Travel Channel Academy – Round 2

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Today we start on the 2nd Travel Channel Academy.

This time we are running the course in Discovery’s HQ in Silver Spring, Md. And as of this morning, twenty eager young documentary and filmmakers have learned the first lessons in VJ-ing; gathered here at the DCI offices now to engage in our 4-day intensive bootcamp.

The pilot for the Academy was a major success. More than 500 people applied for the first 20 slots.

Then, we married the Academy to our new series – What’s Your Trip.

This is only the beginning of a ladder with Travel Channel. Tiffany Burnett, a TJ from the first season of 5Takes has been given a one-year contract with Travel Channel to travel the world with her video camera. More will follow.

We have now scheduled Academy sessions across the US, from LA to NY to DC and beyond. And this is just the beginning. We expect to train more than 1,000 new VJs in the next year. Many more. And the channel is committed to working with those who prove themselves great visual story tellers.

It’s a whole new kind of TV.

Michael Rosenblum

For more than 35 years, Michael Rosenblum has been on the cutting edge of the digital video journalism revolution. During this time, he has lead a drive for video literacy, and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. His work has included: The complete transitioning of The BBC's national network (UK) to a VJ-driven model, starting in 2002. The complete conversion of The Voice of America, the United State's Government's broadcasting agency, (and the largest broadcaster in the world), from short wave radio to television broadcasting and webcasting using the VJ paradigm (1998-present). The construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company, and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the US. Rosenblum was both the founder and President of NYT TV, (all based on this paradigm (1996-1998). The President and Founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company, with more than 100 journalists around the world. (1993-1996). Other clients include Spectrum News, Verizon and CBS News.

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