uk:

Reuters has also developed a mobile editorial interface that links the toolkit to the in-house editorial process, allowing stories to be published almost instantly from the field.

Metadata facilities in the mobile automatically combine all the information the device has about the context for the story – location, time, date.

My last post about newsroom video kit haas kicked up quite a bit of comment about production time and kit.  Stuff like this makes me think that investment in developing for equipment may be just as valuable as investing in the kit itself.

Video survey results: Overview

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Update

The results of part 2 of this survey are now upResults are still trickling in but I thought I would publish a few results from my little video survey.

Some broad results:

  • The average length for video is between 2 -3 minutes
  • The average production time is between 2 -4 hours
  • The most common camera used in newsrooms is the Cannon XH-A1
  • The most common edit software in use is Final Cut pro
  • Daily papers produce around 4-8 videos a week compared to 1-4 for weeklies
  • Publishers with daily and weekly papers produce 2-4 videos a week
  • It takes 1 hour to produce 1 minute of video

Limitations

It’s worth saying up front that the vast majority of the responses to the survey have been from the US. There is a clear bias because of this. I don’t think this limits the usefulness of the data (it was meant to be broad brush) and there are clear areas of distinction between US and the rest of the responses that go beyond statistical ‘blips’ but it would be great if more people from outside the US would take the survey – please!

Cameras

Cameras in use in newspaper newsrooms

In newspaper video HDV reigns supreme and by far the most common camera in use was the Canon XH-A1. The popular HV20 plays a close second but the US bias plays a big part in those figures.

The Sony HVR-A1 has a strong showing due to its almost exclusive use in the UK and Europe.

There is a lot of use of so called Point-and-shoot cameras in the newsroom as well as some ‘lower end’ DV camcorders. Canon do really well here. Their zr800, Elura and Optura rangesseem to be popular choices.

Canon’s announcements of a scaling back on its mini-dv range may put pay to that. That may force more to move down the HDD route. A number of cameras from Sony’s HD range were a popular choice to compliment the more pricey kit. Perhaps we will see more of these now that FCP has got log and Transfer support for the AVCHD format.

One theme that was common in response to the question of what other cameras where in use, was that these lower cost cameras where specifically for reporters. The ‘high end’ stuff went to photographers. And in, what some may find, a worrying trend a few respondents noted that they were using their own kit.


Edit software

Edit software in use by newspapers

The US bias shows through again here with FCP and FCP Express the popular choice. In the UK Avid Xpress holds its own. But a common theme across the survey is the use of low and high end technology combined. Those using FCP are also using i-movie. Likewise Windows Movie Maker was common alongside Avid.

I think this says more about the platform in use than the quality of the software. In the US Macs reign supreme. PC everywhere else. However several responders listed Windows Movie maker as their only editing package. Is this disruptive technology at work or tight budgets? (I suppose given the point about people using their own kit, that one is a rhetorical question. )

Premier and Vegas have relatively low usage despite some vocal support for the packages. Again, I think it’s the platform that dictates this and I would imagine Premier making a stronger showing in future now that a Mac version is available.

Unlike the cameras there seems to be little use of anything other than the well known names. I suppose I-movie and WMM cover the bases on that one

Length and production time

Average Length of Video Average Production time for newspaper video

The numbers seem to confirm the Comscore view of online video with majority of newspapers averaging a running length of 2-3 minutes for video.

The average production time site squarely between 2-4 hours, regardless of the size of the newsroom or technology used (until you get to less than 10), which usefully breaks down to a guide line you should expect a production time of one hour production for every minute on screen. A scary stat for planning how to do video.

Conclusion

I still have the issue of who is producing the video to look at but I think a lot of the information here is useful, if nothing else, as a snapshot of the kit to consider and the realities of the time it takes to make this stuff.

If you consider that the Canon XH-A1 retails at around £2300, FCP and a machine to run it on would be around another £2500 . Factor in the cost of losing/paying a member of staff for half-a-day to actually use the kit and you have some tough questions to ask about video.

Going down the point-and-shoot path may sweeten the financial pill in terms of outlay but the production times have no less impact on workforce and as I and many others have pointed out, giving people consumer and semi-pro kit, whilst saving your budget, often impacts on their perception of quality and professionalism.

Noddy goes to newstown

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Yes, it’s hoaky headline Monday!

Like Doug Fisher, I missed this piece on BBC Newsnight about Channel 5 banning the noddy. It’s a nice piece (a little like a recent episode of Screenwipe, but well put together.) But why are 5 doing it?

Five news editor

(cut to interview) Because they are just cheats. It’s a small step towards installing a little bit of trust back in to news, that’s why.

So what are channel 5 doing instead? Whizz bang flashes, stretches and DVE’s! So let’s replace something that only a few editors and academics really worry about – most punters don’t care – with something that really annoys them.

Thanks for the reminder Doug.