When Newspapers Go To Video

Posted February 28, 2020

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If you have ever worked in a conventional local TV news staion, you know the drill.

In the morning the assignment desk tells the reporters what stories to cover.

Mostly, they get these from the local newspaper. 

When you only have a limited number of reporters and cameras, every story has to hit, and it all has to be done quickly.  So the fastest way to make sure you fill the news hole every day is to asign stories that the local paper has already done.

It ain't original, but it works.

In 2008, we decided to see if we could cut out the middle man. We did this by teaching the newspaper people to shoot and edit and report their own stories.

We have done this with papers all over the world, but the most successful, by far, has been The Newark Star Ledtger.

Since we took The Ledger into the world of video journalism, its reporters have won a mind-boggling 24 local Emmys - beating out the local TV stations over and over. Pretty good for a newspaper. Particularly in the most competitive media market in the world. 

One of the Ledger reporters were trained was Andre Malok.

And he has been making beautiful videos ever since.

Here's his most recent.

All done on a phone now, I think.

He reports, shoots, cuts and produces them all himeslf.

Just amazingly beautiful work.

We like working with newspapers

Their reporters are used to working on their own.

You don't get a crew when you're a print journalist.

You get a pencil and a pad of paper.

What happens after that is entirely in your hands - literally.

Now you can replace the pad and pencil with an iPhone

But the concept reamins the same

Personal Authorship.