Video Journalism- what is it?

Gone are the days of the full news team heading out for a breaking story. Now, video journalists (vj) do the jobs quickly, easily and efficiently.

Instead of having the camera crew, sound crew and reporter, now all that’s needed is a single journalist with a video camera.

These very talented journalists are capable of capturing their own story on film, editing it and reporting it.

VJ’s are suitable in times of chaos, when there is no time to organise the bulky film crew to accompany the reporter. They are also suitable for feature stories and soft news stories.

While there seems to be a rising trend in this type of journalism, it is difficult to imagine that the “old fashioned” news crew will become obsolete.

There are still moments in time that need the full effect of a proper microphone or boom, and a complex camera to capture the news story as a whole.

But knowing how to operate a camera, how to capture sound, and how to edit news stories are invaluable skills to have in today’s media.

Stomp: helping citizens become journalists

“Stomp is a bridge between traditional newspapers and young readers,”- Quinn

In the wake of new media, technologies and audience fragmentation, Singapore’s main media company, Singapore Press Holdings, launched a news based website called Stomp, which runs on user generated content. The site was launched in 2006.

How does it work?

Citizens would send Stomp what they considered newsworthy photographs, quite often via mobile phone. Stomp editors would assess whether the photo was in fact newsworthy. If it was then Stomp would contact the person who sent the photo and set up an interview with them, asking what happened. The story would then be re-written by Stomp journalists, and run by the person who sent the photo in, to check for inaccuracies. If all was correct the story would be published.

The reason for creating Stomp had to do with audience fragmentation- where the readers are no longer getting their information from only one source- and also because they wanted to try and bridge the gap between newspapers and young readers.

User generated content websites such as Stomp and OhMyNews are a great way to get regular people more involved in news. It gives the general public a way to hear the news they believe is important, not the news that media owners believes important. It also provides a gateway for independent news, without any hidden agendas. UGC websites are definitely the future of news because it is a place where you and I can go to get unbiased news.

Writing for the web: why bother?

Writing for the web gives you the potential to reach millions of people. But don’t be fooled into thinking it’s easy, because you still need to attract the attention of those millions of people. And Stephen Quinn, who wrote Convergent Journalism: An Introduction- Writing and Producing Across Media tells us how to do just that. It begins by writing a catchy headline. Other blogs I have read give tips on how to become a “most popular” blog. In this case, the suggestion is to write about what people are interested in. You catch their attention with a snappy headline and then draw the reader in further using the first couple of sentences- the leads- to deliver your main points.
Using sharp, punchy language also helps keep the reader interested. As Quinn mentions, people on the net aren’t readers, they scan. If your website or blog has loads of details, long words and not much verbal colour the reader is going to get very bored, very quickly. All you have to do is remember what audience you are writing for. Much like print media!