Speaking to Westport Sunrise Rotary on July 13, Tom Appleby, Cablevision News12′s Director of News, highlighted technologies that have transformed his field. Where journalists once told stories with two-day old film, now they do live remotes with two-second old video. What does this change mean to the business?
Appleby is the longest tenured broadcaster on a single station in Connecticut – now 28 years. He is the ultimate wordsmith, as one might expect of a journalist with a Ph.D. in English Literature – from Michigan, no less. Appleby’s leadership has brought News12 Connecticut over 600 major awards – from local Emmys to national Edward R. Morrow awards.
He called Charles Dolan, Cablevision’s creator and CEO, “a visionary.” Dolan was among the first to program movies on cable; he put the Knicks on cable, a first for both the sport and the medium; he subsequently acquired the team and their arena, Madison Square Garden, then spun both off.
Dolan started Cablevision on Long Island in 1973. In 1977, he made his first franchise expansion into what are now 16 communities in lower Fairfield County. He saw opportunity in an area “on the cusp, yet ignored by news departments of New York and Connecticut stations.”
CNN opened the door to 24-hour news in 1980. News12 upgraded its half-hour a day program to a 24/7 operation two years later. They offer viewers the latest news, weather, traffic and sports every half-hour, with hourly updates and a big story in every ten minute segment – “no appointment news.”
Technology Brings News (A)live
Those of us approaching a certain age “ate watching Walter.” For the first time, war came into our living rooms each night, though often with two-day old film.
The analog video cassette replaced film during the early 70s. While still using separate camera and recording units, it got the story on the air faster and cut the five person film crew to two.
In the early 80s, Sony’s introduced a single unit camera-recorder Betacam that gave reporters greater access to ongoing stories. It was superseded by a solid state Betacam in the middle of the decade and by a digital Betacam in the early 1990s.
Early in the 2000s, first disks, then flash drives replaced tape. This made cameras smaller and less expensive and expedited editing.
The newest camera allows News12 to say “good bye trucks.” It is a compact video unit in a backpack that records to a flash drive and incorporates multiple phone cards that enable the cameraman to select the strongest 3G signal to send the story to the studio (and News12 is testing the faster 4G).
This allows News12 to put a live remote story shot in SD on the air with a two second delay, and in HD with a ten second latency. The one-man crew is here!
“Soon every camera will have its backpack,” Appleby said.
Cablevision is also testing the GoPro camera. This tiny, inexpensive and almost indestructible professional quality unit can be attached to a bicyclist’s helmet, the body of an underwater hockey player, even to a javelin. News12 reporters attached them to cars they drove around during the October snowstorm.
Viewers Usher in a New Journalism
But what ‘s really changing electronic news gathering is viewers submitting videos taken with cell phone cameras. Appleby said “we’re inundated with videos and stills from our viewers… no one cares about quality.” Speed rules – “I want it now.”
He added that viewer contributed content raises concerns about “traditional checks and balances.” When staff members shoot, News12′s producers know what they have. Not so with user provided video. “How do I know it’s real?” He noted CNN and Fox called the Affordable Care Act story incorrectly because contributors went on air after reading only the first part of the decision.
News12 assures accuracy by providing an attribution in every sentence – “officer or eye witness or some other identifiable person said… “
With so much inexpensive, high quality and easy to use technology, “who is a journalist?” Is it only the credentialed reporter? Or might she also be the Janey-On-The-Spot iPhone “videographer” relaying her story as it unfolds?