ABC News 57 South Bend – are you kidding?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwq3AE6hhjI&feature=related[/youtube]

mind boggling…

A few years ago I was on one of those panels run by Jeff Jarvis on  The Future of the Media.

In this one we were invited to break into teams to try and figure out how to build a media company from scratch, if we could.

My group was headed up by Andy Heyward, the former President of CBS News.

We banged around staffing and stuff and then a young journalist from Denmark ripped the whole model to shreds.

We could do a lot more with this if we really started from scratch- got rid of the buildings, the carpeting, the staffing, the infrastructure and concentrated on the journalism and the content.  The gear is so light and portable, people can work from home.

At that time, someone was just staring to play with that idea.

Arianne Huffington.

Good idea.

Works.

It works so well that we did it ourselves.

Works.

Amazing.

Now I see that ABC News 57 in South Bend, Indiana is building a local TV news operation that could double as a Museum of Broadcasting.

Astounding, actually.

I am particularly taken by the part at 1:57 “and we rolled out new backpacks”.

Backpacks?

Tell me please, please that you are not doing ‘backpack’ journalism with THOSE cameras.

Are you insane?

Or is your parent company The Chirpractic Clinic of South Bend?

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.

6 Comments
  • Jaclyn Kelley August 01, 2011

    Hi Michael,

    I am one of the multimedia journalists working for ABC 57 News. I found this article very interesting. Seeing a new TV station start up from scratch is rare these days and I am so thankful to be apart of something like that. We are trying very new and different things everyday and I think we are really changing the definition of MMJ.
    One of your other commenters Aaron is right, the backpacks are from LiveU. We can stream live (with a 3 second delay now) anywhere there is a cell signal. Right now we have gone live from a train, a boat, a helicopter, a plane, and a ferris wheel.
    So, we are very mobile. I hardly edit at the station. I usually work from my car and I have edited just about everywhere. Many people do take there gear home and can work from home. The main thing is that we are always live on location, which is why we usually edit right where we are at. If this isn’t the new age of journalism then I don’t know what is!

    • Michael Rosenblum August 04, 2011

      Hi Jaclyn
      Can you send me links to some of your stuff?
      Thanks
      m

  • kenny April 11, 2011

    I tell ya, there IS something to be said about a shoulder mount cam. I have a Sony Z7U (about the size of a Panasonic HVX). I love it, but I’ve also added a shoulder mount to help keep my shots more solid. Without the shoulder mount, it’s really hard to hold for extended periods of time. Heavy, yes, but the shots are shakier too. When you have a shoulder mount, you’re resting the weight on your shoulder and keeping the shot more solid.
    What camera would you recommend that still does broadcast quality?

  • Aaron Weiss April 05, 2011

    I believe those backpacks are actual live streaming units, probably from LiveU or TVU Networks. They use cellular bonding to send back a live shot without the need for a microwave or satellite uplink. They truly are state-of-the-art, and arguably not ready for prime time (too much of a tradeoff between latency and signal quality for the moment).

    So yes, while the cameras are obscenely large, the backpacks are not necessarily worth mocking.

    Within a few years, there will be enough 4G bandwidth to shrink those backpacks down to something pocket-size, but for the moment, you need 6-8 3G modems to get a broadcast-quality signal back over the cellular networks.

    • Michael Rosenblum April 05, 2011

      Fine, but the cameras are absurd. Absolutely absurd.