...Pictures.
Some pretty, some not -- It depends on how long the tape sat out
of its case in the empty McDonald's French fry bag on the front
seat of the Shooter's car. Without video television would be exactly
like radio, except that on radio they sometimes stop talking during
the music.
AUDIO
...Part
of the television signal that no one cares about, but something
has to accompany the video.
PRODUCER
...Someone
who owns a digital stopwatch, but can't count backwards.
DIRECTOR
...Someone
who can count backwards from 3, but can't afford a digital stopwatch.
The
Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism at journalism.org
is out with it's 2009
"State of the News Media" report and as always
this highly researched and documented report is the most comprehensive
and focused look at where the news media is sitting now and
what may lie ahead.
If you want to know where the entire industry stands at the
start of a troubling and certainly challenging time, I recommend
reading the entire report.
But I've focused on the "Local
TV News" segment and here now offer some highlights
(lowlights?)
Viewership
"An
analysis of data from Nielsen Media Research suggests that viewership
of local news declined or was flat across all timeslots, during
all sweeps periods during the year.2
Evening
newscasts, around the dinner hour, were hardest hit.
The
picture was less bleak for morning news, where ratings remained
steady throughout the four sweeps months, although share declined.
Evening news (around dinnertime) lost ratings in three out
of four sweeps months, with declines as high as 11%. In share
they lost every month save one, when they broke even.
In
late news, after prime time, the numbers fell in all four
sweeps periods.The closest thing to a bright spot in local
news was early morning, although here, too, the bloom appears
to be off the rose somewhat.
For
early morning news (5 to 7 a.m.), the local programs that
come on before the network morning shows at 7 a.m., audience
figures for 2008 were flat or down.
Noon
broadcasts (noon to 1 p.m.) have become increasingly popular
among audiences, and network affiliates continue to add these
newscasts to their schedule. Ratings and share for the timeslot
are somewhat more stable than others excluding morning news,
which held steady from 2007."
Revenue
"According
to 2008 projections by Veronis Suhler Stevenson published in
August, advertising revenue is expected to decline 8.3% in 2009.
In November, the Television Bureau of Advertising estimated
even smaller revenues for 2009, which it estimated would be
7% to 11% lower than its newly reduced expectations for 2008.
But
now those may seem optimistic. In the first quarter, industry
executives said local TV stations were seeing revenues down
as much as 40%. And in an article foreshadowing many of the
problems local television stations would face in planning
their budgets for 2009, Deborah Potter, executive director
of NewsLab, a journalism resource center, and a consultant
to this project, suggests that profits margins have dwindled
to new lows. “For publicly traded businesses accustomed
to a 40 percent profit margin, 20 percent profit seems paltry
— especially to Wall Street,” Potter wrote.6
And
2009 looks worse. In November, the Television Bureau of Advertising
projected that local spot revenue would fall 4% to 8% in 2009.
National spot advertising was projected to fall even further,
between 11.5% and 15.5% compared with 2008.
Average
station revenues are falling, when adjusted for inflation,
and the impact is being felt most severely in smaller markets."
Staffing
"Salaries
for news professionals did grow on average in 2007. But the
gains were almost exclusively made by on-air employees. The
behind-the-cameras staff barely kept up with inflation. And
throughout 2008, there were signs of stations now beginning
to jettison some of their most senior people, including top
anchors, to save money. Cutbacks accelerated in the last few
months of 2008, with all types of newsroom positions being shed.
Moving
ahead, 2009 is shaping up to be perhaps even more difficult.
In the summer of 2008, a survey of news directors found that
most expected staffing levels to be flat in the coming year,
and a growing number feared that cuts were in the offing.
And
that survey was completed before the economy soured in the
fourth quarter. Analysts now warn that the situation in 2009
could be even worse.
While the money is small, stations are getting more serious
with their online ventures, including hiring more people to
sell online ads exclusively. The reason is simple. While small,
the revenues from the Internet are growing and that makes
them significant in the increasingly difficult world of local
television."
Looking
Ahead
"One
other potentially worrisome development for local news operations
is that networks are increasingly demanding money from their
affiliates for programming, while in previous years the payments
moved in the other direction.
These
include changes in financial arrangements between networks
and their affiliates and a reduction in the numbers of hours
of national programming from networks. And at least one network
(CBS) envisions distributing its programs directly through
cable and satellite systems within the next decade —
thus circumventing or cutting ties completely with affiliates.
Should
the reverse-compensation model become the norm, many small-market
stations fear they will have to cut back on local programming,
including news, to make up for the higher costs.
An
end to the network-affiliate model would have more dire consequences
for affiliates. With less or no national programming from
the networks, stations would likely be at a disadvantage in
negotiating fees for retransmission of their programming on
cable and satellite systems.
As
2009 began, the traditional network-affiliate model remained
intact but unsteady. The changes foreshadowed in 2008 may
prompt stations to expand beyond traditional local programming
(mostly news) into more varied content as a protection against
audience erosion.
Still
to be gauged is whether stations will take better advantage
of the extra channels offered by the digital conversion to
add such things as all-sports or all-weather channels, and
whether cable providers will be compelled to carry them, and
how audiences and advertisers will respond if they do. At
the end of 2008, local all-weather channels were the most
common at many stations, although few had yet to offer different
types of content on their digital sub-channels.
Papper
suggested, however, that with newsrooms already stretched
thin, many stations would have to reduce the amount of news
programming if the industry experiences further significant
cutbacks in 2009."
Now
that those sub-channels are available with digital transmission,
how will TV stations use them (besides 24 hour weather?) WNBC
is going full-tilt 24 hour local news with
"New York Non-Stop".
One potential problem: digital subchannels aren’t rated
by Nielsen.
So how exactly will you know how many viewers you have
Is the constant barrage of bad economic news causing viewer
turnoff?
More news on the layoff front in TV news. Bad news locally,nationally
and now internationally.
Be careful if your TV station has the idea of webcasting local
high school sports. New battles are brewing between media outlets
and local school athletic associations as to who owns the rights.
And it's a cloudy
picture.
Those local "learn TV broadcasting" schools are in a
big financial crunch given the poor prospects for future students.
Some are closing
their doors leaving students high and dry.
Cheaper live shots! That's the prospect on using internet videoconferencing
tool Skype to present live video.
Skype has its drawbacks but TV stations are going to explore this
means
of live coverage as budgets tighten.
How does the local magistrate stick it to the TV stations?
With parking tickets
on news vehicles of course.
In the "don't do this" department:
Man
Arrested for Shining Laser Pointer at News Helicopter
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
All Apologies
You
know how everybody that knows anything about computers always
tells you to backup your data so you don't lose it when the inevitable
hard drive crash comes-a-callin'?
Well...
It's not that I disregarded that dictum entirely, I was just lax
in my attitude about it.
And so, when my hard drive did indeed crash a couple of weeks
ago, I was left holding my d**k in my hand.
Dumbstruck, befuddled.
I guess I should have taken more care with the fact that I ran
an actual website that some people really did pop in to check
out.
But no...I was cocky. I was indifferent. "My computer is
working fine"...there was no reason to fear a crash.
So when it did crash, and I mean crash like a freakin' semi jack-knifing
on a slick two lane road full of vegetable carts and pane-glass
windows, I just stood there like the slack-jawed dummy I had become.
The burning plastic/metallic smell wafting over me was my first
sign. I knew I was in trouble but I figured if I just pleaded
"please mommy, make it all go away", the great lord
of computing would take mercy on me and ease my predicament.
No.
I lost it all.
Everything. The entire drive.
I literally lost my website. It was out there in cyberspace waiting
for me. But I couldn't get to it. The programs I use to work on
the site were lost with it. And since I got those programs on
the cheap, I didn't have backup for them either.
So I was left basically at square one. And that's an ugly square.
It's the most hated square of all the squares. Square one is a
bitch.
No one ever returns to square two ya know...but I figure it ain't
a whole lot better.
So right now, after messing with this predicament for a few weeks,
I'd say I'm on square....uh...I don't know...maybe seven.
I'm back up and running, but it took a lotta time, head-scratching,
and oh yeah...money.
Just like me to have to reconfigure the whole shebang.
But I'd like to thank all of you who continue to check out my
site.
It really is a labor of love and I'm glad to be able to work on
it again.
I'm just a TV photog with a website. But I'm going on 12 years
with this thing and my goal is still to keep you guys interested
with some news, some stories and some giggles.
Again...thanks for sticking with me.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Reporting while flying blamed in copter collision
WASHINGTON
-
A midair collision involving two news helicopters over Phoenix
18 months ago occurred because the two pilots lost track of each
other while broadcasting live coverage of a police chase on the
ground, federal officials said Wednesday.
The pilots
were trying to do too much at once - fly, report and monitor multiple
radio channels - before the crash, the National Transportation
Safety Board said.
"The
probable cause of this accident was both pilots' failure to see
and avoid each other," the board concluded in a report on the
collision. "Contributing to this failure was the pilots' responsibility
to perform reporting and visual-tracking duties."
(More)
Now
that we're back to a peanut butter and cup 'o noodles economy
on the eve of the new year, it seems like a good time to put on
our Carnak the Magnificent's turban and take a guess at what's
inside the hermetically sealed envelopes.
What lies
ahead for the TV business and specifically the TV news business
in 2009?
Here are
some predictions from around the media spectrum.
TVPredictions.com
prognosticator Phillip Swann sees big trouble ahead for TV broadcasters
with the upcoming digital switchover. He sees many viewers giving
up on TV entirely with network viewers down drastically. Local
TV may lose 5-7% of viewers just with the transition.
Beet.tv
sees almost all the major media entities making deals with YouTube.
Many forecasters
are seeing 2009 as the year when mobile video really takes off.
Videonuze
says: "The mobile experience is going to seem more and more like
the one you have sitting at your computer, with the added benefit
of portability. To throw a blue-sky variable into the mix, one
wonders if at some point you'll simply plug your phone into your
TV and watch streamed or downloaded video that way."
In fact says
seekingalpha.com,
you will soon be treating your internet as if it were just another
TV. Many of you are already there.
Branding
will become even more important in a world of media excess says
tilzy.tv.
"Just because videos can’t be appropriately monetized in the near
term, developing lasting brands (or reputations) associated with
quality, innovative content will build value that can be monetized
down the road. Experimentation and innovation are key."
Local broadcasters
will begin to monetize their content in 2009 according to mediapost.com.
But internet media will continue to impact TV on the time spent
watching video.
But all is
not gloom and doom for the lowly little local TV station. Although
some are predicting the demise of at least one network (CBS seems
to be the favorite), TV viewing will continue to be the first
choice because "viewership in aggregate is actually going
up, so continuing to understand how social media extends and enhances
that experience (and sources content in reverse) will be mission
critical."
As for the
growth of one-man-band journalists and downsized newsrooms, the
pinch will continue at least until the automakers sense a rebound
and get comfortable again doing more advertising.
Local TV ownership groups are definitely hunkering down for the
new year. Layoffs and job-consolidation will surely continue at
least for the beginning of 2009.
If you are affected by this, my hope is that you can find new
avenues to travel that lead to new opportunities. For those still
hanging on to a TV job and crossing your fingers...ahh.. try not
to make eye contact with the boss.
Maybe they'll forget you work there.
The
future of live ENG transmissions continues to evolve and the latest
entry in the "doing away with 40-ft. masts" category
is WiMax, the 4th-generation wireless broadband access service.
They're experimenting with it in
Idaho of all places, and the reviews are pretty good. ("Most viewers
probably couldn't tell you we're doing anything different.").
Lots of big-name
players are entering the field, but their are still some major
drawbacks that may slow the pace of this technology.
Still, many
folks believe that this lower-cost wireless application will replace
the likes of microwave truck transmissions. MORE...
Now
that the weather is turning colder, it's time to consider the
effects of freezing temperatures on video equipment and offer
a few tips that will keep you shooting when both you and your
camera would rather be indoors.
You don't
have to be working in arctic conditions to have a problem with
condensation. Exposing a camera and lens that have been chilling
outdoors to a warmer environment, especially if it is also humid,
causes the air next to the camera to cool below its dew point;
moisture given up by the warm air condenses on the camera's cooler
surfaces the same way that frost forms on the inside of a window
on a really cold day. Most of this moisture will evaporate as
the camera warms up, but sometimes moisture condenses inside the
viewfinder and between the elements of the lens.The
results are images that look like they've been shot through a
fog filter.
Sometimes
condensation makes its way into the recorder, where moisture sensors
will detect it and shut down the tape mechanism. The best way
to avoid condensation problems is to place the camera in an airtight
plastic bag before bringing it indoors.
Condensation
will form on the outside of the bag instead of on (or within)
the camera and lens. After a brief wait of perhaps 10 or 15 minutes,
the camera should be close enough to room temperature to make
it safe to unseal the bag. Leaving the camera on while it is bagged
will generate a little extra heat and speed the process.
If the condensation
gremlin has already struck, a gentle stream of air from a hair
dryer set to low heat will help chase the humidity away. Just
remember, the goal is to dry out the camera, not cook it. To avoid
damage, the air directed at the camera and lens should be no warmer
than you can tolerate on the back of your hand.
Posted by
Brian Smith at tvtechnology.com
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
A Survival Guide To Your Layoff
Okay...you
can see it coming. The company is downsizing and you are in their
line of fire.
Are you prepared
if that pink slip is attached to your last paycheck. Here's
a guide put together by photojournalist Brad Ingram of WGHP-TV
to help you deal with...the LAYOFF!
Excerpt:
"If you have any personal belongings or equipment stored
at work make sure it’s in one area if possible. Make a list of
all of the personal equipment that is yours and supply that list
to your department head. That way you and your equipment are protected.
MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Houston TV Station Copter Crashes, 2 Dead
Here's
video and media reports of the Houston TV copter crash.
• July
2007: A helicopter flying for Dallas Fox affiliate KDFW made
an emergency landing near Grand Prairie, injuring two reporters
and the pilot.
• July
2007: Two news helicopters collided mid-air in Phoenix while
covering a police chase. Four people died.
• May 2004:
A news helicopter covering a triple shooting crashed onto a
roof in Brooklyn, N.Y. No serious injuries were reported.
• May 2001:
The pilot of a KHOU (Channel 11) news helicopter crashed while
trying to land on the station's roof. He was not injured.
• April
2001: A KTRK (Channel 13) helicopter lost power but landed safely
in Montgomery County while covering a school bus accident. No
one was injured.
• November
2000: KRIV-TV's SkyFOX went down in Houston's River Oaks community,
killing pilot Donald Sumner.
• March
2000: A news helicopter covering a train derailment crashed
in suburban Miami, killing a photographer and a pilot.
“Will
anchors be worth what they were worth? No. You cut back on salaries.
The people who had the ability to get higher pay won’t have
it. It doesn’t mean they won’t be valuable. It doesn’t mean
they’ll lose their jobs. They might, but what it probably means
is they probably won’t make as much money."…”
The
new media paradigm for TV news will answer this question:
What person
will acquire the video?
I think it
will still be several years before the traditional
reporter-photog news crew
will be noticed to be diminishing.
Soon though, people, even big shots, will become comfortable with
the face behind a smaller camera, asking all the questions.
One person
will acquire the video .All of it....including conducting interviews.
If he/she can write the story as well...
instant anchor pack.
Economic realities may force stations to have fewer reporters
and more anchor-read packages to feed the beast.
And if said
video acquirer still wants to be 'on TV'?
What the hell...shoot your standups.
If, in your
position right now...you are a video acquirer...
you...my
friend
just moved
to the front lines.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
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.”
What's
the most remarkable moment you've ever witnessed on live TV?
Man on the moon?...
If you watched,
your pride in America was great that day.
And all-in all probably #1.
But... For me it was also November 1963.
I was a kid watching live TV when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald.
It was unbelievable...I remember thinking "did I really just see
that?" Completely stunning in its impact.
Even as a grade-schooler I thought: "How could he do it? And so
easily.
The grownups around here are 'bout to freak."
And the man behind the mic was Ike
Pappas of CBS, who died this week.
That moment
of history marks a timeline for me, when I realized the god-awful
power of television in full display,
and Ike Pappas
made it real for me.
It was a scary time.
Thank God
the Beatles arrived in Feb. 1964.
They made the world a happier place.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Headlines
On
the Go The
outlook for mobile TV news... the broadcast industry hopes
to bring viewers back by taking its show on the road.
This
Week's Highlights
At
ESPN, Play-by-Play Goes Virtual
" "the
cable powerhouse is looking to extend its domain in virtual
worlds by merging video game graphics with real-life sports
anchors."
The Newspapers' Final Voyage
The
reality is now approaching that sooner rather than later, all
newspapers will move to online access only.
Some have suggested this could happen quickly once the dominos
start falling.
Maybe as soon as 2012.
This is going
to really shake things up when newspapers finally see that there
is no longer a profit in delivering hard copy papers to their
readers.
The
death of the newspaper will be a sorry sight for a couple of generations
that have grown up dirtying our fingers with newsprint ink.
Trouble is,
newspapers can't figure out a proper business model online either.
They're failing at both ends right now. Talk about a squeeze play.
Internet news readers have demanded that their news info be made
available for free, and free don't pay no
reporter salaries.
So newspapers are being forced into a web-based, advertiser-only
revenue vein, that can't carry the weight needed to fund a daily
newsgathering operation.
Honestly,
is there a single newspaper in the country that has a profitable
enough website to carry their whole operation?
I doubt
it.
To survive, papers are going to have to go super local. Mostly
with sports I suspect. That's another reason why they are branching
out into local news video. The local news website (whether print, TV, or radio)
that corners the market and can become a one-stop shop for all
your local print and video needs, may be the sole market survivor
in the battle to attract and retain local news enthusiasts.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Teenager TV
Local
TV stations which are putting on five, six or more hours of TV
news everyday are often struggling to find enough viable content
to feed an ever-hungry beast.
Guess who might be able to help?
If you said
high school teenagers...
go to the head of the class.
"Videos
written and edited by high school students could become a reason
for them to watch the news—and a way for local TV news operations
to recruit younger viewers." MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
And now it's "All-Platform Journalist"
Alright...enough
already. We gotta settle on a term for this new-fangled journalist
of the future. We've had: digital journalist, one-man-band, multi-media
journalist, new media journalist...
and now
CNN gets into the mess with creating one-person bureaus manned
by "all-platform journalists". CNN now becomes the latest media
outlet to 'expand
by downsizing'. You gotta love the marketing chutzpah.
Let
an all-platformer give you a look at her daily
routine here.
In this, the reporter is female. But I noted in her daily rundown
that at no time did she say: "grabbed my gear and went and shot
interviews and B-roll."
Yes there are two types of "all-platform journalists". One includes
shooting video and one does not. One puts together a TV news story
and one basically puts together a web story. Will it all soon
be combined? I'm not sure it's possible to do what this young
journalist is doing at CNN...AND shoot a video story in the same
day. In fact...it's impossible.
I've
noticed that most of the journalists portrayed in the media who
are shooting. writing, and editing TV stories are
male. Not to say it isn't being done by some hard-working
females out there, because I've run into a few at small-market
stations who are working their butts off.
But
I still contend that in general, the women who now have jobs as
TV reporters at their respective stations...for the most part
want no part of becoming an "all-platform journalist." Given the
ultimatum, I still believe many of them, not all, would look for
another job.
So
will the APJ become a male stronghold in the world of TV news?
Or will the journalism students now entering the business, male
AND female realize that in order to succeed, they're gonna have
to start humpin' some gear and getting their hands dirty? As I've
said before...all of this won't happen overnight. But the more
TV stations look at this as a way of cutting costs...the bigger
chance your owner will do it too.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
If the Studio's Rockin'...Don't Bother Knockin'
Look...I
realize that earthquakes are serious business.But what is it with
TV news anchors hiding under the desk when this happens to them
while they are on air.
Here's an anchor, not only ducking under, but exhorting "you
camera people" to come join him under there. First he says:
" Stay calm" as if his anchorman persona gives him some
kind of 'I'm the captain here' status. His very next words after
"stay calm" are "UNDER THE DESK!"
This guys not talking to "you camera people", he's talking
to himself, trying to not look like the fraidy-cat he appears.
I know...earthquakes...serious...got
it.
But c'mon...this
guy's just silly.
Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Decision
2008
Are You Ready For "Pitvertising"
Here’s
a new word that might be invading your vernacular in the near
future if you happen to be a frequent mass-transit commuter. Pitvertising.
That’s right.
Ads directly from the deep caverns of your fellow passengers’
armpits.
It might
sound sort of creepy and unpractical, but think of the most common
sight on a crowded subway car. Tons and tons of sweaty armpits,
attached to those very same fellow passengers who are reaching
for the handy support hanger.
And what better way is there to utilize such a medium than by
advertising, oops, we mean “pitvertising” a brand of deodorant?
Deodorant company Right Guard recently sent out a flock of pitvertisers
out into the wilds of London to test out their new form of media.
And while it might not be playing something entertaining like
The Best of Monty Python, at least it’s better than the choice
of entertainment you usually have, which usually consists of glancing
between the same poster ad over and over again or staring into
the depths of a non-displayed armpit.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Is The Rug Being Pulled Out?
Here's
more news on something I've been
alerting you to for a while now. Major newspapers are getting
into the video business big-time and some of them are starting
to grasp the fact that if they do it well, they could pull the
rug out from under TV station websites and become a one-stop-shop
for all your print AND video needs.
Check out
this article on what newpapers are
doing and once again make sure you watch the videos below from
the Washington Post and the Newark Star-Ledger. Also read
how the downsizing of the newspaper industry might make for some
very long morning meetings in the TV newsroom. And how some are
pondering
the possibility of more TV-newspaper mergers.
It's all
disparaging news for local TV news operations, particularly for
the struggling ones. But this IS the future my friends. The more
you know what's coming, the more you will be prepared to take
advantage of it.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Is Your Job Headed to the Newspaper?
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The Michael Phelps Show
Well...here
it comes. Get ready for the biggest hi-tech TV
extravaganza in the history of the ole boob tube. NBC presents
the 2008 Summer Olympics.
And of course, they've turned on the faucet of dollars to equip
themselves with all the best and brightest state-of-the-art HD
hardware to showcase the 2 week affair, including DiveCam, and
UnderwaterCam and other assorted POV cams that should give viewers
a full assortment of angles and replays to highlight
all the action.
In
a side note...here in Baltimore we know that the greatest swimmer
in the world will no doubt dominate these games. Michael Phelps
grew up here and is returning here to live and work after the
games. With he and Baltimore's female sensation Katie Hoff, the
North Baltimore
Aquatic Club's finest are about to make history. Best of luck
to Michael and Katie!!
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.
TV
Turmoil
" Revolving
door in small news markets part of the biz
Bozo
Dead
" Larry
Harmon, longtime Bozo the Clown, dead at 83
How To Be A Vee-Jay
"Who
will be easier to transition into this new VJ mode?
Reporters or photogs?
Train a person to write a basic TV story...or train a person to
shoot and edit a TV story?
Photogs with any kind of writing aptitude will win this contest.
And I can sense it. Reporters in general are unnerved by this
new development. They see how this may pan out and a lot of them
are feeling a tad insecure about the prospect, knowing that they
have no intention or desire to learn how to shoot and edit news."
MORE....
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Keeping the Passion Alive
From
time to time it's good to re-connect with the basics that make
for great visual storytelling in TV news. So here are a list
of standard procedures from photog Corky Scholl on how to
make your stories stand out from the pack. More...
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
New Gadgets
Everybody
likes new gadgets...right? Most TV news photogs are gadget freaks
to some degree. So here for your perusal are just a few of the
new devices
making their debuts.
Get a load of the new developments in 3-D TV (without the funny
glasses), the latest in ultra-high definition TV, a new HD flash-based
camcorder from Sony, and the coolest new shockproof mini-cam to
stick on a helmet or cycle for catching that POV stuff on a wild
ride. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
MAKING NEWS: Savannah Style...
Here
from Nick Davis Productions is the 1st episode of the 2nd season
of "Making News"...an in-depth look at the behind-the-scenes
action at a local TV news operation.
You might remember the first season of this series that followed
the drama of a TV news station in Midland, Texas.
Now they've moved on to Savannah, Georgia.
In Episode 1, we meet the team of WJCL-TV, possibly the lowest-rated
ABC affiliate in the country. Follow the anchors and reporters
as they launch a campaign to get a foothold in their community.
Even
more layoff buzz around the industry.
It looks like we're in the beginning stages of a paradigm shift.
Some are predicting that "the local TV news formula of using
star anchors to attract viewers may be headed for the ash heap."
With "more emphasis on delivering the news by means other
than traditional broadcasts and less on presentation by highly-paid
anchors and reporters."
I can't help but see opportunities here for those of us who are
open to expanding our skill sets and thus becoming more valuable
to a TV operation. MORE...
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...
In
the field I sometimes use my little Casio 2.5" TV as a monitor
during live shots and such. As of February of course, that comes
to an end.
A whole lotta little TV's like this one are going to end up as
paperweights soon enough.
In fact I think most people, if they don't have cable or satellite
TV, won't even bother getting new tuners for TV sets up to 19"
or so. The landfills are going to be bursting with discarded TV's.
Seems a shame to deep six a perfectly fine TV just to fulfill
the FCC's demand to go digital.
Eventually digital TV tuners will be integrated into most cell
phones I imagine. The tuners to allow it are getting smaller
and smaller.
The Asuka Corp. out of Taiwan has come up with what may be the
smallest
digital TV up to now. A 3" screen that won't work in the U.S.
Go figure.
So until those cell phones can receive the digital TV signal,
we TV guys in the field have no way to monitor our picture away
from the truck. And my little Casio was so sweet.
Damn the FCC.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The "Mo-Jo" vs. The "Vee-Jay"
What
we in the TV news industry are calling the "one-man-band', or
"vee-Jay" (video journalist), the newspaper industry seems to
like the label "mojo" or mobile journalist.
The difference: very little.
As newspapers
struggle to survive in a new world of instant access, they seem
to be merely copying what the TV news folks have been doing for
decades.
Mojos are
being equipped with video cameras and laptops and sent out the
door to create news stories. That sure sounds familiar to me.
Instead of producing news for a daily paper, they are turning
stories for their web sites. Also just like TV stations.
Old newspaper
types of course, look down their noses at this type of news coverage.
Is it merely a fad they ask.
Many feel
that being out of the newsroom for extended periods means less
face-to-face discussion with editors and colleagues. Communication
can get muddled or missed. That argument to me seems to be a reach.
These mobile journos have cell phones, right?
Either way,
the bottom line is that TV stations and newspapers are morphing
into using the same tools to capture the news. These two media
entities in the future will compete for patrons in much the same
way.
In fact,
with the inherent gravitas that many newspapers have garnered,
they could win the battle of delivering news seekers what they
want.
If your major daily newspaper offered solid local video news coverage
along with its established print expertise on its web site, would
you even need to visit a TV station website?
Local TV
news operations need to recognize and address the fact that they
are now also in competition with the local newspaper for video
news content.
And newspapers need to realize that the world of print journalism
is no longer enough for the next generation of news seekers.
Truth is
that in many ways it is a race.
For the winner: continued survival in an age of immediate gratification. MORE...
"How
many of you producers and reporters are producing content for
another medium? This report says
the number's almost 70%. Although almost half of you say you need
more training to do it better.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Top 10 Angry On-Camera Meltdowns
If
you haven't seen this yet, you've got to take a look at this video.
Anchors, hosts, weatherman and more all letting their anger get
the best of them on-air. What viewers don't really know is...this
stuff happens all the time. Behind the scenes we are often tired,
angry and loose-lipped.
I'd warn
you about the language in this video, but I'm pretty sure your
boss is busy cussing out the guy on the assignment desk right
now, so go ahead and play this.
Remember
the big shift that's supposed to happen with TV ENG microwave
transmisions?
Sprint Nextel
was buying up all that "live shot" spectrum space and compensating
TV stations with new digital transmission and reception gear.
It's called
the "2 GHz relocation".
Every TV
station has to inventory its equipment, present a shopping list
to Sprint, have it verified by a third-party, receive the hardware,
test to make sure there is no interference and turn the whole
thing around literally overnight.
Quite a set
of demands.
And oh yeah,
this all has to happen by Sept. 30th of this year!
Some TV stations
like KTVK in Phoenix have already completed the turnaround. Yet,
as of today, the vast majority of TV stations with call letters
haven't received a single piece of new equipment. Much of it is
still sitting in a warehouse.
Sprint has
asked for an additional 29 months to make it happen. The FCC has
granted them 18
months.
What's the
holdup?
Well, if
you said LAWYERS...you win a Stewie doll.
In the great
clamor to make all of this happen, nobody figured out who was
going to pay the taxes on this stuff.
Read more about it here.
In
the meantime, suppliers are marketing gear outside of the relocation
process. Portable, compact microwave systems that can be carried
in a regular-size auto and set up on the fly for breaking-news
events are now hot items. These new wireless transmitters mount
on the back of a camera and are good for a short enough distance
to make them really valuable in downtown situations with a lot
of buildings.
"You grab one of the news cars, throw it in the back seat,
run to the story, and set up and go.”
So
what's ahead for editing systems this year? A couple of
trends are emerging as was seen at NAB.
Lots of new formats, plenty of horsepower, and even stereoscopic
3D entries.
Editors today
are going to have to adapt and move quickly to keep pace with
a demanding market. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Sony's New TV Dropping Jaws
It
costs too much. The screen is too small. But this new TV from
Sony is about to blow all the others out of the water.
The new OLED
technology is providing such incredibly lifelike images that you
need to catch your breath.
Name a drawback of plasma or LED screens and this TV overcomes
it. But at only 11" across and a price of $2500, it's not yet
ready for prime time.
Yet, the
jaw-dropping picture quality is about to set a new standard for
high-end TV's. Oh yeah...and it's only 3mm thick. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Finding and Keeping Good Assignment Editors
"Show
me a good assignment desk, and I'll show you a winning newsroom,"
says Joseph Coscia, former news director at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh
and once an assignment editor at New York's WABC-TV.
So where
do you find good assignment editors and how do you keep them?
MORE...
I
thought in opening up another messageboard
that I would try to entice students in colleges, universities
and high schools to ask questions here and get them answered by
folks who are now working in the media.
Of course
the board is open to any and all posters on any subject, but I
realize that there are other more established forums for media
kvetching. Hopefully with some prodding, I can find students with
legitimate questions about TV journalism that will be answered
here.
If not...well
then start kvetching.
Registration is quick and painless so please take 15 secs and
join
up.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Share the Wealth
I
have a good friend who is a production freelancer who has asked
me many times: "Why do all of the TV stations have cameras at
a press conference, shooting the exact same thing, wasting resources
on duplicating an event, when one camera's video is all you need?"
"Why
don't your bosses work out a pool arrangement for stuff like that?"
I start talking
about "competition" and "getting an edge" and he wisely says:
"At a news conference!!"
Well...it
looks like some news bosses in Philadelphia are taking my friend's
advice. The NBC and Fox affiliates there are working on an arrangement
to share video at just such events. The costs of doing business
may make this kind of working agreement more of a reality in news
markets everywhere. And ya know what?....it makes sense to me. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The Battle for "Smallest HD Camcorder"
Yes...the
battle of "smallest" HD camcorders has begun. But in
this case, smallest also means "most compromised". You're
going to get a debatedly great video picture with these new camcorders.
But you'll also give up wide angles, need a powerful computer
to deal with their new capture format, and not even bother if
you own a Mac.
With these
cams, smaller isn't necessarily better. But the HD camcorder war
is only just now heating up. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Avoiding the "Instant"
A
tragic
accident in Maine has focused attention on TV live trucks
as one was involved in a fatal collision this week
It looks like the TV truck was not at fault as the other vehicle
crossed the center line and collided with the truck.
We can only pray for the poor young woman who lost her life and
for the occupant of the truck to quickly recover. Nothing you
can do to prevent something like this. Fate put those folks in
that position.
But
it does offer up an opportunity to mention the safety procedures
to be used by TV live truck operators.
Mark Bell is the head honcho for live truck safety. Check out
his site at www.engsafety.com.
Of course, the main thrust of Mark's site is to not throw that
mast up in the wrong circumstances, but driving issues are also
addressed.
At my station
lately, there has been a much greater emphasis placed on safety
procedures. That may be true at many stations across the country
as owners look to lessen the problems that accidents create. Hopefully
you will take the time to review the safety procedures where you
work and take them to heart. As we know all too well, your life
can be taken in an instant. Avoiding that"instant" may be the
most important thing we will ever do.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Transferring Old VideoTapes To DVD
Fortunately,
high prices and intimidating learning curves have been replaced
by cost-effective, user-friendly editing solutions.
Features previously available to professional editors only are
now in the hands of the everyday consumer.
Even with the most basic video-editing software and hardware,
you can convert analog tapes to a variety of digital formats easily,
including DVD. MORE...
LiveNewsCams.com
" "...The
concept is simple, let people watch news as it happens anywhere
in the world…raw, unedited on your computer at work or home."
In
honor of the new baseball season, and the Baltimore Orioles being
off to the best start in all the major leagues...(you heard right
Pancho), here for your enjoyment is the BEST
baseball blooper you will EVER see.
In my town...this video is a hometown staple. It is best watched
either before, during or after the consumption of a crabcake and
the downing of a Natty Boh.
Introducing...the indomitable...the unconquerable...the unstoppable,
the one...the only...the EARL of Baltimore...EARL
WEAVER!
(WARNING: You are about to hear an uncensored version
of a no-holds-barred, unrestained, full-tilt Weaverfest. Plan
accordingly.)
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The New Toys Your Bosses Want
Among
the throngs at the National Association of Broadcasters convention
April 11-17 in Las Vegas will be the top engineers for major broadcast
groups.
All
come with slightly different agendas and some with radically different
timetables. All of them, however, will have their minds on one
date for certain: Feb. 17, 2009, the last day broadcasters will
be allowed to transmit an analog signal.
Here’s a look at how six of the
major broadcast groups will spend their time on the NAB floor
making final plans for the digital transition.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The Whole She-Bang!
ONE-MAN-BANDS!!
There's a furious debate going on in TV journalism right now over
the use of one-man-bands, the solo video journalist who shoots,
writes, and edits his own news story.
Stephan Warley at tvspy.com has just written an article in "Defense
of Video Journalists", noting that "local broadcasters will
have to produce video content for multiple platforms: broadcast,
web, cell phones, and video on demand. Once again, the VJ model
is much better suited to distributing unique content to multiple
platforms."
The readers of B-Roll. net are most assuredly aware of Michael
Rosenblum's focus on turning TV newsrooms into "VJ" havens.
Stations like KRON have gone totally VJ.
But as of now ,completely shifting to that format seems risky
to me. Some stations using it have
not succeeded.
Still, the OMB option is proliferating.
Newspaper reporters are being
trained to gather video and assemble stories for their websites.
Awards
are now being specifically given to OMB journalists.
I know a lot of good TV news photogs want this thing to just
go away.
But fellas....it's not.
And like it or not, YOU may be asked to do it.
Let's face it, in the near future, either reporters are gonna
learn how to shoot and edit, or photogs are gonna learn how to
write and assemble.
I say....start doing some writing now.
Look at the packages you are doing and give it a go at writing
it yourself. You can create your own future if you have the desire.
Because the OMB model WILL become an accepted adjunct in the TV
newsrooms of the future.
It is economically smart for station owners and can create entirely
new levels of developing stories if done well.
I
know there are a slew of older photogs who want no part of this.
And the truth is, this thing is not going to happen overnight.
Tomorrow you will still be out there in the van cranking
out another story with another reporter. Next year you will still be in that van cranking out that
story. (That reporter will have already lost his job as usual.)
But five years from now? It's looking different.
Yep...technology is forcing the issue. And bottom line...you
can't fight the technology.
You old guys...just hang on and pray. You'll probably eke out
of the TV news business as the last generation of the old style.
("Yep...we used to have lunch and a smoke while the reporter
logged and wrote.")
You new guys...brush up on your writing skills.
ALL you guys are due a beer or two for just surviving in a new
landscape being forced on us.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Layoffs Everywhere!
Okay...this
layoff thing is starting to get serious. All over the country
TV stations are laying-off personnel left and right.
CBS is doing most of the hacking. Just this week, their are layoffs
in Chicago,New
York,Boston,San
Francisco and Pittsburgh.
Also Denver
and Sacremento.
For the most part, it looks like the unlucky personnel are the
higher-paid talent...anchors and reporters. Affirming the old
adage: "Never be the highest paid person at the TV station." But
producers and writers are also getting the boot.
As of now, it looks like news photographers have escaped the downsizing.
Not all photogs of course, but the union contracts at larger stations
and the lower salaries at the smaller stations have surely helped
keep us employed. For once, it's a good thing to be paid so poorly.
A'int that some sh-t.?
The
new media paradigm for TV news will answer this question:
What person
will acquire the video?
I think it
will still be several years before the traditional
reporter-photog news crew
will be noticed to be diminishing.
Soon though, people, even big shots, will become comfortable with
the face behind a smaller camera, asking all the questions.
One person
will acquire the video .All of it....including conducting interviews.
If he/she can write the story as well...
instant anchor pack.
Economic realities may force stations to have fewer reporters
and more anchor-read packages to feed the beast.
And if said
video acquirer still wants to be 'on TV'?
What the hell...shoot your standups.
If, in your
position right now...you are a video acquirer...
you...my
friend
just moved
to the front lines.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
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.”
What's
the most remarkable moment you've ever witnessed on live TV?
Man on the moon?...
If you watched,
your pride in America was great that day.
And all-in all probably #1.
But... For me it was also November 1963.
I was a kid watching live TV when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald.
It was unbelievable...I remember thinking "did I really just see
that?" Completely stunning in its impact.
Even as a grade-schooler I thought: "How could he do it? And so
easily.
The grownups around here are 'bout to freak."
And the man behind the mic was Ike
Pappas of CBS, who died this week.
That moment
of history marks a timeline for me, when I realized the god-awful
power of television in full display,
and Ike Pappas
made it real for me.
It was a scary time.
Thank God
the Beatles arrived in Feb. 1964.
They made the world a happier place.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Headlines
On
the Go The
outlook for mobile TV news... the broadcast industry hopes
to bring viewers back by taking its show on the road.
This
Week's Highlights
At
ESPN, Play-by-Play Goes Virtual
" "the
cable powerhouse is looking to extend its domain in virtual
worlds by merging video game graphics with real-life sports
anchors."
The Newspapers' Final Voyage
The
reality is now approaching that sooner rather than later, all
newspapers will move to online access only.
Some have suggested this could happen quickly once the dominos
start falling.
Maybe as soon as 2012.
This is going
to really shake things up when newspapers finally see that there
is no longer a profit in delivering hard copy papers to their
readers.
The
death of the newspaper will be a sorry sight for a couple of generations
that have grown up dirtying our fingers with newsprint ink.
Trouble is,
newspapers can't figure out a proper business model online either.
They're failing at both ends right now. Talk about a squeeze play.
Internet news readers have demanded that their news info be made
available for free, and free don't pay no
reporter salaries.
So newspapers are being forced into a web-based, advertiser-only
revenue vein, that can't carry the weight needed to fund a daily
newsgathering operation.
Honestly,
is there a single newspaper in the country that has a profitable
enough website to carry their whole operation?
I doubt
it.
To survive, papers are going to have to go super local. Mostly
with sports I suspect. That's another reason why they are branching
out into local news video. The local news website (whether print, TV, or radio)
that corners the market and can become a one-stop shop for all
your local print and video needs, may be the sole market survivor
in the battle to attract and retain local news enthusiasts.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Teenager TV
Local
TV stations which are putting on five, six or more hours of TV
news everyday are often struggling to find enough viable content
to feed an ever-hungry beast.
Guess who might be able to help?
If you said
high school teenagers...
go to the head of the class.
"Videos
written and edited by high school students could become a reason
for them to watch the news—and a way for local TV news operations
to recruit younger viewers." MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
And now it's "All-Platform Journalist"
Alright...enough
already. We gotta settle on a term for this new-fangled journalist
of the future. We've had: digital journalist, one-man-band, multi-media
journalist, new media journalist...
and now
CNN gets into the mess with creating one-person bureaus manned
by "all-platform journalists". CNN now becomes the latest media
outlet to 'expand
by downsizing'. You gotta love the marketing chutzpah.
Let
an all-platformer give you a look at her daily
routine here.
In this, the reporter is female. But I noted in her daily rundown
that at no time did she say: "grabbed my gear and went and shot
interviews and B-roll."
Yes there are two types of "all-platform journalists". One includes
shooting video and one does not. One puts together a TV news story
and one basically puts together a web story. Will it all soon
be combined? I'm not sure it's possible to do what this young
journalist is doing at CNN...AND shoot a video story in the same
day. In fact...it's impossible.
I've
noticed that most of the journalists portrayed in the media who
are shooting. writing, and editing TV stories are
male. Not to say it isn't being done by some hard-working
females out there, because I've run into a few at small-market
stations who are working their butts off.
But
I still contend that in general, the women who now have jobs as
TV reporters at their respective stations...for the most part
want no part of becoming an "all-platform journalist." Given the
ultimatum, I still believe many of them, not all, would look for
another job.
So
will the APJ become a male stronghold in the world of TV news?
Or will the journalism students now entering the business, male
AND female realize that in order to succeed, they're gonna have
to start humpin' some gear and getting their hands dirty? As I've
said before...all of this won't happen overnight. But the more
TV stations look at this as a way of cutting costs...the bigger
chance your owner will do it too.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
If the Studio's Rockin'...Don't Bother Knockin'
Look...I
realize that earthquakes are serious business.But what is it with
TV news anchors hiding under the desk when this happens to them
while they are on air.
Here's an anchor, not only ducking under, but exhorting "you
camera people" to come join him under there. First he says:
" Stay calm" as if his anchorman persona gives him some
kind of 'I'm the captain here' status. His very next words after
"stay calm" are "UNDER THE DESK!"
This guys not talking to "you camera people", he's talking
to himself, trying to not look like the fraidy-cat he appears.
I know...earthquakes...serious...got
it.
But c'mon...this
guy's just silly.
Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Decision
2008
Are You Ready For "Pitvertising"
Here’s
a new word that might be invading your vernacular in the near
future if you happen to be a frequent mass-transit commuter. Pitvertising.
That’s right.
Ads directly from the deep caverns of your fellow passengers’
armpits.
It might
sound sort of creepy and unpractical, but think of the most common
sight on a crowded subway car. Tons and tons of sweaty armpits,
attached to those very same fellow passengers who are reaching
for the handy support hanger.
And what better way is there to utilize such a medium than by
advertising, oops, we mean “pitvertising” a brand of deodorant?
Deodorant company Right Guard recently sent out a flock of pitvertisers
out into the wilds of London to test out their new form of media.
And while it might not be playing something entertaining like
The Best of Monty Python, at least it’s better than the choice
of entertainment you usually have, which usually consists of glancing
between the same poster ad over and over again or staring into
the depths of a non-displayed armpit.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Is The Rug Being Pulled Out?
Here's
more news on something I've been
alerting you to for a while now. Major newspapers are getting
into the video business big-time and some of them are starting
to grasp the fact that if they do it well, they could pull the
rug out from under TV station websites and become a one-stop-shop
for all your print AND video needs.
Check out
this article on what newpapers are
doing and once again make sure you watch the videos below from
the Washington Post and the Newark Star-Ledger. Also read
how the downsizing of the newspaper industry might make for some
very long morning meetings in the TV newsroom. And how some are
pondering
the possibility of more TV-newspaper mergers.
It's all
disparaging news for local TV news operations, particularly for
the struggling ones. But this IS the future my friends. The more
you know what's coming, the more you will be prepared to take
advantage of it.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Is Your Job Headed to the Newspaper?
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The Michael Phelps Show
Well...here
it comes. Get ready for the biggest hi-tech TV
extravaganza in the history of the ole boob tube. NBC presents
the 2008 Summer Olympics.
And of course, they've turned on the faucet of dollars to equip
themselves with all the best and brightest state-of-the-art HD
hardware to showcase the 2 week affair, including DiveCam, and
UnderwaterCam and other assorted POV cams that should give viewers
a full assortment of angles and replays to highlight
all the action.
In
a side note...here in Baltimore we know that the greatest swimmer
in the world will no doubt dominate these games. Michael Phelps
grew up here and is returning here to live and work after the
games. With he and Baltimore's female sensation Katie Hoff, the
North Baltimore
Aquatic Club's finest are about to make history. Best of luck
to Michael and Katie!!
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.
TV
Turmoil
" Revolving
door in small news markets part of the biz
Bozo
Dead
" Larry
Harmon, longtime Bozo the Clown, dead at 83
How To Be A Vee-Jay
"Who
will be easier to transition into this new VJ mode?
Reporters or photogs?
Train a person to write a basic TV story...or train a person to
shoot and edit a TV story?
Photogs with any kind of writing aptitude will win this contest.
And I can sense it. Reporters in general are unnerved by this
new development. They see how this may pan out and a lot of them
are feeling a tad insecure about the prospect, knowing that they
have no intention or desire to learn how to shoot and edit news."
MORE....
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Keeping the Passion Alive
From
time to time it's good to re-connect with the basics that make
for great visual storytelling in TV news. So here are a list
of standard procedures from photog Corky Scholl on how to
make your stories stand out from the pack. More...
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
New Gadgets
Everybody
likes new gadgets...right? Most TV news photogs are gadget freaks
to some degree. So here for your perusal are just a few of the
new devices
making their debuts.
Get a load of the new developments in 3-D TV (without the funny
glasses), the latest in ultra-high definition TV, a new HD flash-based
camcorder from Sony, and the coolest new shockproof mini-cam to
stick on a helmet or cycle for catching that POV stuff on a wild
ride. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
MAKING NEWS: Savannah Style...
Here
from Nick Davis Productions is the 1st episode of the 2nd season
of "Making News"...an in-depth look at the behind-the-scenes
action at a local TV news operation.
You might remember the first season of this series that followed
the drama of a TV news station in Midland, Texas.
Now they've moved on to Savannah, Georgia.
In Episode 1, we meet the team of WJCL-TV, possibly the lowest-rated
ABC affiliate in the country. Follow the anchors and reporters
as they launch a campaign to get a foothold in their community.
Even
more layoff buzz around the industry.
It looks like we're in the beginning stages of a paradigm shift.
Some are predicting that "the local TV news formula of using
star anchors to attract viewers may be headed for the ash heap."
With "more emphasis on delivering the news by means other
than traditional broadcasts and less on presentation by highly-paid
anchors and reporters."
I can't help but see opportunities here for those of us who are
open to expanding our skill sets and thus becoming more valuable
to a TV operation. MORE...
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...
In
the field I sometimes use my little Casio 2.5" TV as a monitor
during live shots and such. As of February of course, that comes
to an end.
A whole lotta little TV's like this one are going to end up as
paperweights soon enough.
In fact I think most people, if they don't have cable or satellite
TV, won't even bother getting new tuners for TV sets up to 19"
or so. The landfills are going to be bursting with discarded TV's.
Seems a shame to deep six a perfectly fine TV just to fulfill
the FCC's demand to go digital.
Eventually digital TV tuners will be integrated into most cell
phones I imagine. The tuners to allow it are getting smaller
and smaller.
The Asuka Corp. out of Taiwan has come up with what may be the
smallest
digital TV up to now. A 3" screen that won't work in the U.S.
Go figure.
So until those cell phones can receive the digital TV signal,
we TV guys in the field have no way to monitor our picture away
from the truck. And my little Casio was so sweet.
Damn the FCC.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The "Mo-Jo" vs. The "Vee-Jay"
What
we in the TV news industry are calling the "one-man-band', or
"vee-Jay" (video journalist), the newspaper industry seems to
like the label "mojo" or mobile journalist.
The difference: very little.
As newspapers
struggle to survive in a new world of instant access, they seem
to be merely copying what the TV news folks have been doing for
decades.
Mojos are
being equipped with video cameras and laptops and sent out the
door to create news stories. That sure sounds familiar to me.
Instead of producing news for a daily paper, they are turning
stories for their web sites. Also just like TV stations.
Old newspaper
types of course, look down their noses at this type of news coverage.
Is it merely a fad they ask.
Many feel
that being out of the newsroom for extended periods means less
face-to-face discussion with editors and colleagues. Communication
can get muddled or missed. That argument to me seems to be a reach.
These mobile journos have cell phones, right?
Either way,
the bottom line is that TV stations and newspapers are morphing
into using the same tools to capture the news. These two media
entities in the future will compete for patrons in much the same
way.
In fact,
with the inherent gravitas that many newspapers have garnered,
they could win the battle of delivering news seekers what they
want.
If your major daily newspaper offered solid local video news coverage
along with its established print expertise on its web site, would
you even need to visit a TV station website?
Local TV
news operations need to recognize and address the fact that they
are now also in competition with the local newspaper for video
news content.
And newspapers need to realize that the world of print journalism
is no longer enough for the next generation of news seekers.
Truth is
that in many ways it is a race.
For the winner: continued survival in an age of immediate gratification. MORE...
"How
many of you producers and reporters are producing content for
another medium? This report says
the number's almost 70%. Although almost half of you say you need
more training to do it better.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Top 10 Angry On-Camera Meltdowns
If
you haven't seen this yet, you've got to take a look at this video.
Anchors, hosts, weatherman and more all letting their anger get
the best of them on-air. What viewers don't really know is...this
stuff happens all the time. Behind the scenes we are often tired,
angry and loose-lipped.
I'd warn
you about the language in this video, but I'm pretty sure your
boss is busy cussing out the guy on the assignment desk right
now, so go ahead and play this.
Remember
the big shift that's supposed to happen with TV ENG microwave
transmisions?
Sprint Nextel
was buying up all that "live shot" spectrum space and compensating
TV stations with new digital transmission and reception gear.
It's called
the "2 GHz relocation".
Every TV
station has to inventory its equipment, present a shopping list
to Sprint, have it verified by a third-party, receive the hardware,
test to make sure there is no interference and turn the whole
thing around literally overnight.
Quite a set
of demands.
And oh yeah,
this all has to happen by Sept. 30th of this year!
Some TV stations
like KTVK in Phoenix have already completed the turnaround. Yet,
as of today, the vast majority of TV stations with call letters
haven't received a single piece of new equipment. Much of it is
still sitting in a warehouse.
Sprint has
asked for an additional 29 months to make it happen. The FCC has
granted them 18
months.
What's the
holdup?
Well, if
you said LAWYERS...you win a Stewie doll.
In the great
clamor to make all of this happen, nobody figured out who was
going to pay the taxes on this stuff.
Read more about it here.
In
the meantime, suppliers are marketing gear outside of the relocation
process. Portable, compact microwave systems that can be carried
in a regular-size auto and set up on the fly for breaking-news
events are now hot items. These new wireless transmitters mount
on the back of a camera and are good for a short enough distance
to make them really valuable in downtown situations with a lot
of buildings.
"You grab one of the news cars, throw it in the back seat,
run to the story, and set up and go.”
So
what's ahead for editing systems this year? A couple of
trends are emerging as was seen at NAB.
Lots of new formats, plenty of horsepower, and even stereoscopic
3D entries.
Editors today
are going to have to adapt and move quickly to keep pace with
a demanding market. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Sony's New TV Dropping Jaws
It
costs too much. The screen is too small. But this new TV from
Sony is about to blow all the others out of the water.
The new OLED
technology is providing such incredibly lifelike images that you
need to catch your breath.
Name a drawback of plasma or LED screens and this TV overcomes
it. But at only 11" across and a price of $2500, it's not yet
ready for prime time.
Yet, the
jaw-dropping picture quality is about to set a new standard for
high-end TV's. Oh yeah...and it's only 3mm thick. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Finding and Keeping Good Assignment Editors
"Show
me a good assignment desk, and I'll show you a winning newsroom,"
says Joseph Coscia, former news director at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh
and once an assignment editor at New York's WABC-TV.
So where
do you find good assignment editors and how do you keep them?
MORE...
I
thought in opening up another messageboard
that I would try to entice students in colleges, universities
and high schools to ask questions here and get them answered by
folks who are now working in the media.
Of course
the board is open to any and all posters on any subject, but I
realize that there are other more established forums for media
kvetching. Hopefully with some prodding, I can find students with
legitimate questions about TV journalism that will be answered
here.
If not...well
then start kvetching.
Registration is quick and painless so please take 15 secs and
join
up.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Share the Wealth
I
have a good friend who is a production freelancer who has asked
me many times: "Why do all of the TV stations have cameras at
a press conference, shooting the exact same thing, wasting resources
on duplicating an event, when one camera's video is all you need?"
"Why
don't your bosses work out a pool arrangement for stuff like that?"
I start talking
about "competition" and "getting an edge" and he wisely says:
"At a news conference!!"
Well...it
looks like some news bosses in Philadelphia are taking my friend's
advice. The NBC and Fox affiliates there are working on an arrangement
to share video at just such events. The costs of doing business
may make this kind of working agreement more of a reality in news
markets everywhere. And ya know what?....it makes sense to me. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The Battle for "Smallest HD Camcorder"
Yes...the
battle of "smallest" HD camcorders has begun. But in
this case, smallest also means "most compromised". You're
going to get a debatedly great video picture with these new camcorders.
But you'll also give up wide angles, need a powerful computer
to deal with their new capture format, and not even bother if
you own a Mac.
With these
cams, smaller isn't necessarily better. But the HD camcorder war
is only just now heating up. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Avoiding the "Instant"
A
tragic
accident in Maine has focused attention on TV live trucks
as one was involved in a fatal collision this week
It looks like the TV truck was not at fault as the other vehicle
crossed the center line and collided with the truck.
We can only pray for the poor young woman who lost her life and
for the occupant of the truck to quickly recover. Nothing you
can do to prevent something like this. Fate put those folks in
that position.
But
it does offer up an opportunity to mention the safety procedures
to be used by TV live truck operators.
Mark Bell is the head honcho for live truck safety. Check out
his site at www.engsafety.com.
Of course, the main thrust of Mark's site is to not throw that
mast up in the wrong circumstances, but driving issues are also
addressed.
At my station
lately, there has been a much greater emphasis placed on safety
procedures. That may be true at many stations across the country
as owners look to lessen the problems that accidents create. Hopefully
you will take the time to review the safety procedures where you
work and take them to heart. As we know all too well, your life
can be taken in an instant. Avoiding that"instant" may be the
most important thing we will ever do.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Transferring Old VideoTapes To DVD
Fortunately,
high prices and intimidating learning curves have been replaced
by cost-effective, user-friendly editing solutions.
Features previously available to professional editors only are
now in the hands of the everyday consumer.
Even with the most basic video-editing software and hardware,
you can convert analog tapes to a variety of digital formats easily,
including DVD. MORE...
LiveNewsCams.com
" "...The
concept is simple, let people watch news as it happens anywhere
in the world…raw, unedited on your computer at work or home."
In
honor of the new baseball season, and the Baltimore Orioles being
off to the best start in all the major leagues...(you heard right
Pancho), here for your enjoyment is the BEST
baseball blooper you will EVER see.
In my town...this video is a hometown staple. It is best watched
either before, during or after the consumption of a crabcake and
the downing of a Natty Boh.
Introducing...the indomitable...the unconquerable...the unstoppable,
the one...the only...the EARL of Baltimore...EARL
WEAVER!
(WARNING: You are about to hear an uncensored version
of a no-holds-barred, unrestained, full-tilt Weaverfest. Plan
accordingly.)
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The New Toys Your Bosses Want
Among
the throngs at the National Association of Broadcasters convention
April 11-17 in Las Vegas will be the top engineers for major broadcast
groups.
All
come with slightly different agendas and some with radically different
timetables. All of them, however, will have their minds on one
date for certain: Feb. 17, 2009, the last day broadcasters will
be allowed to transmit an analog signal.
Here’s a look at how six of the
major broadcast groups will spend their time on the NAB floor
making final plans for the digital transition.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The Whole She-Bang!
ONE-MAN-BANDS!!
There's a furious debate going on in TV journalism right now over
the use of one-man-bands, the solo video journalist who shoots,
writes, and edits his own news story.
Stephan Warley at tvspy.com has just written an article in "Defense
of Video Journalists", noting that "local broadcasters will
have to produce video content for multiple platforms: broadcast,
web, cell phones, and video on demand. Once again, the VJ model
is much better suited to distributing unique content to multiple
platforms."
The readers of B-Roll. net are most assuredly aware of Michael
Rosenblum's focus on turning TV newsrooms into "VJ" havens.
Stations like KRON have gone totally VJ.
But as of now ,completely shifting to that format seems risky
to me. Some stations using it have
not succeeded.
Still, the OMB option is proliferating.
Newspaper reporters are being
trained to gather video and assemble stories for their websites.
Awards
are now being specifically given to OMB journalists.
I know a lot of good TV news photogs want this thing to just
go away.
But fellas....it's not.
And like it or not, YOU may be asked to do it.
Let's face it, in the near future, either reporters are gonna
learn how to shoot and edit, or photogs are gonna learn how to
write and assemble.
I say....start doing some writing now.
Look at the packages you are doing and give it a go at writing
it yourself. You can create your own future if you have the desire.
Because the OMB model WILL become an accepted adjunct in the TV
newsrooms of the future.
It is economically smart for station owners and can create entirely
new levels of developing stories if done well.
I
know there are a slew of older photogs who want no part of this.
And the truth is, this thing is not going to happen overnight.
Tomorrow you will still be out there in the van cranking
out another story with another reporter. Next year you will still be in that van cranking out that
story. (That reporter will have already lost his job as usual.)
But five years from now? It's looking different.
Yep...technology is forcing the issue. And bottom line...you
can't fight the technology.
You old guys...just hang on and pray. You'll probably eke out
of the TV news business as the last generation of the old style.
("Yep...we used to have lunch and a smoke while the reporter
logged and wrote.")
You new guys...brush up on your writing skills.
ALL you guys are due a beer or two for just surviving in a new
landscape being forced on us.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Layoffs Everywhere!
Okay...this
layoff thing is starting to get serious. All over the country
TV stations are laying-off personnel left and right.
CBS is doing most of the hacking. Just this week, their are layoffs
in Chicago,New
York,Boston,San
Francisco and Pittsburgh.
Also Denver
and Sacremento.
For the most part, it looks like the unlucky personnel are the
higher-paid talent...anchors and reporters. Affirming the old
adage: "Never be the highest paid person at the TV station." But
producers and writers are also getting the boot.
As of now, it looks like news photographers have escaped the downsizing.
Not all photogs of course, but the union contracts at larger stations
and the lower salaries at the smaller stations have surely helped
keep us employed. For once, it's a good thing to be paid so poorly.
A'int that some sh-t.?
The
new media paradigm for TV news will answer this question:
What person
will acquire the video?
I think it
will still be several years before the traditional
reporter-photog news crew
will be noticed to be diminishing.
Soon though, people, even big shots, will become comfortable with
the face behind a smaller camera, asking all the questions.
One person
will acquire the video .All of it....including conducting interviews.
If he/she can write the story as well...
instant anchor pack.
Economic realities may force stations to have fewer reporters
and more anchor-read packages to feed the beast.
And if said
video acquirer still wants to be 'on TV'?
What the hell...shoot your standups.
If, in your
position right now...you are a video acquirer...
you...my
friend
just moved
to the front lines.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
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.”
What's
the most remarkable moment you've ever witnessed on live TV?
Man on the moon?...
If you watched,
your pride in America was great that day.
And all-in all probably #1.
But... For me it was also November 1963.
I was a kid watching live TV when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald.
It was unbelievable...I remember thinking "did I really just see
that?" Completely stunning in its impact.
Even as a grade-schooler I thought: "How could he do it? And so
easily.
The grownups around here are 'bout to freak."
And the man behind the mic was Ike
Pappas of CBS, who died this week.
That moment
of history marks a timeline for me, when I realized the god-awful
power of television in full display,
and Ike Pappas
made it real for me.
It was a scary time.
Thank God
the Beatles arrived in Feb. 1964.
They made the world a happier place.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Headlines
On
the Go The
outlook for mobile TV news... the broadcast industry hopes
to bring viewers back by taking its show on the road.
This
Week's Highlights
At
ESPN, Play-by-Play Goes Virtual
" "the
cable powerhouse is looking to extend its domain in virtual
worlds by merging video game graphics with real-life sports
anchors."
The Newspapers' Final Voyage
The
reality is now approaching that sooner rather than later, all
newspapers will move to online access only.
Some have suggested this could happen quickly once the dominos
start falling.
Maybe as soon as 2012.
This is going
to really shake things up when newspapers finally see that there
is no longer a profit in delivering hard copy papers to their
readers.
The
death of the newspaper will be a sorry sight for a couple of generations
that have grown up dirtying our fingers with newsprint ink.
Trouble is,
newspapers can't figure out a proper business model online either.
They're failing at both ends right now. Talk about a squeeze play.
Internet news readers have demanded that their news info be made
available for free, and free don't pay no
reporter salaries.
So newspapers are being forced into a web-based, advertiser-only
revenue vein, that can't carry the weight needed to fund a daily
newsgathering operation.
Honestly,
is there a single newspaper in the country that has a profitable
enough website to carry their whole operation?
I doubt
it.
To survive, papers are going to have to go super local. Mostly
with sports I suspect. That's another reason why they are branching
out into local news video. The local news website (whether print, TV, or radio)
that corners the market and can become a one-stop shop for all
your local print and video needs, may be the sole market survivor
in the battle to attract and retain local news enthusiasts.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Teenager TV
Local
TV stations which are putting on five, six or more hours of TV
news everyday are often struggling to find enough viable content
to feed an ever-hungry beast.
Guess who might be able to help?
If you said
high school teenagers...
go to the head of the class.
"Videos
written and edited by high school students could become a reason
for them to watch the news—and a way for local TV news operations
to recruit younger viewers." MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
And now it's "All-Platform Journalist"
Alright...enough
already. We gotta settle on a term for this new-fangled journalist
of the future. We've had: digital journalist, one-man-band, multi-media
journalist, new media journalist...
and now
CNN gets into the mess with creating one-person bureaus manned
by "all-platform journalists". CNN now becomes the latest media
outlet to 'expand
by downsizing'. You gotta love the marketing chutzpah.
Let
an all-platformer give you a look at her daily
routine here.
In this, the reporter is female. But I noted in her daily rundown
that at no time did she say: "grabbed my gear and went and shot
interviews and B-roll."
Yes there are two types of "all-platform journalists". One includes
shooting video and one does not. One puts together a TV news story
and one basically puts together a web story. Will it all soon
be combined? I'm not sure it's possible to do what this young
journalist is doing at CNN...AND shoot a video story in the same
day. In fact...it's impossible.
I've
noticed that most of the journalists portrayed in the media who
are shooting. writing, and editing TV stories are
male. Not to say it isn't being done by some hard-working
females out there, because I've run into a few at small-market
stations who are working their butts off.
But
I still contend that in general, the women who now have jobs as
TV reporters at their respective stations...for the most part
want no part of becoming an "all-platform journalist." Given the
ultimatum, I still believe many of them, not all, would look for
another job.
So
will the APJ become a male stronghold in the world of TV news?
Or will the journalism students now entering the business, male
AND female realize that in order to succeed, they're gonna have
to start humpin' some gear and getting their hands dirty? As I've
said before...all of this won't happen overnight. But the more
TV stations look at this as a way of cutting costs...the bigger
chance your owner will do it too.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
If the Studio's Rockin'...Don't Bother Knockin'
Look...I
realize that earthquakes are serious business.But what is it with
TV news anchors hiding under the desk when this happens to them
while they are on air.
Here's an anchor, not only ducking under, but exhorting "you
camera people" to come join him under there. First he says:
" Stay calm" as if his anchorman persona gives him some
kind of 'I'm the captain here' status. His very next words after
"stay calm" are "UNDER THE DESK!"
This guys not talking to "you camera people", he's talking
to himself, trying to not look like the fraidy-cat he appears.
I know...earthquakes...serious...got
it.
But c'mon...this
guy's just silly.
Tim Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Decision
2008
Are You Ready For "Pitvertising"
Here’s
a new word that might be invading your vernacular in the near
future if you happen to be a frequent mass-transit commuter. Pitvertising.
That’s right.
Ads directly from the deep caverns of your fellow passengers’
armpits.
It might
sound sort of creepy and unpractical, but think of the most common
sight on a crowded subway car. Tons and tons of sweaty armpits,
attached to those very same fellow passengers who are reaching
for the handy support hanger.
And what better way is there to utilize such a medium than by
advertising, oops, we mean “pitvertising” a brand of deodorant?
Deodorant company Right Guard recently sent out a flock of pitvertisers
out into the wilds of London to test out their new form of media.
And while it might not be playing something entertaining like
The Best of Monty Python, at least it’s better than the choice
of entertainment you usually have, which usually consists of glancing
between the same poster ad over and over again or staring into
the depths of a non-displayed armpit.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Is The Rug Being Pulled Out?
Here's
more news on something I've been
alerting you to for a while now. Major newspapers are getting
into the video business big-time and some of them are starting
to grasp the fact that if they do it well, they could pull the
rug out from under TV station websites and become a one-stop-shop
for all your print AND video needs.
Check out
this article on what newpapers are
doing and once again make sure you watch the videos below from
the Washington Post and the Newark Star-Ledger. Also read
how the downsizing of the newspaper industry might make for some
very long morning meetings in the TV newsroom. And how some are
pondering
the possibility of more TV-newspaper mergers.
It's all
disparaging news for local TV news operations, particularly for
the struggling ones. But this IS the future my friends. The more
you know what's coming, the more you will be prepared to take
advantage of it.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Is Your Job Headed to the Newspaper?
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The Michael Phelps Show
Well...here
it comes. Get ready for the biggest hi-tech TV
extravaganza in the history of the ole boob tube. NBC presents
the 2008 Summer Olympics.
And of course, they've turned on the faucet of dollars to equip
themselves with all the best and brightest state-of-the-art HD
hardware to showcase the 2 week affair, including DiveCam, and
UnderwaterCam and other assorted POV cams that should give viewers
a full assortment of angles and replays to highlight
all the action.
In
a side note...here in Baltimore we know that the greatest swimmer
in the world will no doubt dominate these games. Michael Phelps
grew up here and is returning here to live and work after the
games. With he and Baltimore's female sensation Katie Hoff, the
North Baltimore
Aquatic Club's finest are about to make history. Best of luck
to Michael and Katie!!
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.
TV
Turmoil
" Revolving
door in small news markets part of the biz
Bozo
Dead
" Larry
Harmon, longtime Bozo the Clown, dead at 83
How To Be A Vee-Jay
"Who
will be easier to transition into this new VJ mode?
Reporters or photogs?
Train a person to write a basic TV story...or train a person to
shoot and edit a TV story?
Photogs with any kind of writing aptitude will win this contest.
And I can sense it. Reporters in general are unnerved by this
new development. They see how this may pan out and a lot of them
are feeling a tad insecure about the prospect, knowing that they
have no intention or desire to learn how to shoot and edit news."
MORE....
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Keeping the Passion Alive
From
time to time it's good to re-connect with the basics that make
for great visual storytelling in TV news. So here are a list
of standard procedures from photog Corky Scholl on how to
make your stories stand out from the pack. More...
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
New Gadgets
Everybody
likes new gadgets...right? Most TV news photogs are gadget freaks
to some degree. So here for your perusal are just a few of the
new devices
making their debuts.
Get a load of the new developments in 3-D TV (without the funny
glasses), the latest in ultra-high definition TV, a new HD flash-based
camcorder from Sony, and the coolest new shockproof mini-cam to
stick on a helmet or cycle for catching that POV stuff on a wild
ride. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
MAKING NEWS: Savannah Style...
Here
from Nick Davis Productions is the 1st episode of the 2nd season
of "Making News"...an in-depth look at the behind-the-scenes
action at a local TV news operation.
You might remember the first season of this series that followed
the drama of a TV news station in Midland, Texas.
Now they've moved on to Savannah, Georgia.
In Episode 1, we meet the team of WJCL-TV, possibly the lowest-rated
ABC affiliate in the country. Follow the anchors and reporters
as they launch a campaign to get a foothold in their community.
Even
more layoff buzz around the industry.
It looks like we're in the beginning stages of a paradigm shift.
Some are predicting that "the local TV news formula of using
star anchors to attract viewers may be headed for the ash heap."
With "more emphasis on delivering the news by means other
than traditional broadcasts and less on presentation by highly-paid
anchors and reporters."
I can't help but see opportunities here for those of us who are
open to expanding our skill sets and thus becoming more valuable
to a TV operation. MORE...
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...
In
the field I sometimes use my little Casio 2.5" TV as a monitor
during live shots and such. As of February of course, that comes
to an end.
A whole lotta little TV's like this one are going to end up as
paperweights soon enough.
In fact I think most people, if they don't have cable or satellite
TV, won't even bother getting new tuners for TV sets up to 19"
or so. The landfills are going to be bursting with discarded TV's.
Seems a shame to deep six a perfectly fine TV just to fulfill
the FCC's demand to go digital.
Eventually digital TV tuners will be integrated into most cell
phones I imagine. The tuners to allow it are getting smaller
and smaller.
The Asuka Corp. out of Taiwan has come up with what may be the
smallest
digital TV up to now. A 3" screen that won't work in the U.S.
Go figure.
So until those cell phones can receive the digital TV signal,
we TV guys in the field have no way to monitor our picture away
from the truck. And my little Casio was so sweet.
Damn the FCC.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The "Mo-Jo" vs. The "Vee-Jay"
What
we in the TV news industry are calling the "one-man-band', or
"vee-Jay" (video journalist), the newspaper industry seems to
like the label "mojo" or mobile journalist.
The difference: very little.
As newspapers
struggle to survive in a new world of instant access, they seem
to be merely copying what the TV news folks have been doing for
decades.
Mojos are
being equipped with video cameras and laptops and sent out the
door to create news stories. That sure sounds familiar to me.
Instead of producing news for a daily paper, they are turning
stories for their web sites. Also just like TV stations.
Old newspaper
types of course, look down their noses at this type of news coverage.
Is it merely a fad they ask.
Many feel
that being out of the newsroom for extended periods means less
face-to-face discussion with editors and colleagues. Communication
can get muddled or missed. That argument to me seems to be a reach.
These mobile journos have cell phones, right?
Either way,
the bottom line is that TV stations and newspapers are morphing
into using the same tools to capture the news. These two media
entities in the future will compete for patrons in much the same
way.
In fact,
with the inherent gravitas that many newspapers have garnered,
they could win the battle of delivering news seekers what they
want.
If your major daily newspaper offered solid local video news coverage
along with its established print expertise on its web site, would
you even need to visit a TV station website?
Local TV
news operations need to recognize and address the fact that they
are now also in competition with the local newspaper for video
news content.
And newspapers need to realize that the world of print journalism
is no longer enough for the next generation of news seekers.
Truth is
that in many ways it is a race.
For the winner: continued survival in an age of immediate gratification. MORE...
"How
many of you producers and reporters are producing content for
another medium? This report says
the number's almost 70%. Although almost half of you say you need
more training to do it better.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Top 10 Angry On-Camera Meltdowns
If
you haven't seen this yet, you've got to take a look at this video.
Anchors, hosts, weatherman and more all letting their anger get
the best of them on-air. What viewers don't really know is...this
stuff happens all the time. Behind the scenes we are often tired,
angry and loose-lipped.
I'd warn
you about the language in this video, but I'm pretty sure your
boss is busy cussing out the guy on the assignment desk right
now, so go ahead and play this.
Remember
the big shift that's supposed to happen with TV ENG microwave
transmisions?
Sprint Nextel
was buying up all that "live shot" spectrum space and compensating
TV stations with new digital transmission and reception gear.
It's called
the "2 GHz relocation".
Every TV
station has to inventory its equipment, present a shopping list
to Sprint, have it verified by a third-party, receive the hardware,
test to make sure there is no interference and turn the whole
thing around literally overnight.
Quite a set
of demands.
And oh yeah,
this all has to happen by Sept. 30th of this year!
Some TV stations
like KTVK in Phoenix have already completed the turnaround. Yet,
as of today, the vast majority of TV stations with call letters
haven't received a single piece of new equipment. Much of it is
still sitting in a warehouse.
Sprint has
asked for an additional 29 months to make it happen. The FCC has
granted them 18
months.
What's the
holdup?
Well, if
you said LAWYERS...you win a Stewie doll.
In the great
clamor to make all of this happen, nobody figured out who was
going to pay the taxes on this stuff.
Read more about it here.
In
the meantime, suppliers are marketing gear outside of the relocation
process. Portable, compact microwave systems that can be carried
in a regular-size auto and set up on the fly for breaking-news
events are now hot items. These new wireless transmitters mount
on the back of a camera and are good for a short enough distance
to make them really valuable in downtown situations with a lot
of buildings.
"You grab one of the news cars, throw it in the back seat,
run to the story, and set up and go.”
So
what's ahead for editing systems this year? A couple of
trends are emerging as was seen at NAB.
Lots of new formats, plenty of horsepower, and even stereoscopic
3D entries.
Editors today
are going to have to adapt and move quickly to keep pace with
a demanding market. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Sony's New TV Dropping Jaws
It
costs too much. The screen is too small. But this new TV from
Sony is about to blow all the others out of the water.
The new OLED
technology is providing such incredibly lifelike images that you
need to catch your breath.
Name a drawback of plasma or LED screens and this TV overcomes
it. But at only 11" across and a price of $2500, it's not yet
ready for prime time.
Yet, the
jaw-dropping picture quality is about to set a new standard for
high-end TV's. Oh yeah...and it's only 3mm thick. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Finding and Keeping Good Assignment Editors
"Show
me a good assignment desk, and I'll show you a winning newsroom,"
says Joseph Coscia, former news director at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh
and once an assignment editor at New York's WABC-TV.
So where
do you find good assignment editors and how do you keep them?
MORE...
I
thought in opening up another messageboard
that I would try to entice students in colleges, universities
and high schools to ask questions here and get them answered by
folks who are now working in the media.
Of course
the board is open to any and all posters on any subject, but I
realize that there are other more established forums for media
kvetching. Hopefully with some prodding, I can find students with
legitimate questions about TV journalism that will be answered
here.
If not...well
then start kvetching.
Registration is quick and painless so please take 15 secs and
join
up.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Share the Wealth
I
have a good friend who is a production freelancer who has asked
me many times: "Why do all of the TV stations have cameras at
a press conference, shooting the exact same thing, wasting resources
on duplicating an event, when one camera's video is all you need?"
"Why
don't your bosses work out a pool arrangement for stuff like that?"
I start talking
about "competition" and "getting an edge" and he wisely says:
"At a news conference!!"
Well...it
looks like some news bosses in Philadelphia are taking my friend's
advice. The NBC and Fox affiliates there are working on an arrangement
to share video at just such events. The costs of doing business
may make this kind of working agreement more of a reality in news
markets everywhere. And ya know what?....it makes sense to me. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The Battle for "Smallest HD Camcorder"
Yes...the
battle of "smallest" HD camcorders has begun. But in
this case, smallest also means "most compromised". You're
going to get a debatedly great video picture with these new camcorders.
But you'll also give up wide angles, need a powerful computer
to deal with their new capture format, and not even bother if
you own a Mac.
With these
cams, smaller isn't necessarily better. But the HD camcorder war
is only just now heating up. MORE...
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Avoiding the "Instant"
A
tragic
accident in Maine has focused attention on TV live trucks
as one was involved in a fatal collision this week
It looks like the TV truck was not at fault as the other vehicle
crossed the center line and collided with the truck.
We can only pray for the poor young woman who lost her life and
for the occupant of the truck to quickly recover. Nothing you
can do to prevent something like this. Fate put those folks in
that position.
But
it does offer up an opportunity to mention the safety procedures
to be used by TV live truck operators.
Mark Bell is the head honcho for live truck safety. Check out
his site at www.engsafety.com.
Of course, the main thrust of Mark's site is to not throw that
mast up in the wrong circumstances, but driving issues are also
addressed.
At my station
lately, there has been a much greater emphasis placed on safety
procedures. That may be true at many stations across the country
as owners look to lessen the problems that accidents create. Hopefully
you will take the time to review the safety procedures where you
work and take them to heart. As we know all too well, your life
can be taken in an instant. Avoiding that"instant" may be the
most important thing we will ever do.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Transferring Old VideoTapes To DVD
Fortunately,
high prices and intimidating learning curves have been replaced
by cost-effective, user-friendly editing solutions.
Features previously available to professional editors only are
now in the hands of the everyday consumer.
Even with the most basic video-editing software and hardware,
you can convert analog tapes to a variety of digital formats easily,
including DVD. MORE...
LiveNewsCams.com
" "...The
concept is simple, let people watch news as it happens anywhere
in the world…raw, unedited on your computer at work or home."
In
honor of the new baseball season, and the Baltimore Orioles being
off to the best start in all the major leagues...(you heard right
Pancho), here for your enjoyment is the BEST
baseball blooper you will EVER see.
In my town...this video is a hometown staple. It is best watched
either before, during or after the consumption of a crabcake and
the downing of a Natty Boh.
Introducing...the indomitable...the unconquerable...the unstoppable,
the one...the only...the EARL of Baltimore...EARL
WEAVER!
(WARNING: You are about to hear an uncensored version
of a no-holds-barred, unrestained, full-tilt Weaverfest. Plan
accordingly.)
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The New Toys Your Bosses Want
Among
the throngs at the National Association of Broadcasters convention
April 11-17 in Las Vegas will be the top engineers for major broadcast
groups.
All
come with slightly different agendas and some with radically different
timetables. All of them, however, will have their minds on one
date for certain: Feb. 17, 2009, the last day broadcasters will
be allowed to transmit an analog signal.
Here’s a look at how six of the
major broadcast groups will spend their time on the NAB floor
making final plans for the digital transition.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
The Whole She-Bang!
ONE-MAN-BANDS!!
There's a furious debate going on in TV journalism right now over
the use of one-man-bands, the solo video journalist who shoots,
writes, and edits his own news story.
Stephan Warley at tvspy.com has just written an article in "Defense
of Video Journalists", noting that "local broadcasters will
have to produce video content for multiple platforms: broadcast,
web, cell phones, and video on demand. Once again, the VJ model
is much better suited to distributing unique content to multiple
platforms."
The readers of B-Roll. net are most assuredly aware of Michael
Rosenblum's focus on turning TV newsrooms into "VJ" havens.
Stations like KRON have gone totally VJ.
But as of now ,completely shifting to that format seems risky
to me. Some stations using it have
not succeeded.
Still, the OMB option is proliferating.
Newspaper reporters are being
trained to gather video and assemble stories for their websites.
Awards
are now being specifically given to OMB journalists.
I know a lot of good TV news photogs want this thing to just
go away.
But fellas....it's not.
And like it or not, YOU may be asked to do it.
Let's face it, in the near future, either reporters are gonna
learn how to shoot and edit, or photogs are gonna learn how to
write and assemble.
I say....start doing some writing now.
Look at the packages you are doing and give it a go at writing
it yourself. You can create your own future if you have the desire.
Because the OMB model WILL become an accepted adjunct in the TV
newsrooms of the future.
It is economically smart for station owners and can create entirely
new levels of developing stories if done well.
I
know there are a slew of older photogs who want no part of this.
And the truth is, this thing is not going to happen overnight.
Tomorrow you will still be out there in the van cranking
out another story with another reporter. Next year you will still be in that van cranking out that
story. (That reporter will have already lost his job as usual.)
But five years from now? It's looking different.
Yep...technology is forcing the issue. And bottom line...you
can't fight the technology.
You old guys...just hang on and pray. You'll probably eke out
of the TV news business as the last generation of the old style.
("Yep...we used to have lunch and a smoke while the reporter
logged and wrote.")
You new guys...brush up on your writing skills.
ALL you guys are due a beer or two for just surviving in a new
landscape being forced on us.
Tim
Rutherford
PhotogsLounge.net
Layoffs Everywhere!
Okay...this
layoff thing is starting to get serious. All over the country
TV stations are laying-off personnel left and right.
CBS is doing most of the hacking. Just this week, their are layoffs
in Chicago,New
York,Boston,San
Francisco and Pittsburgh.
Also Denver
and Sacremento.
For the most part, it looks like the unlucky personnel are the
higher-paid talent...anchors and reporters. Affirming the old
adage: "Never be the highest paid person at the TV station." But
producers and writers are also getting the boot.
As of now, it looks like news photographers have escaped the downsizing.
Not all photogs of course, but the union contracts at larger stations
and the lower salaries at the smaller stations have surely helped
keep us employed. For once, it's a good thing to be paid so poorly.
A'int that some sh-t.?
Here's
video from this week's Baltimore premiere of the new musical "Hairspray"
that I shot while waiting to escape the media horde. John Waters,
Zac Efron, Amanda Bynes et.al. walked the red carpet. Kinda cool
for a beat down city like B-More to grab some media glitz. John
Waters returning home and all. I couldn't help thinking though that
just up the block and around the corner I have covered multiple
shootings and assorted bad guy stuff. Luckily I think these fresh
new celebs got a glimpse of the good side of a troubled city.
Tim
Rutherford PhotogsLounge.net
We
Have a Winner!
TV
News Hottie Smackdown
The
voting is over! And this was a knockout blow...a clear runaway.
The ladies of Houston's KPRC-TV (Lisa Baldwin,Wendy Corona,Lauren
Freeman, Daniella Guzmán) went straight to the lead, opened
up and never looked back.
Like Secretariat
rolling in the Belmont, the KPRC gals drew away from a clearly dominated
group of wannabes and rode off into PhotogsLounge history with 68.4%
of the vote. The most lopsided of victories ever in the Hottie Smackdown.
The masses
have spoken. Well...at least 377 of the masses. And they love the
KPRC gals long time. And why not? If these ladies do their jobs
anything like they make promo photos...the local TV news in Houston
must be FAB-u-lous!
For winning
this contest in such overwhelming fashion, the ladies of KPRC receive...uh...let's
see...a special PhotogsLounge tribute (Yay...Lisa Baldwin,Wendy
Corona,Lauren Freeman and Daniella Guzmán!!) and an open invitation
to visit me here at PhotogsLounge anytime and possibly send some
more photos of yourselves to be placed in my special PhotogsLounge
Premium Photo Closet.
These of course, are the photos I peruse in my closet.
And for all
of the KPRC colleagues and friends of these lovely ladies...you
will do their bidding...no questions asked...for..oh let's say...a
day and a half. Then, as always, the minions may feel free to tell
them to shove that stupid web poll thing up their respective butts.
So there ya go girls. A day and a half of royal playtime. With the
stick mic as your scepter, may your demands be met with unquestioned
servitude.
Can you say: "2-part standup!"
PhotogsLounge.net
and the TV News Hottie Smackdown got a mention on Chicago's WBBM-TV's
morning newscast. Take
a look!
Tim
Rutherford PhotogsLounge.net
This
Week's Highlights
All
apologies My
computer crashed big-time on me a few weeks ago so I haven't been
able to update much. Funny...Windows XP can work one minute, and
the next minute attempt to destroy everything you have ever done.
Another lesson learned...you guessed it...the hard way.
Alleged
sexual predator's father hits reporter outside courthouse Another
TV journo getting clocked by an irate relative outside the courthouse.
These incidents always seem to happen outside the courthouse.
That's because...guess what?...that's where the bad guys are!
This time it was a reporter catching the fist. So often it's the
photog who gets the camera knocked into his eye. Who provokes
more...the camera-holder or the mouthy mike-holder? Maybe the
public is wise-ing up. Speaking for photogs everywhere I say:
"Yes!...Please!...Punch the reporter first!"
Nashville
station may pull back on innovation Here
are two TV outfits going in different directions. WKRN in Nashville
is pulling the plug on the heart of its interactive media foray.
Their star blooger quit in frustration butting heads with the
vicious blogosphere and the "rub between those running interactive
operations and the big traditional media companies". And taking
a different route, ITV in The U.K. is ramping
up its efforts at citizen journalism. There is a happy median
in there somewhere for many TV groups. But I'm pretty sure that
VJ's isn't it. But as the report notes: "What are we doing about
the fact that every second spent talking about news online and
outside of our communities is a second spent not watching us".
Philly
TV reporter suspended for using N-word Man...the
N-word is charged with emotion. But this guy just sounds like
an idiot. I don't care if you are even discussing the use of the
word itself, this is a word that caucasians would be better off
sticking in the do-not-use file. It almost seems to me that the
whole debate about its use has to be settled by African-Americans.
And I believe this process is now positively underway. In the
meantime, know that it it a cruel, harsh and inflammatory word
that is better left out of all conversations. I know...it seems
wierd that a single word could cause such intense reaction. But
the fact is that is does and it always will. Cross this line at
your own peril.
Critic:
What local anchor blogs reveal
Beware all
you TV reporters and anchors that fashion yourself hip by publishing
your own blogs. You are opening yourselves up to ridicule by the
snarky and venomous media critic. Not to mention the general blogosphere
who sees your blog as no more important than any one else's. Cool
job aside...you had better have some merit to your blog, or it
will become just another target to goof on.
Live
TV on cell phones better than you'd expect The
future is here. The picture is watchable. The video streaming
is sustainable. The cellphone is now another TV set. All content
providers must now develop a mobile TV stategy, or risk the loss
of all the burgeoning technophiles out there who demand their
content on-the-go.
Tim
Rutherford PhotogsLounge.net
The
Worst Tour Guide
I'm
the worst tour guide.
Sometimes
my friends visit from out of town and they like to see a little
bit of Baltimore. So we drive around the city while I point out
some of the interesting sights.
Problem
is, because I'm a news photog, I end up sounding like some sort
of macabre show barker.
"Over there
by the fountain...yeah that's where the homeless guy drowned while
diving for pennies."
"There on that corner...I swear to God...eleven people got shot.
Some kind of revenge thing."
"The parking lot of that KFC, guy wouldn't give up his cash, some
thug shot him dead. When I got there the poor bastard still had
his bag of chicken clutched in his hand."
"Those apartments...yeah...that's where the juvenile delinquents
pushed a jeep thru the wall of an apartment bedroom. Killed a
girl while she slept."
See what
I mean? I see so many bad things...people end up telling me to
just shut the hell up.
"You're depressing
man!" "Just shut up and show me Camden Yards."
This is what
I get for chasing the underbelly.
"Hey...you
guys want to see where Edgar Allan Poe lived? Funny thing...bunch
of knuckleheads barged onto a tour bus there. Robbed everybody
on board."
Next tour
starts at the top of the hour.
Bring your camcorders.
The father of remote TV news trucks has passed away. Edward H.
Hewson Jr. started Northwest Mobile Television, a subsidiary that
was one of the first in the country using trucks equipped with broadcasting
equipment to provide on-the-scene news and sports reports. Here
is his obit.
And in Mr. Hewson's honor, here is a collection of early TV remote
trucks to have a look at. See them all.
What
is it with the bad karma going on at some TV stations these
days? Fires, towers going down, floods!
I always thought the ratings were so bad at my TV station because
I surmised the facility was built on top of an old Indian burial
ground. And the sacred spirit hosts there never liked our weatherman.
Anyhow...here's some links to some of the traumas that our fellow
broadcasters are dealing with.
...Someone
who owns a digital stopwatch, but can't count backwards.
The
Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism at 
You
know how everybody that knows anything about computers always
tells you to backup your data so you don't lose it when the inevitable
hard drive crash comes-a-callin'?
"The
probable cause of this accident was both pilots' failure to see
and avoid each other," the board concluded in a report on the
collision. "Contributing to this failure was the pilots' responsibility
to perform reporting and visual-tracking duties."
Now
that we're back to a peanut butter and cup 'o noodles economy
on the eve of the new year, it seems like a good time to put on
our Carnak the Magnificent's turban and take a guess at what's
inside the hermetically sealed envelopes.
The
future of live ENG transmissions continues to evolve and the latest
entry in the "doing away with 40-ft. masts" category
is WiMax, the 4th-generation wireless broadband access service.
Now
that the weather is turning colder, it's time to consider the
effects of freezing temperatures on video equipment and offer
a few tips that will keep you shooting when both you and your
camera would rather be indoors.
Okay...you
can see it coming. The company is downsizing and you are in their
line of fire.
The
reality is now approaching that sooner rather than later, all
newspapers will move to online access only. 
Let
an all-platformer give you a look at her 
From
time to time it's good to re-connect with the basics that make
for great visual storytelling in TV news. So here are a 
The Asuka Corp. out of Taiwan has come up with what may be the
Remember
the big shift that's supposed to happen with TV ENG microwave
transmisions?
In
the meantime, suppliers are marketing gear outside of the relocation
process. Portable, compact microwave systems that can be carried
in a regular-size auto and set up on the fly for breaking-news
events are now hot items. These new wireless transmitters mount
on the back of a camera and are good for a short enough distance
to make them really valuable in downtown situations with a lot
of buildings. 
"Why
don't your bosses work out a pool arrangement for stuff like that?"
Well...it
looks like some news bosses in Philadelphia are taking my friend's
advice. The NBC and Fox affiliates there are working on an 
A
But
it does offer up an opportunity to mention the safety procedures
to be used by TV live truck operators. 
ONE-MAN-BANDS!!
I
know there are a slew of older photogs who want no part of this.
And the truth is, this thing is not going to happen overnight.
Okay...this
layoff thing is starting to get serious. All over the country
TV stations are laying-off personnel left and right. 
Another
TV journo getting clocked by an irate relative outside the courthouse.
These incidents always seem to happen outside the courthouse.
That's because...guess what?...that's where the bad guys are!
This time it was a reporter catching the fist. So often it's the
photog who gets the camera knocked into his eye. Who provokes
more...the camera-holder or the mouthy mike-holder? Maybe the
public is wise-ing up. Speaking for photogs everywhere I say:
"Yes!...Please!...Punch the reporter first!"
Here
are two TV outfits going in different directions. WKRN in Nashville
is pulling the plug on the heart of its interactive media foray.
Their star blooger quit in frustration butting heads with the
vicious blogosphere and the "rub between those running interactive
operations and the big traditional media companies". And taking
a different route, ITV in The U.K. is 
Man...the
N-word is charged with emotion. But this guy just sounds like
an idiot. I don't care if you are even discussing the use of the
word itself, this is a word that caucasians would be better off
sticking in the do-not-use file. It almost seems to me that the
whole debate about its use has to be settled by African-Americans.
And I believe this process is now positively underway. In the
meantime, know that it it a cruel, harsh and inflammatory word
that is better left out of all conversations. I know...it seems
wierd that a single word could cause such intense reaction. But
the fact is that is does and it always will. Cross this line at
your own peril. 
The
future is here. The picture is watchable. The video streaming
is sustainable. The cellphone is now another TV set. All content
providers must now develop a mobile TV stategy, or risk the loss
of all the burgeoning technophiles out there who demand their
content on-the-go.
Problem
is, because I'm a news photog, I end up sounding like some sort
of macabre show barker. 
