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The Online TV News Photog Magazine

Headlines

Is the TV Package Outdated?

"...A survey found that 75% of videos on newspaper sites are not narrated and most of those that were came from the AP."

This Week's Highlights

Top Ten Everyday
To-Do List


"#2. Write directly to your video. See it, say it."

 

This Week's Highlights


KEYT-TV news van rolls, cameraman, reporter hurt
"
m"...the right rear tire began to shred and the tire blew, sending the van out of control"


The Future of VJs


"...little evidence that VJs produce stories their stations wouldn’t get any other way"




TV Reporters:

10 Signs You Are
About To Be
Laid Off


10...In the morning meeting during your turn for story ideas, you notice the news director
is playing Tetris on his phone.


9...In the middle of the training session on the new newsroom computer system, you are pulled to head out to a 'pre-school finger-painting exhibition with cookies and milk reception.' ("Get sound with the clown.")

8...The TV station softball coach asks you to give back your uniform.

7...Every manager above producer starts recoiling at your approach as if you have AIDS-induced leprosy.

6...You see the new freelancer returning from lunch with the news director...and they're both laughing.

5...The new intern (the challenged one) has been told its okay to eat at your desk.


4...You overhear the other reporters being told that more vacation week requests will be opening up very soon.

3...Your in-depth package is bumped to a v/o.
It airs just before the "SPCA pet-of-the-day".

2...When the fire on the scanner goes to 2 alarms with people trapped, your request to head there is met by the assignment desk with: '' No...that's okay.
We'll pull Tracy from the governor's funeral."

1...You are asked to start doing 3 packages a day.
"But it's impossible..." you say.
"Are you refusing an assignment?" is the retort.




Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net


 

Here's a really funny video from BBC's show "Newswipe" detailing how to construct a video news package. What makes it so spot on is that I believe every other TV news story is constructed exactly this way. This formula has worked for reporters from intern to seasoned pro. Insert your local images here!


Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net

 


KATU photographer attacked, incident caught on camera

One man has been arrested after attacking KATU photographer Bob Bullock in an incident that was caught on camera. Bullock was injured while shooting weather video outside Laurelhurst School in Southeast Portland.
MORE...

 

Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net


This Week's Highlights


Channel 4 to fight citation against cameraman
"
ND "stands solidly behind McReynolds and promises that the station will help him fight the charge."


WSFL-TV reporter says man attacked him
...unidentified man saw him standing with other reporters and kicked him.


 

News and Notes

Smallest Camcorder yet

A few years ago I made the prediction that soon we would be wearing what I called "lifecams"- cameras so small and with so much storage that you could wear them all day and record your entire day. Think of the ramifications-courtroom testimony would say-"let's look at Mr. Smith's lifecam video your honor."

Well here come the closest thing yet to that reality: the Micro Camcorder Pro, with excellent video and voice-activated audio, this thing is no bigger than a thumbdrive. It would be great for undercover camera work as well. All for $100 bucks.


IPhone Live Shots

As more and more apps become available for the IPhone, it was only a matter of time before an app was capable of producing an honest to goodness TV live shot. Yeah...the quality is still below broadcast standards, but in a pinch in a get-it-on-the-air mode, this thing actually replaces a live truck.


On-Demand network Viewing

In what could be the another nail in the coffin of the network-affilliate relationship, Cox Communications has lauched "My Primetime" in Las Vegas and san Diego-

On-demand network and cable prime time shows available whenever you want to view them.

If the network shows are available whenever you want to watch, will appointment TV eventually vanish?
One good thing here, fast-forwarding does not function and you must still view the ads. But advertisers may demand lower rates if the video isn't viewed in its initial primetime spot.


Bad Boys and Girls

TV Reporter Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

Local TV anchor charged with DWI

Professor convicted of harassing TV weatherman over weathercasts

Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net



Antennas -Back to the Future

The fact is that there are still many unresolved issues with DTV reception problems with indoor antennas. A lot of people are either going to be headed to their roof to affix one, or perhaps just give up and call their local cable provider. MORE...

Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net


This Week's Highlights


CTV camera operator killed
in helicopter crash

"
m"...burning after it hit the ground, and nothing could be done to save the people inside"

The Top 19 Hottest Newscasters in America
"
..Delve with us, if you will, into the world of hot journalists. The roundup includes everything from short skirts on pogo sticks and wet T-shirt contests to creepy, titillating YouTube compilations of crossing and uncrossing legs.


Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net

This Week's Highlights


More Women Leading in Local News, Journalists of Color Down from 2008
"
m"...At 41.4 percent, women in the television news workforce reached an all-time high"


People Meters are changing the local TV news landscape
"their arrival in other cities has caused shifts in station standing, complaints from broadcast companies and even lawsuits"


This Week's Highlights


Local newscasts experiment in effort to draw viewers
"
m"..they're finally facing up to reality and making changes that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago."





Everybody Is An I-Phone-o-Journalist!

Like we need more people shooting news, right?
Now comes the IPhone 3G which anybody can point at the scene and voila!...news video. Soon it seems everybody (and I mean everybody) will have a news camera stuck in their pocket just waiting for the next big spot news incident. How many people will soon be approaching you with: "Hey...I got video of it...how much will you give me for it?"

So will the ubiquity of the pocket-cam mean we will have fewer professional newsshooters out there covering events? Hell, that's already happening with or without more camera options. This might not be another nail in the coffin, but it is at least, a nail.
So here's some info for you on how the IPhone is already changing the newsgathering landscape.
Poynter .org looks at an Iphone used to shoot an entire still photo newsmagazine shoot. And gives you a chat on how to use your Iphone to gather news pics. Also some blogs on "how to file with your IPhone. B-Roll adds a couple of neat videos on the use of the IPhone to gather video, and some reaction.
At the least, if newsphotogs start carrying these things...we too, will always have a camera, and used by a pro, that's a good thing.


Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net

This Week's Highlights


Car Hits Reporter
Outside Jackson Home

"
m"..he was struck in a hit-and-run accident by a car that was allegedly speeding."




It's Intern Time Again!

The Back of the Rack
"What Every Intern Needs to Learn"

by Tim Rutherford

Every summer my TV station is bombarded with interns. Truth is...I don't much like it.
Joke: "How do you extricate the newsvan stuck in the mud?"
"An intern under every wheel."

But honestly, I realize how important their internship is. It can lead to a real job in the business if they show the ability to perform assigned tasks and more importantly, show a desire to go a step further and find work to do on their own.
News managers, producers and reporters rarely have time for lengthy discussions with interns. They sometimes are treated like the least favorite puppy in the litter. You'll feed it and give it some place to sleep, but it's not going to be thrown any roast beef from the dinner table.

Interns have accompanied me dozens of times on news stories. They often seem undecided about the direction they want to go in, and seem to be just testing the waters. That's okay, but as we know, the more determined you are about a particular job, the more likely you will eventually find it. My reporters and I only have one rule for interns: "What's said in the car...stays in the car."

But I always make a point to give the interns this valuable lesson. I ask them: " Do you know what TV really is?" They say: "Of course, you old fart. What are you like a spaz or something." We're the new media generation. And as soon as you old geezers get out of the way, we're going to revolutionize TV with new and better concepts and ideas."

"Very good" I say. "Just make sure you understand what TV really is." And then I take them and show them real TV.

I take them to the back of the racks.

I show them how every piece of equipment in this place has a cable or two or three or four. How everything that makes TV work is in essense a electronic vehicle that has to be built and tuned before it can be driven.

How every thing about TV that seems as simple as point-and-click is really an incredible marvel of modern technology that allows you to see and hear the lousy singers on "American Idol". Behind all of TV is the "electronica". The underbelly. The guts.

"That's TV."

Before the pretty anchorman can read, before the investigative reporter can go live from the courthouse, before the weatherman with his myriad toys can still blow the forecast; there is this:
The back of the rack.

And a lot of really smart people worked long and hard to make everything work in this place. They are the unsung heroes of TV. The technicians who figure out how all of this sh*t works. And then they make it work.

"This is TV."

Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net



Headlines

The NAB Show Through An Editor's Mirror

"...perspective from the post-production viewpoint about what on-site and virtual visitors can take away from the big show."

This Week's Highlights

Scrap The 'Plumbing,' Share Master Control

"stations ought to think about sharing across company lines and outsourcing master control to third parties."


After Show Meetings. Do You Have Them?

Do you have after-show meetings for your local news broadcasts?

If you do, this article says you probably have good ratings at your station. A survey found that there was a "significant relationship' between whether producers and directors held a show meeting and how they assessed each other’s competence."

And there's this: "the key finding is that not only do producers and directors not communicate well, they don’t even communicate minimally although, as she rightfully notes, “One cannot succeed without the other’s participation and involvement.”

Read the whole thing here.

Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net


Some Photo Funnies for Ya

"Sink Or Swim"

Breaking in the new reporter in most TV newsrooms usually involves nothing more than handing them their assignment ( the crime de jour usually) and sending them to the garage in search of a van. But there's gotta be a better way than this sink or swim scenario.

As this report notes..."a newsroom that invests a little time early on to help new hires learn their way around will reap rewards more quickly in the form of better and more original stories."

Here's a how-to on breaking in the new guy
the RIGHT way.
MORE...

Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net


This Week's Highlights


SMPTE Moves on 3D
"
m"...major milestone toward making 3D Home Theater delivery a reality."


Sorry, There's No Way To Save The TV Business
"...most TV industry incumbents will no longer be able to support their existing cost structures."


This Week's Highlights


Newspaper Battle Continues Over Who 'Owns' Scholastic Sports
"




6 Hazards of TV News Pooling and
How to Avoid Diluting Your Coverage


Reprinted from poynter.org

Chicago. Philadelphia. Phoenix. Atlanta. Tampa. Detroit. Washington, D.C. Boston. TV stations across the country have set up pool agreements -- the sharing of video crews to cover routine, scheduled events. The driving force behind this cooperation among competitors isn't love, it's money.

As ad revenues drop., stations cut staff and salaries, mandate furloughs and impose hiring freezes. But if they cut the newsroom population too deeply, stations can't produce sufficient fresh material for newscasts and Web sites. So where's the next place to find relief? The pool -- a single crew that covers selected news and sports events and feeds the same TV dinner to everyone in the news family.

News directors are putting the best face on it. Veteran news director Budd McEntee of Atlanta's WAGA-TV told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "How many times have you seen a (press conference) where you've got six cameras lined up all with the same shot? In a thriving competitive environment it's really wasteful. This frees us up to really expand our coverage of the news with stories that are our own."

I've known (and liked) Budd for a long time. He's a hardcore newshound, and I trust he'll do his best to live up to that ideal of expanded coverage. But Budd -- and every other leader of a pool-ified newsroom -- must manage more than the mechanics of sharing. They need to wrestle with pooling's risks and unintended consequences.

So, consider this one of those "danger" signs you see posted at public pools, warning everyone to take precautions before they jump in.

Here are six hazards of pooling:

1. Stations may miss contacts and stories in the halls of power.
As pool crews flourish, individual journalists may spend even less time in places where governmental policy is made. Few stations have beat reporters routinely roaming Capitols, City Halls and Courthouses these days, and it's been news conferences that get them back into those buildings. While in the halls of power, smart journalists take the opportunity to make contacts, develop sources and find tomorrow's stories. Now a pool crew will be there instead. With its targeted story assignment and loyalty to all its member stations, the pool crew won't have the time or motivation to mine more deeply at the scene.

2. Pool video may become devalued.
It's a fact of newsroom culture and human nature: we like our own ideas best. We place a higher value on the stories that have our signature on them. It will be a challenge to keep staff from developing this logic: If a story's important, we cover it ourselves. If it's no big deal, the pool gets it. And if it's no big deal, hey, I'd rather work on something else.

3. Staged events can blossom.
Savvy self-promoters and media relations people may sense a real opportunity in the news-sharing environment. Pools are designed for coverage of scheduled events, so spinners may dream up more of them. Publicity stunts could increase because of the natural synergy between those wanting attention and pool operations needing to demonstrate productivity. Assignment editors, beware.

4. Pool coverage may become stenography.
If pool crews are doing drive-by coverage -- grabbing video, sound bites and news releases and rushing off to the next location -- viewers will get much more of the "who, what and where" than the more valuable "why and how." Who, what and where are the product of stenography -- recording the obvious. Why and how -- plus why not, what else, what more, and in what context -- are born of critical thinking. That takes talent and time and that's why it is valuable to viewers.

5. Pooling might save money, but not jobs.
It sounds so good: The time and effort saved by sending pool crews frees the rest of the station's staff to develop enterprise stories. And that can work -- as long as the news staff truly remains intact. But in these tight times, management may be tempted to see the pool arrangement as "outsourcing" and an excuse to cut positions. If that happens, the pool stations save money but lose key resources: human resources, editorial resources and trust.

6. The non-pool players may escape all these hazards at the pool station's expense.
In some cities, market leaders have said "no thanks" to joining a pool. Operating from positions of ratings strength, these stations are betting that branding themselves as independent, unique and better is more valuable than the potential cost-savings of pools. They could be wrong, especially if they do nothing more than scoff at the pools, send their own crews to the same stories in the same way, and assume viewers will see a difference. Or, they could end up celebrating the wisdom of going it alone -- if their competitors succumb to the pool hazards and deliver diluted coverage.

I'd like to think that the news directors who have launched news sharing agreements know and care about these risks. That they talk about values and vigilance with their staffs. That they exercise the kind of leadership necessary to prove that pool coverage can make sense -- economically and journalistically -- to stations and viewers. Change like this involves risk, and that's where strong leadership makes the difference.

by Jill Geisler www.poynter.org


Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net

Needy Knees

Now that it's weather for wearing shorts, I'm wearing shorts.
I know that photogs wearing shorts can often be pretty unsightly depending on the legs of said shorts-wearer.
And I've seen every type of photog leg from bulldozer brawny to vericose vein-ey.
Me...my legs are so skinny that one photog used to joke: "are those your legs or are you riding a chicken?".
Anyhow...

Since my knees are now available for inspection, the other day my daughter said: "Dad...what's that on your knee?"

I'm like: "What?"
She says: "that thing on your knee?".
So in checking this out and I come to realize something I had never noticed before.
I have callouses on my knees!
Worn, old scaley patches of roughed up knee-skin.
I'm thinking...jeez I've been shooting news so long, getting down on my knees for that oh-so artistic low-angle award-winning, god I am so good video, that I have developed callouses on my KNEES!

I'd like to know exactly when this happened so I can warn my fellow photogs at what point in their career they can expect to have knees like that of a strawberry farmer.
But I think this thing just kinda creeps up on you.

And now I have to live with not only bony kneecaps...but bony kneecaps covered in what looks like low-grade sandpaper.

So go ahead guys...check your knees right now.
You old-timers will discover you have well-worn callouses that no amount of skin lotion and vigorous rubbing will ever make smooth again.
And you young guys...if those patches of rubbed and scrubbed skin aren't there yet...just know that your time will come.

Just another visible reminder to one day show the grandkids.
"Yep...I worked so hard getting those hard-to-get angles that my knees will forever bear the scars of my dedication and desire to make my TV news stories great."

And at the old-photogs home we'll all sit around and compare our battle scars.
Kinda like a night at the VFW...
except we'll toast the glory days with bottles of Jergens.

Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net


New MessageBoard

Well I'm trying one more time with a messageboard forum for you. The last one was overwhelmed with spam so I've taken some more precautions to try to make this one work.
I know that the B-Roll forum is the favorite of most of you. I like it too. This is just another outlet for you.
I'll try to find some interesting, hopefully unique topics for you to chew on.
Please take a quick moment to register and have at it.

And thanks for sticking with PhotogsLounge. Still a labor of love for me


Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net

New Poll

My Assignment Desk is run by:
A. Some veteran newspeople who know the area and the players and make our newsgathering better.
B. A mix of news vets and young whippersnappers who sometimes get it wrong, but more often get it right.
C. A mostly young mix of upstarts who want to do well, but at this point in their careers need time and seasoning.

D. A bad combination of entry-level phone answerers and their weekend inferiors who are damaging our reputation and ability to compete.

E. A monkey who has learned how to push all the shiny buttons, and a parrot who can mimic the last phrase barked at him.

 

Final Poll Results

The final numbers on this poll are actually quite encouraging in that the more positive answers gathered the largest numbers. It seems that desks are struggling but trying to make a decent attempt at gathering relevant news. We haven't all been forced to work with deskmonkeys. It seems the majority of desk personnel are still working hard to make the desk a successful focus for the newsroom.

T.R.

 


This Week's Highlights


Mavs Owner Cuban Shoves Photog
"
Almost goes out of his way...



Erie, Pa., TV station has transmitter failure


Filter Facts

Every once in a while it's good to take a little refresher course on one or another of the many skill sets that news photogs are asked to master, so I thought I'd bring back a terrific essay written by Chris Ray on the basics of using the proper camera filters when shooting video.
In your everyday shooting, you don't NEED to know what the Kelvin scale measures.
But knowing it and how color temperature works will definitely make you a better shooter.
Read Filter Facts!


Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net

News and Notes

FileCaster

Here's the latest incarnation of a mobile video production truck from TVProGear.

I like the roll-on, roll-off production equipment aspect of this thing.
With portable monitors, switchers, and audio all in a box, it makes it very convenient to work either inside or outside the truck itself.


Smallest HD Camera

Sony is winning the battle of smallest HD camera module.
Take a look at this thing.
There's a lotta bang going on in such a small package.


Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net

This Week's Highlights


R.I.P. PLASMA TV
"
Pioneer and VIZIO -- the nation's No. 2 set maker -- say they're abandoning the plasma business.




Funnybidness

What the Reporter really means is...
by Tim Rutherford


Reporter says: "I...got an interview with the councilman.
We...shot video of the scene."

REALLY means: "My photog can take no credit for hailing the councilman outside city hall and directing him to me here inside the building where I asked him how he felt about the new bill.
I, on the other hand deserve to share the credit with my photog for the 20 minutes of engaging video that was shot capturing the pivotal moments of this chaotic news event. Damn I'm good."


Reporter says: "Let's just head to the scene."

REALLY means: "
"No one returned my calls. I have no new info. I have no old video. I have no fresh insights. I have no story."

 


Reporter says: "I need to get some MOS."

REALLY means: "
"This story will have to revolve around the three numbskulls' opinions I get on tape that will not propel the story in any way but will get me a big step closer to finishing a minute-thirty throwaway package that fills the producers' empty bottom of the hour hole."


Reporter says: "I think the notion of one-man-bands to cover stories is a terrible idea and will really lower the quality of our news product."

REALLY means: "
"I'm scared .
Is that sound my pedestal being lowered?"

 

 

More of "What the Reporter Really Means"


Funnybidness

10 Most Common Things Said From Directors to Photogs:


10--What's this? Take black!!!!

9--Get the hell out of my control room and go shoot something!



8--Well, if we strobe the video I suppose nobody will notice how shakey that shot was.

7--Some nat sound on this would've been swell. Do you remember how to turn on your shotgun mic? Its the thing sticking out from the top of your camera.

6--Quit flirting with the damned Reporter and STANDBYE!

5--No, (fill in name), that crotch shot doesn't qualify as "creative photojournalism".

4--What the hell kind of shot is that?

3--Times and outcues...times and outcues...times and outcues. I didn't shoot it. I don't know what the hell it is, and if I had shot it then it wouldn't be BLUE!

2--Could you turn the television down, please? I'm trying to prepare for a newscast.

1--Pan right. Your OTHER right!


News and Notes

Broadcast TV: Going Mobile

Broadcast TV is going mobile. It's only a matter of time before every TV station will be available on your handy mobile device.
Lots of ownership groups are jumping into this big time although there is still some early skepticism.
But in trying to reach a younger audience to remain viable, this may be a necessary route and early adopters could gather in a loyal following if the content is engaging.


The "Big Camera" debate

Your camera is bigger than theirs so you must be more important right?
Sadly, the idea that you somehow carry more weight (not just on your shoulder) because of the size of your camera is dying fast.
I've said before that once the main players in town (mayors, business execs, etc.) get used to the fact that the cameras are now smaller and the guy behind it asking the questions is just as important, the idea that these big-ass cameras we throw around are a necessary evil will fade away.
Most of these smaller cameras produce quality video in the right lighting.
If they can just get those thorny bad audio problems solved, that big thing sitting on your tripod may go the way of every other camera that reached its techno-breaking point.
That old TK-76 is still gathering dust on the top of the maintenance racks isn't it?


NAB 2009: Panasonic Pledges End-To-End 3D Technology

Panasonic is going full-tilt boogie into producing 3-D television from start to finish.
From cameras to full HD 3-D displays, Panasonic thinks it can grab an area of developing techology all to itself and run with it.
Yeah...you'll still need the funny glasses but this is an area of TV entertainment that is bound to be attractive to a lot of couch potatoes in the future.
Heck...3-D porn films are a no-brainer for the lonely technophile...right?


TV-Newspaper Partnerships In Jeopardy

Local TV-newspaper partnerships are a big flop.
For a number of reasons including: resistance to sharing stories, too much planning time, the ability of newspapers to gather their own video and the overriding fact that the newspaper industry is in total meltdown, are all adding up to the fact that these local partnerships are going nowhere and will all probably fade away into the bowels of the great 21st century information paradigm shift.


College Students Remain Hopeful at RTNDA Despite Dim Job Prospects

College students looking to land the first big TV job are remaining hopeful even in the face of some daunting realities in the world of TV news.
As TV stations around the country are dropping reporters, producers and really just about anybody with a heartbeat, the nation's newly graduated are still primed to land that first gig.
The key is that they are not pigeonholing themselves but rather offering their services as jack-of-all broadcast trades from shooting and editing to writing and tweeting.
Trade secret #1: if you're ugly, you can hang it up.

Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net


Is Your Video Archive Flaking Out?

It's probably the best-known engineering problem — and most stations do nothing about it: the limited life span of videotape.

Until recently, only major networks and studios could justify the time and expense of backing up old content or storing the originals off site. But the explosion of licensed video sites and the fast-growing market for documentary footage have created new opportunities for stations to monetize old footage. That is, for stations who can locate and transfer their footage on demand.

But when it comes to videotape, age both giveth and taketh away. By the time old footage achieves nostalgic and historic market value, it has probably suffered physical deterioration. Too often, potential profits have already evaporated. Or more accurately, flaked away.

Full story...

 


This Week's Highlights


ABC-7 reporter and photographer handcuffed, detained
"
The officer yells, "Sit down and shut up!"



...eliminating wrist fatigue, increasing stability.




Is the Reporter Standup Going Away?

I usually give folks the option when I am delivering a good news/bad news scenario.
Which do you want to hear first?
Me?.....Always the bad news first.
Let's get the crap out of the way now so I can revel in the good stuff.
With that in mind...here is the bad news:

More layoffs.
Stations cutting back newscasts and/or news staff in San Diego, Tampa, Dallas, Scranton Pa., Columbus, Ga., and Raleigh, N.C.
One long-time anchor got the news of her firing through a manilla envelope stuck in her front door.

Geez...this stuff is getting really serious. It seems every ownership group is going to take their turn at paring down the size of their local TV news operations.
I know this flood of layoff news can be depressing for many of you readers. "Enough already. We get it. It's bad times for TV", you say.
And I hear you. But it's important for all of us to see who is doing what and how it may affect your future.

So now...the good news.
TV stations in Los Angeles and Detroit are adding newscasts.
In an uncertain revenue future, some stations are still taking chances and expanding their operations.
That's a positive in a hazy forecast


So let's have a look at the future.

TV stations sharing resources has,in the past, been totally pooh-poohed by execs. "We're competitiors!"
Now in a time of declining viewers and revenue, sharing helicopters, pool cameras and the like, is starting to make a lot of sense.
A buddy of mine predicted this years ago. "Why do you need 10 cameras all shooting the same press conference?" he would ask. I would explain the competition factor, the need for isolation, etc. etc.
He said: "It's expensive overkill."
Now he looks like a prophet.
This sharing plan gained a big endorsement from a couple of big media groups who have joined forces.
Expect this trend to continue.


Bad economic times means more local TV news viewers compared to other media outlets, so says a new study.
I guess those of us with less money in the pocket need to see that we are not alone. And TV seems to be the first place of refuge.

What about journalism students still hoping to get into the field?
They must realize the industry is in turmoil and steer clear, right?
Nope. Journalism as a major is on the rise, not the decline.
And universities and colleges are trying to meet that demand with innovative coursework geared toward the multi-media platform outlets that abound.
It's not about just getting a resume tape with a good standup on it anymore.
It's about storytelling.

In fact, the reporter standup might become a thing of the past.
The growth of news on the web is demanding a re-thinking of past practices.

Specifically, how do traditional TV news stories translate to a web viewing audience?
Berkley professor Richard Koci Hernandez says that his research shows that the ever-present TV reporter standup does not work as well on the web as on the TV.

He says: "...on the web, you can put a two- or three-minute piece up and you can let the subject speak. You don’t even have to be in there if you don’t want to, and you can just let the cameras roll. So instead of telling you can show."
"Blasphemy!! No reporter standups! How will the audience know who I am and how objective and personable I can be if they don't see me" you say.
Truth is, that on the web, it's not as important.
Hernandez says: "Don’t adopt something; try something new. I really think that we do have an opportunity to create a new form of what we might call web journalism, or storytelling for the web."


One newspaper journo for the Times in Scotland was suspended for not using a video camera on a story.
I guess some folks haven't gotten the memo about how the Times...they are a -changin'.
Finally,a few tidbits:
There was a fight in a TV station studio in Savannah that sent one person to the hospital.
I'm guessing this was a blowup amongst some employees.
But if you're gonna come to blows with the bitchy audio-guy who has finally put you over the edge, at least save it for the weather segment when all the viewers are too mesmerized by the super-duper "world's most powerful" doppler radar to care that there is a slugfest going on just outside camera-range.
"I'll kill you Buzzy. I swear I'll kill you!"
The governor of Alabama is threatening to sue the local TV stations over airing an ad that criticizes him.
Some of the stations have backed off and pulled the ad.
Others are calling it a "1st amendment issue".
One thing I know for sure...TV stations fear lawyers. Even their own.
The Associated Press is pondering whether to lower the boom on the many websites out there who re-use their content or even link to it. They are threatening lawsuits or offering to strike deals with sites like Google. I guess the AP sees an opportunity to grab some big-time revenue from aggregator sites and the like.
Question: What would a morning TV news meeting look like without the local paper and the AP wire?

Finally, a cat looking for a cozy spot to...nap, got caught in a TV trucks' sat dish as it rolled down the road.
The cat has now become a celebrity after being safely removed by dismantling a part of the dish.
For you cat-lovers out there...a happy ending.
For you cat-haters...a missed opportunity for some "fun with Mittens".

Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net


So You Want to be a News Director

From the outside looking in, the job doesn’t seem that hard. “I remember as a producer looking into that news director’s office and wondering, ‘What the hell do they do all day?’” says Kathleen Choal, news director at KVOA-TV in Tucson, AZ. “All I see them doing is talking on the phone and watching TV!”

She knows better now. A news director’s job is part admiral, part accountant, and all consuming. It’s the kind of job you’re never really prepared for, but you’re still expected to step in and do it well from day one. Read the entire article.


"Slow and Stupid"
Or: How to run a red light and avoid the penalty

Okay...first off, A disclaimer: If there is even the slightest chance you could be involved in an accident...DO NOT TRY THIS!

Okay...with that out of the way...TV news crews do so much driving around their respective cities and towns that it is often the case that we have to squeak by an intersection where the light is in the process of turning from yellow to red.

Since TV news crews are ALWAYS in a hurry, occasionally it is necessary that, in order to avoid missing the mayor's admission of guilt in his perjury case, or the finals of the county fair pig race, we need to scoot through those amber to red changing traffic lights and get our asses down the road.

Of course the natural tendency when approaching an intersection where the light is yellow and about to go red, is to pound that pedal to the floor and bust through that sucker. If you almost make the light by zooming through it...well...that counts right?

Wrong.
Especially if a police officer is in a position to see you do it. Speeding up to make the light is a no-no from a cop's point of view. And rightly so.

Here's my PhotogsLounge method for running the light and avoiding the cops: DO the exact opposite.

Take your foot off the gas...slow down...put both hands on the steering wheel, put a dumbfounded look on your face, and creep through the light looking like you wouldn't know a red light from a green, blue or purple light.

Yes my friends...slow and stupid makes the light.

This applies mostly to unmarked vehicles. A police officer's decision to pull over your marked news vehicle is directly related to how much he or she said officer hates your weatherman.

Look at it from a police officer's point of view. Who are you going to bother to stop? A knucklehead who busted through that light racing his engine in the process, OR...an idiot who looks as though he doesn't even know what day it is, let alone what color the light was?

A little acting is required here. Feel free to put on your stupidest looking expression and let a little spit drool down your chin. Might wanna take a split sec and muss your hair. We're going for the absent-minded professor look here. Or maybe the banjo-playing mutant in Deliverance.

Cop's gonna figure" "I'll be damned if I'm spending the next half hour explaining the traffic laws to a moron who should have "funny farm" permanently set in the GPS.

I've tested this method and it is guaranteed to work for you as it has for me.

Repeat after me: "Slow and stupid makes the light".

If your assignment desk is like mine however, they are alreading packing up the podium at the event anyway. No need to get a ticket to boot.

Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net


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After the Shoot

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