On the cutting edge of technology….
The Press Gazette is reporting today that PA (Press Assocation) VJs are going to start feeding The Independent, (a British newspaper) with 100 voiced pieces a week.
Apparently, VJs are alive and well and growing in the UK.
For us, this is a rather curious story, as we had approached both The Independent and the PA about training VJs, albeit separately.
Alone, neither was particularly interested.
Tony O’Reilly at the newspaper didn’t feel like his staff could take the stress of additional work, particularly in video.
The PA didn’t see an immediate need for VJs.
But together, they seem to have found a kind of synergy.
The idea of outsourcing video based news content by a newspaper may or may not be the right way to go. That remains to be seen.
But the large order for video to be filled by VJs alone on a weekly basis by one of the major journalistic organizations in the UK does speak volumes that the whole VJ approach to journalism has traveled light-years from the days where it was a lightning rod for debate.
That we did not get the contract for the VJs for this deal is disappointing, but the embrace of the technique on such a large scale by such major institions is well worth the loss.
