Page 162 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

has two channels of audio,” Myles said of the PD170, “We make sev-
eral alterations to the basic camera. We have replaced the onboard
Sony domestic microphone with a Seinhesser 416 microphone. It’s a
sensitive and directional microphone that helps us acquire excellent
actuality.” Myles’s team also added a wide-angle lens and lens hood.
“This allows us to get closer to the subjects we are filming, providing
the benefits of a steadier shot, better depth of field, clearer audio and
greater intimacy with character,” he said.
Myles said VJs mainly contributed to the BBC’s 6:30 p.m. regional
news programs rather than the main late evening programs, but they
also filed to current affairs, political, Welsh language, and children’s
programs. “The range of stories and techniques are almost as numerous
as the trainees themselves,” he said. “Many find the access and the
ability to tell stories through real people’s eyes the big attraction. For
the others, multiple deployments are a big draw offering the ability
to show several dimensions of a story simultaneously.” Myles said the
flexibility offered by the nonlinear editing systems helped producers
create “very individual styles.” He emphasized that video journalists
152 were not intended to replace television news crews, but to supplement
traditional ways of working and to offer more “up-close-and-personal”
stories. “It is inevitable that the use of ‘self-operating’ staff will reduce
the use of traditional crews but this wasn’t the reason for doing it. The
big attraction was that this way of working would give greater access,
more freedom and creativity to the video-journalist, and a more honest
and interesting final product,” Myles said (2004).
Does this move by one of the world’s biggest news organizations
mean that the backpack journalist will become the norm? Probably
not, but this form of journalism is becoming more common. Various
media commentators have discussed how the scenario might evolve.
Howard Tyner, who recently retired as vice president for editorial at
the giant Tribune Co., said the notion of all journalists becoming one-
man bands was ridiculous, because it was not possible for one person
to produce top-quality content across all the media platforms. “Any-
one who’s ever gone out to cover a spot story thinking they could
take pictures as well as notes knows how that’s almost impossible,” he
said. He acknowledged that as journalism schools increasingly prepared
their students for multimedia newsrooms, media companies would hire
people with skills in more than one discipline. “We found that there
were a number of people in [the Tribune Company] newsrooms who
were hired to write stories, but had the ability and interest to deliver