Making Peace with Michael Rosenblum

turning confrontation into an opportunity to find common ground

At the core of my being, I am an instinctively, genetically imprinted, news cameraman. What does that mean? Well I could fumble around for some overly nostalgic musings on the nobility of the calling, but we news cameraman have sort of an unofficial declaration of who we are. It’s an essay written by former ABC News correspondent Jim Wooten that first appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review not long after ABC cameraman Doug Vogt was serisouly injured in Iraq along with correspondent Bob Woodruff. Here’s an excerpt of an essay that, to me, ranks right up there with the Pledge of Allegiance, and The Declaration of Independance:

Always second billing, these folks with the cameras on their shoulders. Clearly, what they do is at the heart and soul of television news. Yet in nearly thirty years in the business, working alongside some of the most gifted cameramen and women in the world, I came to understand how rarely they’re appreciated by the masters of the network universe, how consistently undervalued their skills, their courage, and their willingness to put themselves at risk to get the pictures.
CJR Issue 3 May/June 2006

It’s a lovely homage to people like me and my colleagues and it lists people I know and have met along the way. With economics and technology disrupting TV news, emotions can run high when people’s livelihoods are at stake.

Enter Michael Rosenblum. Described as “visionary” by some, (this is a family blog so I’ll not publish some other descriptions I’ve encountered) he has pioneered the direct cinema/small format video aproach harkening back to the Hi-8 days. He has also helped institute the “VJ” or video journalist model in TV stations all over the world. This model doesn’t sit well with folk who make a living slinging cameras every day because it ultimately renders their (my) skill set useless. Rosenblum has a considerable (as do most of us) online prescence and frequents an online “neighborhood bar” where news photogs discuss their chosen profession. I think he would readily admit that some of his “conversation starters” are perhaps inlamatory in nature.

So when I came across him in this “neighborhood bar”, I chose to directly engage him in an intentionally confrontational manner. Now, when I speak on matters I feel strongly about, I am NOT shy or self-deprecating. Nor is Mr. Rosenblum. This type of online discussion could’ve descended into less than worthwhile name-calling and other types of time-robbers. Ultimately, what happened was a couple of guys stood ideologically toe-to-toe and chose to find common ground. There was some verbal sparring to be sure, but he said this:

Finally, as platforms grow there is an insatiable demand for content. Content. Not shooters. Content. If you can take your skills and either marry them with someone who can provide the editorial side, or learn to do it yourself, you will find yourself in a far richer environment than you are in now. Far richer.

I knew that! I know that! I think and believe that! Well, NOW we’ve got a starting point… some common ground. I think it’s hepful to find, even with people who’s ideas really PISS YOU OFF, grains of commonality. From there, you can work from positions of respect. I may disagree with many of Mr. Rosenblum’s ideas, I agree with some. He and I are both part of this community and as VON07 emcee Shelly Palmer eloquently stated:

We attack each other’s ideas but we respect and appreciate the people behind them.