First, I am staring a new category for the site called Buzzed. It’s where I’m going to put all the caffeine infused opinionated rants I sometimes go off on. This being the first in the category, but also followed by my previous ones.
Okay, let’s start. In our newsroom, we’re finally training reporters how to use multimedia tools. And yes, I know there’re religious wars being fought over this subject. I hope not to add too much more fuel to the fire. With that said, let me put things into context. As photographers and reporters in this brave new world, I consider all of us, visual journalists. The days of the one talent journalist are over. Now don’t get all crazy with the term, visual journalists, because I don’t care about labeling things the right way. Why? Because there’s never the right term for anything that makes everybody happy. As a recent example, I was at a conference where my colleagues in ‘multimedia’ where actually concerned that we use the term multimedia. PLEASE! Who cares? Can we please use our energy– what little we have left after our long day– to obsess over other things, like story-telling approaches? Okay, back to my visual journalist rant. Let me set it up with a hypothetical story. Substitute your own newsroom variation.
Reporter X comes to the photo desk with a story idea.
The photo desk doesn’t have a warm body to assign.
Reporter X is told to do the visuals themselves.
Reporter X mentally screams inside their head, “What the hell! I don’t have time to do that. I can’t write a 30-inch story AND take photos. I haven’t been trained. This isn’t my job. I’m a reporter, not a photographer! I didn’t go to journalism school for this! They don’t pay me enough for this crap.” Then, smiles and goes and checks out a camera.
Reporter X comes back to the newsroom, bitter and complaining.
INSERT complaining here.
Why we shouldn’t worry about this:
1. Latecomers to the multimedia party will learn how challenging it really is.
2. They’ll begin to learn and become better partners in gathering and producing multimedia.
3. They’ll also learn what really makes a visually interesting situation. This of course makes better story telling for everybody.
This is meant with all due respect to all reporters out there.
Hey, welcome to the club. Photographers and some reporters have been doing double duty for quite some time. They’ve been in the field doing the job for print and adding an audio/video load to their job. At no extra cost of course. Therefore, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOU COMPLAIN ANYMORE! This is meant with all due respect to all reporters and even many photographers out there. I’m not being a ‘hater.” Just don’t complain to those of us who’ve been busting our collective asses, because this isn’t what you signed up for, welcome to the frontlines. Now let’s go kick some butt! Together. Hand-in-hand, everybody feel better now? I do.
Okay, rant over. But since I’m not the kind of guy to bitch and not offer some advice or possible solutions to my complaints, here’s some random goodness.
Let’s start with some advice for those of you who:
1. Want to abandon previously held beliefs or loyalties
2. Want to be somebody who chooses to live outside of the laws or conventions of a group
- Gather all the passion and commitment you have for journalism and break down the obstacles that are holding you back from moving forward and being part of something truly great.
- Sacrifice yourself on the altar of mediocrity.
- Don’t be afraid to be a work in progress.
- Even though our paths are different, let’s share the knowledge we learn along the way.
- Remember the words of Albert Einstein “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
- Always remain the beginner, not the expert. The expert only sees one way of getting things done, the beginner sees many possibilities.
- “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”-Albert Einstein
- If this is true, then why not choose the risky path?
- Dump all your baggage about video.
- Remember if you fight for your misery, then that’s all you’re going to get.
- Stay away from toxic people and blogs.
- Get visual. Watch. Examine. Look hard. Create.
- Don’t be afraid to change directions or ask for them.
- Create compelling and concise multimedia.
- Let go of your fear of failure. As journalist we learn, rightly so, that being wrong or failing is bad. Yes, when it comes to facts and the truth, but not to how we distribute the news. Experiment.
- Don’t let others pull you down with their criticism or blow you up with their praise. Neither changes who you really are.
- Recall daily, the passion that got you into journalism in the first place.
- The words, “That’s a bad idea!” means you’re going in the right direction.
enjoy, or not,
-r
And then, of course, there are those of us that are reporters by training who have, for years, been teaching ourselves how to created multimedia projects, buying our own gear because the organizations we worked for (in my case, MSNBC) refused to believe that someone not “trained” in photography could actually handle a camera, create great images, collect audio and wrap it all together in a compelling package.
Imagine how frustrating it is to work for an organization that is supposed to be all about creative use of multimedia only to find out the “visual” side holds the reporting side in nothing but disdain and is secretly frightened that the reporters, spending their own time and money, to learn these new skills, were going to shove them out of a job.
All I’m saying is, it works both ways…
You are so very right, there are more photo staffs than I care to mention out there who just don’t get it. I tried really hard not to point the finger directly at just reporters. We all have different newsroom/job situations. My frustration comes from my direct experience where one group has done all the heavy lifting and the other group just complains, not all of them of course. I realize nothing in this world is black and white.
In this new situation, I don’t see anymore us and them. I just see the best visual journalist keeping their heads above water, be they trained initially trained as photographers or reporters and the rest sinking.
Yeah, I wasn’t taken any shots at you or what you said, I thought it was all right on point.
yikes..
Great post richard.
Right on key
‘pessimism reinforces more problems that it solves’
Yes!
Sing it!
Brock, I worked alongside you at NBC News, Washington. I miss seeing you in the halls and I love your photography site. I guess, and certainly in the case of NBC, it’s a matter of who news management chooses to empower. Recently, Randy Stearns and Stokes Young of MSNBC stopped by the bureau and hosted a meeting in that conference room next to your old office. The had been visiting all of the bureaus, demonstrating the type of video content they were looking for from us. Re-hashed Nightly News spots just weren’t enough, they said. Now.. do you think photogs or video edtiors were invited to this meeting. In a word…NO! So, I chose to invite myself. They load up their powerpoint presentation and what is the first video they use as an example of what they’re looking for? this:
I conceived, shot, wrote, tracked, cut, and pitched that spot, on a lark no less. I was not instructed to do so, I just wanted to do a proof-of-concept. In a climate where editorial staff is empowered and technical staff are considered mere “button pushers”, I felt a need to demonstrate my storytelling skill set. So do you feel the irony here? Here’s a meeting with MSNBC’s video side, pitching this new way of looking web content, using my video, but I’m not even invited to the meeting.
Ultimately, what I produce there was an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the sausage factory of TV News. Is it Journalism with a capital “J”? Of course not. I don’t think the future of news media is limited to the video journalist model. I believe that it is a workable model that produces compelling content. I just don’t think it is the answer to all ills that some believe it is.
I don’t “worry” about reporters with cameras. If there’s any worrying to be done, I’d be keeping an eye on those photogs with the editorial skill set.
Jim! How great to see you posting here (Jim’s one of the “good guys”… among many there at NBC’s Washington bureau). That piece you put together is classic (it was great to see all my ol’ chums huffing and puffing through another road trip).
To your larger point: I find it ludicrous that you were NOT invited. For everything I said in my comment about reporters being treated as if they were carrying a loaded weapon when they ask to shot images or video, as much is true about the “button pushers” that are locked out of the editorial side.
And your piece proves that in spades. In my shop, I was all for the photographers beefing up their writing and interviewing skills; I even volunteered to assist and lend whatever expertise I could, at any time. How often was it called upon? ONCE. As it turned out Jim Seida, one of our photographers, had done a piece for our Rising from the Ruin project a day ahead of when I arrived on site. It was the same story I’d been wanting to do, but hadn’t pitched yet. So, immediately, that shows Jim’s “nose for news.” Second, he did a fabulous job of reporting the piece and writing it. There were a few minor holes and rough spots, nothing that hasn’t been seen in my own copy from time to time. I edited the piece and it went live soon after.
This “cross-pollination” should happen more often.
“This ‘cross-pollination’ should happen more often.”
I think we’re all headed to making a new kind of orchid.
I’m a reporter who has embraced multimedia and it has rejuvenated my passion for journalism in mid-career. I saw the video camera collecting dust on our shelf, so I picked it up and am learning how to use it and edit.
If I want to do a slideshow and there’s no photog available (there are far fewer of them than there are of “reporters” at most newspapers), I’ll get audio and either look through the archives for illustrations, or take a point-and-shoot and try to shoot my own.
I’m having the time of my life.
And thanks Richard, for your on-line help. After viewing one of your tutorials, photogs started asking me how I got side captions in Soundslides.
You are so right that we are all headed toward the same goal, and we are all going to have to cross-pollinate our skills.
I still think a collaborative approach is going to be the best. I don’t think I’m probably ever going to be as good a photographer as I am a writer, and don’t even get me started on my design phobia.
But my desire to get the job done has gotten me through 30 years in journalism, and I’m looking forward to an-other (at least 20) in this new multimedia field.
What’s so great about doing this, is by starting now, I don’t feel like I’m that far behind a curve. It seems like every-one is figuring this out all at once.
What an exciting time to be a journalist.
That’s my caffeine rant
Ron Sylvester
Reporter/Interactive News
The Wichita Eagle and Kansas.com