Thursday, May 26, 2005
Back to the Future - 2
This story is another case of an old technique modernized with a new name. I was doing video journalism in the 1970s as a young TV reporter. We called it a "one-man band" back then. We did it not only because it was cheaper but because the station where I worked believed a journalist should have total control over his work. We reported, shot footage, filmed interviews, recorded voice-overs, cut and spliced film and ran it to the film chain just before the newscast was about to air. It was tough to do then because equipment was bulky and there were lots of things that one carried about the waist on BIG belts. Today, everything is in a little camera.
What is the virtue of video journalism? One learns the entire process. That is what I remember best of all. I left that job with the confidence that I could do anything in a newsroom because I had done just about all of it.
PR needs training like that. No practitioner should go through a career without learning every technique associated with the job. There should be confidence in skills that goes beyond writing and media placement because one never knows what one will have to do in this business.
What is the virtue of video journalism? One learns the entire process. That is what I remember best of all. I left that job with the confidence that I could do anything in a newsroom because I had done just about all of it.
PR needs training like that. No practitioner should go through a career without learning every technique associated with the job. There should be confidence in skills that goes beyond writing and media placement because one never knows what one will have to do in this business.
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