Corante

About this Author
Ernest Miller Ernest Miller pursues research and writing on cyberlaw, intellectual property, and First Amendment issues. Mr. Miller attended the U.S. Naval Academy before attending Yale Law School, where he was president and co-founder of the Law and Technology Society, and founded the technology law and policy news site LawMeme. He is a fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. Ernest Miller's blog postings can also be found @
Copyfight
LawMeme

Listen to the weekly audio edition on IT Conversations:
The Importance Of ... Law and IT.

Feel free to contact me about articles, websites and etc. you think I may find of interest. I'm also available for consulting work and speaking engagements. Email: ernest.miller 8T gmail.com

Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More

Check out Jevon MacDonald on the "uncertain future of blogging"

The Importance of...

« Open(x2) Letter to the Editors of the LA Times on Wikitorials | Main | Implications of the Power Law for Grokster 'Punditry' »

June 25, 2005

WKRN-TV Gets It, They Really Get It

Posted by Ernest Miller

Lostremote is reporting from Gnomedex about the future of media and Terry Heaton talks about what WKRN in Nashville is doing (The WKRN-TV 'Breakthrough'). Read the whole thing, but this really caught my attention:

On July 17th, WKRN's chief photographer will host a video workshop for bloggers -- which will become a monthly event. Twenty bloggers or so are signed up to learn tricks of the trade so they can become better photographers.
By the end of the summer, Heaton says WKRN will offer portions of raw news video online that fall under Creative Commons (this is a first for a local TV station). The crowd applauded. "[We're] involving the citizenry of Nashville in producing our news," he said.
Now that is really something. Teaching and sharing. That is the future of news.

Related news also from lostremote, WKRN-TV to Switch to VJs.

The Nashville ABC affiliate is expected to announce on Monday that the station is switching to the video journalist (VJ) model of news -- reporters who shoot and edit their own video.
UPDATE 2215 PT

Viewfinder Blues, an actual VJ, discusses how this change is being taken by various of his colleagues, and what it might portend for TV news (The Age of Convergence (Part 2)).

Imagine a TV newsroom where even the top anchor schleps gear, thus tarnishing the artifice of suave superiority inherent in the dapper newsreader model. While that’s not likely to happen, one aspect of the changing times does excite me: the gradual transformation of local correspondents from overdressed poseurs to blue-collar news gatherers. Blasphemy you say? Perhaps, but a newscast focused more on stories than storytellers is one even I might watch. Might.

But I digress. What will most probably transpire is an amalgamation of the fears and concerns wafting over the internet right now. Depth and aesthetics WILL suffer, at least until practitioners of these new methods get the formula right. Even then, TV news won’t be the same. Higher story counts will be delivered with far cruder execution. Smaller, lighter lenses will open up new frontiers, but it will be a bumpy, often out-of-focus ride. Reporters will still go live(!) for no apparent reason, but they may be a little more out of breath from shooting and editing their own stuff. Legions of reporters and photogs opposed to cross-training will leave the fold, making room for a new generation of loners with lenses who will merrily take their place. Not so long from now, this group of 21st century newsies will sit around their magic laptops, wi-fi wristbands and sat-dish jetpacks, and wonder what all the fuss was about.

Read the whole thing.

Comments (1) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: Blogging and Journalism | Journalism


COMMENTS

1. Lenslinger on June 25, 2005 09:09 PM writes...

My thoughts at http://lenslinger.blogspot.com/2005/06/age-of-convergence-part-2.html

Permalink to Comment


EMAIL THIS ENTRY TO A FRIEND

Email this entry to:

Your email address:

Message (optional):




RELATED ENTRIES
Kitchen Academy - Course II - Day 23
Kitchen Academy - Course II - Day 22
Kitchen Academy - Course II - Day 21
Kitchen Academy - The Hollywood Cookbook and Guest Chef Michael Montilla - March 18th
Kitchen Academy - Course II - Day 20
Kitchen Academy - Course II - Day 19
Kitchen Academy - Course II - Day 18
Salsa Verde