iSalon: Video, training and ethics

Innovation meeting today was some talk about element mapping, and some notes about video storytelling. Here’s what happened today:

» NEWSPAPER VIDEO ETHICS vs. TV NEWS ETHICS . (TV news ethics can be much more fluid, someone added) In the case of Nick Eaton’s EWU mascot tryouts video, he saw a TV reporter not only telling the videographer what to shoot, but also taking some creative license by telling the judges how to react on camera. There’s a discussion on multimedia editor Colin Mulvany’s blog which includes both videos side-by-side… But when a print reporter or a photographer walks into a room with a notebook or camera in hand, don’t people behave differently anyway? Newspaper journalists also make judgments when they put stories together, including or excluding information we gather. Reporter Dan Hansen also brought up the sticky issue of only being able to photograph students who are not exempt by media waivers. Stuff we pondered.

» STUFF BY ANOTHER VJ (Video journalist) : Michael Rosenblum blogs about training people to do video storytelling. This particular one features a team of breast cancer patients getting ready for dragon boat races . This video was produced by a newspaper guy, John O’Boyle from Newark Star Ledger. Assistant managing editor Carla Savalli hopes the newsroom can organize more training sessions for our journalists in-house. Already underway are plans to add three more mobile journalists - two from Spokane7 and one from Business.

» WE LIKE : Des Moines Register made a great newsmap on the aftermath of the tornado damage in Parkersburg, Iowa (image at right). The map has different storytelling elements such as storm-chaser video clips, before-and-after land parcel photos, reader-submitted stories/comments… Can S-R do something like this? It’ll definitely be easier to do after the redesign, said multimedia producer Brian Immel.

» DEEP BREATH, FELLOW NEWS JUNKIES . Editorial associate editor Rebecca Nappi remembers finding an old how-to manual for Microsoft Word, from back when the newsroom sent folks to a training workshop. Someday years later, Nappi said, we’ll look back on today’s ‘new’ concepts and they’ll be utter nonsense - especially after our brains have changed .