Zettler Clay On The Transition From Print To Multimedia

The barriers facing traditional journalists moving into video journalism hasn't been lacking for commentary lately.

Print journalists are text-dependent; to them, video, photos and graphics are ancillary in the storytelling process. However, in the brave new world of media integration, text is only part of the tale.

For many, that is a gigantic pill to swallow.

Video journalists have gained a renewed connotation in news organizations. It’s not taking on increased importance, for video journalists have always been important. It’s that instead of being confined to a niche role, journalists across all mediums should be capable of shooting, editing and producing video for the web. Newsroom attrition and declining revenues are two of the major culprits, but an increased consumer migration to the web is as big a factor.

Reporters face the task of having to shift their attention from the mindset of a single platform journalist to the mindset of a multimedia storyteller. But we’ve heard all this before; so what exactly does this mean?

Well, for starters, a reporter must go into the field thinking of the whole package, rather than just the textual article. How am I going to convey this story on video in a way that seamlessly integrates my article and photos and sidebar and possibly a poll? Even if all of these components can’t be inserted into a story initially, it is a requisite to think about them in conception phase of the reporting.

That's because in today’s news climate, there are multiple deadlines in a day. At 3:23 p.m., a 100-word article is posted on Twitter; an hour later, the article is 350 words. 30 minutes later, it’s a full-fledged article, replete with pictures.

By the next day, a whole multimedia display is put together. A brave new world indeed. This isn’t to say that I’m gleeful about the evolution of journalism. It is daunting to be a specialty reporter now because of the fear of being left behind. For practitioners of the written word, transitioning to the visual art of storytelling is anathema.

So what’s the challenge of a traditional print scribe in the alien world of iMovie, Moviemaker, Avid or Final Cut Pro?

The lead turns into a verbal intro; the linear story into a seemingly unconfined news playground. To the consumer, this may be a welcome change. More ways to imbibe information in a more dynamic and interactive format surely supersedes any nostalgia for a newspaper article, right?

But to the print-inclined crowd, this is like the in-laws staying for the holidays. You can find a million reasons to object to them staying, but in the end, it's better to just embrace them as your family. Because you know they're not going anywhere, anytime soon.