video blogging tools of the trade

So is this your idea of fun? Are you a political junkie? Are you good at multi-tasking? Do you work well with liltte or no sleep? If the answer to ALL of these questions is “yes”, I suggest you look into a once-in-a-lifetime (or once every four years at least) journalism opportunity.

NBC News, along with partner The National Journal, recently announced plans to embed video journalists in the campaigns of Presidential candidates. NBC News chief Steve Capus describes the benefits of this intimate access.

There is nothing like being there, up close and personal, when it comes to covering a presidential election, and this allows us to be there in a very big way. Our team of reporters on the road with the candidates will be in a unique position to report all aspects of this dynamic story for every single one of our platforms

- Steve Capus, President, NBC News

Candidates for these coveted positions should expect to sleep very little, work very hard, and keep up with a very demanding production schedule in terms of posting video, audio, photographs and text. Additionally these embeds will be expected to be the editorial eyes and ears of NBC News, providing extensive and accurate coverage of the campaign and the candidates. Make no mistake… this is VERY difficult work. I know, becuause i recently provided this type of coverage for the NBC Nightly News blog as we circumnavigated the globe covering the Secretary of Defense. It is grueling, punishing work, and I know from experience that Presidential campaigns are particularly draining.

Having said that, there is a unique opportunity for some great online storytelling here. While some have suggested that I have the specific qualifications to take on such an assignment, I suspect that they’re not as interested in someone who gets overtime for this job. If they’re smart, they will look at forward-thinking photographers not just, eager poli-sci majors who can find the on off switch on a DV camera. Technology is only as good as the artisans and storytellers it empowers.

Interestingly NBC News and the National Journal are entering a field already already alive with online journalists, bloggers, and vloggers, either positioned to give them a run for their money or, if nothing else, provide useful technical and editorial perspective.

When I first heard of these openings, I first thought of friend and colleague Amani Channel, not because I think he could do the job, but because he IS doing the job. Check him out!

Click To Play

Former ABC producer and Atlanta blogger Grayson Daughters has been covering Georgia politics on her blog, bringing her delightfully unique personality and rapier sharp wit to her video blogging efforts.

A-list blogger Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine is, is building a small political media empire, launching his Prezvid site having seen the revolutionary implications of a “YouTube” campgaign.

Video blogging pioneer Steve Garfield has been pushing the envelope of empowering video technology for years. Most recently, he’s been using bleeding edge live video tools to broadcast live video from his Nokia N95 from far-flung reaches of the globe using platforms such as Ustream, Kyte, Operator11, BlogTV, and Comvu. Hmmm, the press bus will never be the same again. I don’t have details of what technology NBC is empowering these emeds with, but I’m sure he’d be more than happy to share his vast knowledge.

Ultimately the technology is just a tool. It’s the stories, and the people who tell them that make the difference. What these video journalists will offer is access.

Having this team of reporters on the trail with the candidates and their top staff day in and day out will provide our audience of political junkies with the inside stories and interesting tidbits that they otherwise would not get.

- John Fox Sullivan, Publisher and Chief Executive, National Journal Group

It’s important to note that these embedded video journalists will be just part of a much larger effort by NBC News to cover this wide open Presidential race. Ultimately, the news is covered by people not technology. It’s the people of NBC News that are the formidibale force that Polticial Director Chuck Todd brings to bear on NBC’s coverage.

The sheer volume for one thing… The fact that we’ll [be] so transparent about what we’re reporting… Both in print and thru video is something that will be unprecedented for a major news organization. It is revolutionary as far as a network is concerned.

- Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director

Part of me thinks i should still apply for the job, just for grins, then watch them laugh as I slide my salary requirements across the table. What do you think? Should I apply?

Hey if you know any good candidtates or you think you’re one yourself, leave a link in the comments section!

DC Media Maker and web 2.0 raconteur Jonny Goldstein files a report today from Capitol Hill, where House Subcommittee Chairman, Ed Markey, (D., MA) was holding a hearing on the “Future of Video”. Congressman Markey made “news” today by making media! Markey, accustomed to looking AT lenses, not THROUGH them, paid homage to the user generated content generation by hoisting a DV camera and shooting from the dais. His staff (presumably) posted the video on Youtube.

Based on the quality of the camerawork, lets just say that Markey maintaining his seat in the House, and I keeping my day job as a news cameraman are both good things.

What’s interesting, and very meta, is that Jonny Goldstein was there recording the event and gives us the reverse angle!

Testifying before Markey’s committee were a who’s who of media heavy-hitters including Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, Thomas S. Rogers of TiVo, Benjamin N. Pyne from Disney and ESPN Networks, Blake Krikorian of Sling Media and Mark Cuban, co-founder of HDNet.

For my assembled readers here in the metro DC area, Jonny will be at a meeting of the DC Media Makers tonight, and will show a clip or two of the hearing.

Ann Broache of CNET has a complete report of the hearing with some interesting atmosperics.

As the largest collection of live trucks my colleagues and I had ever witnessed beamed images of the horrifying massacre at Virginia Tech, a live TV revolution was quietly happening on the internet.

Prompted by “always on” Justin.tv, suddednly everyone’s video had to be live. Tech evangelist Chris Pirillo was live streaming on Ustream, when news of an earthquake in Mexico fell in his lap. His live stream then became a source of information and communication about the quake. I managed to catch a bit of Robert Scoble driving to the Web 2.0 conference on his live Ustream feed. Jeff Pulver and Chris Brogan now have their own live show and Steve Garfield, on the cutting edge as always, has been going live via Comvu with his Nokia N95.

And now politicians have thrown their hats into the ring..so to speak. Ustream CEO Chris Yeh tells me that Senator Chris Dodd’s war room will be streamed live, using Ustream’s service, during the South Carolina Democratic Debates. So while Jeff Jarvis is miffed at NBC for “stealing” tonight’s debate, at least one of the candidates will provide a unique, behind-the scenes live view.

The current fascination with live video is very interesting to me. It is extremely empowering to be “live” in the “right now” of the moment. Live is a call to action. But what makes Ustream’s live video platform unique is the interactivity. It’s one to many and many to one. Here Chris Pirillo and Robert Scoble talk about how the audience interactivity is real value in live video. DISCLOSURE!!: I did NOT NOT shoot this video. It’s a wee bit shaky, but it’s the content that counts.

My first experience with transmitting live video was some 16 years ago, when I lofted the 60 foot aluminum mast of a WRC-TV live truck, while covering a grocery store shooting in Southeast DC. Flicking the switch on the 2Ghz transmitter from “standby” to “transmit” was enormously empowering…even magical. Since then I’ve transmitted live video, in the form of broadcast news, via microwave, satellite and fiber optics. I’m pretty jaded to being live at work (NBC News), and I grow restless being tied to a control room.

The notion of easy, live video, available to anyone with broadband and a camera, has really re-kindled that empowering feeling i first felt 16 years ago. I’ve been playing with Stickam for a few months now. It’s pretty cool but my “live” offerings are limited to video tours of my environs with an audience I’ve lured away from their Twittering.

I think the context of live is as important as the content. Frankly people sitting in front of webcams !!LIVE!! has a certain “so what” factor to it. Integrating the live video experience into real time events of significance is where this tecnhology will shine. Right now most of us are experimenting and doing it because we can (and that’s fun!). Where we’ll see growth and the real value of live is when it’s used in the proper context.

Earlier today I spoke with Ustream’s acting CEO, Chris Yeh, he agreed with me that the “always on” model of live internet TV would wain in favor of live in some type of context. Yeh believes Ustream wins, echoing the thoughts of Pirillo and Scoble, by its interactivity.

What’s special about Ustream is the interactivity. In traditional
broadcasting, even traditional live broadcasting, there is no interaction.
And in the end, people crave interaction. Just look how many telephone
votes are cast on American Idol each week. Ustream lets the viewers
interact with each other. Even more importantly, it lets them interact with
the broadcaster. This makes the viewers real participants in the broadcast,
and gives the broadcaster instant feedback to help improve the show.
-Chris Yeh

It will be interesting to see how the use of live web video evolves. It already has critics. Mathew Ingram asks: “how much is too much?” Brian Solis points out that, while on the surface it appears that “narcissism” is the driving factor of this technology, “live” has much more value beyond that. I believe we will see tremendous value from live streaming video. Imagine if Jamal Albarghouti had been able to stream live video from his phone during the Virginia Tech shootings. The potential for video journalism is huge, both for independant and mainstream media.

So fellow media makers, how does live video fit into your media toolkit?

photo credit: US Navy Photo

No those AREN’T Pentagon correspondents being booted out the back for publishing DOD leaks.

Today I’m off to Quantico Marine Base to shoot this wacky chopper..plane..whirly-bird thingy. If nothing else, it’ll be good pictures.

Can I just point out tha today is Friday the 13th? Given the lethal history of the aircraft, I’m glad my assignment sheet clearly states:

“The crew will REMAIN on the ground and will not go up in the Osprey.”

Here’s an interesting article on the V22.

~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~

The Marine Corps announced today that 10 Osprey aircraft will be heading to Iraq for their first combat missions. Read more about it here.

I’m a bit suspect of all the latest kerfuffle over a “Blogger Code of Ethics”.  In it, Tim O’Reilly and many other well-intentioned folk are trying to codify behavior on the internet.  It all seems a little too group-think for my tastes, and while I’m sure there are noble and useful ideas contained within such a code, I’ve yet to warm up to the idea. My mother and father instilled a fine code of ethics in me and I’m sure a tech savvy guy like me is well capable of applying them to my online presence.

Before we move forward… THIS BLOG IS NOT JOURNALISM. This blog and this blogger hope to create opportunities for discussion. Nuff said.

Some of the discussion spilled over into the Yahoo video bloggers group, where newly freed video blogger/activist/journalist?, (you decide in comments) Josh Wolf was riffing about the merits of the bloggers code.

I had been paying some attention to Josh’s situation, because it overlaps many of the different worlds I operate in.  One conversation about Josh that caught my attention was an interview by former NBC colleague Kevin Sites.  Kevin interviews Josh in a “In the Hot Zone” article entitled: “Journalist or Activist?” It’s an interesting read and I’d encourage you to listen to the audio of the interview becaus it gives added context.   I don’t care if Josh is or ever has been an anarchist and I don’t apply that as metric of his journalistic street creds.  What jumped off the screen at me was this exchange between Wolf and Sites. 

Kevin Sites: If there had been a situation where you saw a protestor beating up a police officer, or you saw them committing arson, would you have shot that?

Josh Wolf: I wasn’t there to shoot that.

Kevin Sites: No, but would you have shot that?

Josh Wolf: That’s a question I would have made in that moment…

Kevin Sites: Well, that’s what I want to ask you. If I asked you to take sides, if I asked you to take a side of journalism or activism, you know, which side are you taking here? Because you’re asking for the protection of journalism yet you’re also seeking to be an activist.

The words “I wasn’t there to shoot that.” had me gob smacked. So I encountered Josh talking about the bloggers code in the Yahoo video bloggers group, and challenged him on these conflicting points of view. Here are EXCERPTS from that discussion group that Wolf agreed to let me use in this post.

Long:

Josh if you’re a journalist you’re there to tell the
entire story the best you can.”I wasn’t there to shoot
that???” There have been plenty of my assignments
that have evolved into something that I wasn’t there
to shoot. Part of being a journalist is shedding
pre-conceived notions as best you can. If that means
shooting things that rock your world-view, than so be
it.

I was in Quebec City. I was in Genoa, Italy. I saw
that kid lying dead in the street, killed by Italian
paramilitary. I also saw the kid next to me pull a
Molotov cocktail out of his jacket and hurl it at
Italian police. In Quebec City, masked figures were
hurling rotary saw blade down on police from rooftops.
I’ve been gassed by police there and in my hometown
of Washington, DC. Maybe it’s because both the police
and the protesters have disdain for media, but I shot
everthing I felt was relevant.

Josh Wolf is clearly an honorable, brave young man, as
brave as any journalist, but I don’t believe he
deserves shield law protection simply because: “I
wasn’t there to shoot that.”

Wolf:

Jim, Taken out of context, the words, “I wasn’t there to shoot that.”
sound far different than the reality meant by the statement. When I
state, “I wasn’t there,” I don’t mean that wasn’t my mission or chosen
task, but that I literally wasn’t there to shoot it. Would a different
journalist have stopped filming the one cop who was choking the Gabe
Meyers and investigated what was happening with the other? Probably.
Should I have, maybe, but the fact of the matter was that I didn’t know
what was going on and felt that what I was filming was newsworthy and
there was no reason to walk away and turn off the camera.

So after some private email exchanges Josh Wolf agreed to answer some questions on the topic via email.

Long:

In light of your calls for a “bloggers code of ethics” Do you believe that people who identify themselves as journalists should adhere to a set of principles/ethics, such as the SPJ’s?

If yes/no explain your position.

I’m going to tee up a PURELY HYPOTHETICAL question here: let’s say that you’re at a protest and you’re not shooting something at that moment, and protesters engage in any type of unlawful acitivity, and that the shooting of such acitvity would NOT endanger you. Would you shoot it, or, more importantly, would you intentionally decide NOT to shoot the activity

I’m really focused on that one remark in your interview with Sites (as you may have gathered) I don’t care where you are politically. You’ve stated your position on THAT interview. I’ve tried to re-phrase the question so we both know the context.

Wolf:

I believe that people who do and do not identify as journalists already
adhere to their own principles and ethics. I think that codifying these
principles and making it accessible to visitors would possibly
strengthen the trust visitors put in their favorite sites

I would and have shot unlawful activity; all the unlawful activity (both
by protesters and police) I witnessed on July 8th was captured on my
video as best as I was humanly able, and all of the material captured
was put on the published video. I have never intentionally decided not
to shoot any activities due to the subjects involvement in unethical or
illegal activity. I can not fathom a situation where I would not shoot
such material, but I am hesitant to speak in absolutes about what I
would never do.

Wolf’s answers satisfied my concern about the “I wasn’t there to shoot that.” comment. There are for more criteria to consider when defining oneself as a journalist especially if you take on the role of acitvist/advocate. Josh Wolf was “embedded” with the protesters. Embedded journalism brings its own set of problems, I believe. While it is courageous to stand by your beliefs, it takes far more strength and courage to tell the truth when it flys in the face of what you believe.

Clearly this post only begins to scratch the surface of these discussions. You know what the comments are for!! Please use them. Visit Josh on his blog and pose more questions to him.

Josh files a Rocketboom field report about free speech colliding with “national secuirty”. I met Josh at VON07 and I assure you he’s NOT a threat. Hey, not for nuthin’, but hats off to OLD media for telling the story too! But it’s Josh’s personalization of the story that helps me connect.

Josh at VON07

I just left a meeting with a couple of very cool guys from MSNBC.COM. Deputy Editor, East Coast, Randy Stearns and Director of Video, Stokes Young were here at the bureau discussing web storytelling and they stressed this type of personalization as being vital to the relevnace of video content in this medium.