Meanwhile, back in the real world….

Technological revolutions have a tendency to wreck existing industries. Suddenly, none of the ‘old rules’ apply, and it can be extremely disorienting to those who are effected.

The reaction to this kind of massive technological shift can be a bit analogous to the Kubler-Ross stages of acceptance to death. After all, we are all watching the death of an industry – or in fact, many industries (just look at newspapers). And the first stage is denial.

And that is where we are now in many parts of the business. Denial.

You can see the denial all over the place. “this is not really happening’. One of the cameramen over on b-roll posted the following, in response to cable opening up to unconventional (ie, you) programming sources. The comparison is to when Hollywood first encountered cable.

Zillions of cheap movies were made just for cable distribution and after a short while the public had just about enough.

Now, here is someone who clearly has never watched Lifetime or HBO or Showtime or about a dozen other cable stations.

In fact, just this morning, Charlie Parsons, VP for Development at The Travel Channel is busy addressing our 40 Travel Channel Academy students on just how they can submit their concepts and pilots to The Travel Channel,

Charlie opens the door to the Kingdom…

Of course, the next phase in the Kubler-Ross stages is anger, which I think we’re already at in many places!

The next phase, of course, is bargaining. This too, we are just starting to see: “OK. We’ll have a few VJs, just to see how it works”

We all know where this ultimately leads.

Michael Rosenblum

For more than 30 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.

1 Comment
  • Cliff Etzel July 18, 2008

    Comment for “This Just In”:

    It’s too bad that the detractors stoop to such childish acts as this. Who says they are two different jobs? Oh yeah – the detractors – the ones in fear of their precious way of life.

    Quit wrecking our industry with VJ’s???

    You have got to be kidding me. Sorry – from my POV, you guys did that on your own – otherwise, their wouldn’t be this solo video journalism paradigm taking hold – and increasingly gaining acceptance throughout the industry.

    The second phase? Yeah , the anger is manifesting itself in some ugly ways.