--- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Josh Wolf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I do not know the person who has been charged with placing fireworks
> under the police car. In regards to the first question, I'm not
> really sure that I am not doing both. In presenting news of the
> demonstration I have created an excerpted video of what I saw
> observing the demonstration. I can't really say that it isn't my
> personal version of what transpired, but in a sense that's what news
> is, an observers version of what they feel has transpired.
This issue interests me on many levels. First, I have worked in
broadcast television as a documentary film maker in situations where I
also covered hard news. For example, way back in 1963, one of my first
projects was to cover the South during the civil rights activities in
Birmingham, Selma, Greenwood Mississippi, etc. I still see footage on
tv that I shot then. But I was there in a professional role, working
for National Educational Television, the precursor of PBS. My
understanding of that role, and my expeience and training leading up to
it, was that I was to film as objectively as I could (granted all the
adrenaline and testosterone flowiing) in order to convey as accurately
as possible what took place. I have since gone on to work in cinema
verite films and established a reputation for accuracy in film making.
It is my sense that back in those days law enforcement on the scene had
a certain respect for guys with film cameras becaue they could easily
spot the "pros" and trusted them. It was only much later that I was
hassled just becaue I was shooting something. And that is when I was
carrying what looked like an amateur video camera.
I really need to give this subject more thought. It is important now
because there is talk on this list, as well as in the newspaper article
in this thread, about citizen journalists (or whatever) taking over the
media and that traditional broadcast media will be obsolete. Frankly,
fine and good because they deserve a foul fate. But I worry about two
things: the large broadcast companies (networks) convene the community
as a whole to events and provide a common reference point for discussion
across cultural and socio-economic lines. And the second point I worry
about is the loss of a certain professional role and skills in the
coverage of news events.
I am still feeling my way through these issues in my vlogging
activities. But I thought I should offer my past experience to this
discussion.
News coverage to the whole community, not just a series of people
preaching to various choirs, is terribly important to a democracy. I am
worried about it.
Stan Hirson
http://hestablog.com
http://hestakaup.com
But now we have the citizen with a camera. And I have recently been
doing that, too. But I have kept the same standards as I had back in
the '60s.
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