Today's Journalist

I had the opportunity to speak with the journalism class at PCC yesterday, asked to talk about multimedia and where newspapers are going. We are at a seed change about we acquire news and distribute it. From the conversation I had with the students and staff, it isn't only newspapers who will have to change.

Journalism departments around the country, if their ears are to the ground and looking at newspaper Web sites, are seeing more and more online video. Newspapers, ours in particular, have quickly moved into the world of video. Interviews, game action, profiles, stories... you name it and we'll likely be there with cameras.

The surprise that I sprung on the students is that a lot of video is being shot by reporters, not just the photographers. Two reporter applicants, with equal reporting abilities will find it a lot easier to get the interest of an editor if they can shoot and edit video too. This is also true of photographers.

When I was in school, video wasn't even a consideration unless you went into broadcast journalism. We didn't have video cameras in the newsroom until a little over two years ago. Now we have quite a few of them and we're very close to putting together the ability for streaming live remote video.

Today's journalist should learn video. They should learn to shoot a story and take notes at the same time; how to edit a video and get a story written by deadline; troubleshoot when the microphone isn't working. Where should they get the experience. In school. It starts in school.

Rachel Fermi, the photography instructor at PCC is already on track with the multimedia projects she's introducing. Students are creating online slideshows using primarily photos and high-quality audio to tell a story. She agrees the next step is video.

I think gone are the days of push-back from the traditional journalist. I still hear it today that it's too difficult to balance the demands of a camera and a video camera, or a reporter saying they still have to write a story, how are they going to edit the video.

The old ways are dying hard, but they are also dying fast.