Oldline media battle misses today's opportunity

Over the last year I've often wondered why newspapers implementing online video focus on training photographers to be videographers instead of hiring experienced TV/video journalists. I found the answer a few weeks ago at a presentation by a local newspaper executive. When asked how newspaper Websites with video compared to television station Websites, she passionately expressed how the newspaper's online news was better than TV. It was an us against them reaction and she was going to beat TV at video.

For me this was an "ah ha" moment. This explains why many newspapers aren't taking advantage of getting experts in shooting and editing news stories from TV. Newspaper people feel they are better than TV journalists and so don't see them as a source of expertise that they could take advantage of. I think this is a missed opportunity. Telling stories with video is not a trivial task. Over time some photographers are becoming good videographers. However, I continually marvel at the newbie approach to using video exhibited by the online newspapers. Experienced video storytellers have a far larger palette of creative methods for telling stories. I think the newspaper folks have a limited view of broadcast news which is the traditional evening TV newscast, delivered by their sworn enemy. What they are missing is this larger palette of creative styles of video storytelling which people trained in video know, but haven't been using in traditional TV news.

While traditional newspaper and TV news executives fight an old battle in a new world, there are opportunities for forward thinking news and information organizations who forget the traditional and find expertise across all media, as well as the new online media, and create a new way of presenting news and information.