Tiffany March on the challenge of multimedia journalism

The challenges facing traditional journalists learning how to do news video for the Web

The first challenge I need to overcome is to not be intimidated by technology, or rather, by electronic equipment. Once I learn what kinds of equipment is necessary and how to use it, I know I will be much more confident and can begin acquiring new skills. I feel overwhelmed by knowing that there are so many different kinds of cameras, audio recorders and video cameras, and not knowing which ones are really the best.

I have always been a “book person,” which is probably why I’m now a print journalist. This is how technology-inept I am: my roommate has a giant flat screen television and DVD player and I don’t even know how to work either beyond the on/off buttons. The same goes for cell phones--I never wanted a cell phone but my mother gave me one when I went to college “in case of an emergency.” I had to use a blackberry for work last year but only learned the basic functions.

I am a little more comfortable around computers. I learned basic HTML when I was in 8th or 9th grade and built a simple Web site. I enjoy the artistic aspect of designing a page, especially how all of the elements fit together visually. I really like that there is some room for creativity on the internet. For example, we talked about in class how there is freedom to post a longer video than what you could show on television.

The creative element makes the idea of posting video on the Web a little bit less frightening to me, because I feel like internet users have fewer expectations than television viewers as to the form and presentation of a video. The “Youtube generation” is more likely to be forgiving if my package isn’t super slick, as long as the content is newsworthy. At the same time, I think the challenge is to make something that will grab people’s attention because the internet is so crowded with other information.

After I get over the mental hurdle of learning how to use new equipment, I think I will be able to enjoy shooting video for the Web. People are incorporating video in new and different ways all the time on news Web sites, so right now I feel free to experiment to some degree and to enjoy being creative, in order to discover what works best.