What? You Work in TV News but Can’t Create a Video Package on Your iPhone?

Los Angeles, CA—Local news coverage here is as lame is it gets anywhere!  The entertainment capitol of the world and the second largest television market puts out pathetic  minimalist crap instead of comprehensive news. It's downright shameful!

What used to be called print media has now been forcibly moved to the Internet and they now must adapt to publishing quality video or simply become history.

I don’t give a rat’s ass if you’re at the bottom position and pay grade in your news organization there’s no excuse for you being unable to make a broadcast quality news story if you come upon breaking news.  If you can’t put together a watchable story on your iPhone you need to get out of the news business.  

You don’t have to be pretty or an award winning cinematographer to create a great news story.  You do need to be capable of using a little investigative effort and get some watchable video and simply tell your story.  What’s most important is that you never waste an opportunity to assemble the elements of important news breaking around you.

The new iPhone 6 plus with it’s improved camera and large screen allows anyone that can make a decent selfie still shot, to shoot, edit and make a really watchable news package!  Unlike the predecessor, smaller iPhones the larger 6plus screens are very adequate to professionally edit captured video in the inexpensive iMovie application. 

I’m not going to train in this story you but will give you a few solid tips.

Always hold you iPhone horizontal and NEVER vertical.  Get close as you possibly can to the action so that you can get both usable sound and video.   If you’re too shy and don’t get close enough you efforts will be wasted.

Always be sure to add your own voiceovers to your captured video during the editing process.  Doing that while you shoot is almost never a good idea.  

As you learn how to do this you will discover tricks and accessories to improve your stories with things like lavaliere microphones.  There are lots of new devices including those that serve as tripods when needed.  

If you have a camera drone and can get it deployed and operating over breaking news such as a natural disaster or a civil disturbance that could swing your career into high gear.

There are those amazing options for live broadcasting from your iPhone offered by Livestream.com or Ustream.com.   They must rely on a good 4G Internet signal.  You could for example be on vacation in Europe during breaking news and actually get video back to your newsroom.

Again, I’m going to bash L.A’s lame news coverage.  They can’t seem to do a crime story these days that was not totally created and controlled by the appointed police propaganda officers. 

I don’t understand why the reporters in this market won’t routinely check things like court records or take the effort to identify and seek out victims and witnesses for interviews.  What they call enterprising journalism here is getting a really worthless sound bite from a know-nothing neighbor saying, “it's so scary!” 

Despite so many wonderful new tools the quality of electronically gathered coverage has declined significantly over the last two decades. The competiveness and energy has dwindled as newsrooms have lost viewers and readers in droves.

The new technologies should be helping significantly but the news organizations are so painfully slow at adaptation.  Perhaps it’s that the ageing suits running the news business are simply a bunch of old dogs incapable of learning new tricks. They desperately cling to the things that worked for them when they were young.

The tools of computer assisted reporting, instantly obtaining quality video, the exciting GoPro cameras and now the inexpensive camera drones have made amazing leaps and bounds.   Unfortunately the suits running news refuse to embrace new technology and instead reject progress. 

If you’re working in a newsroom or hope to pursue this line of work, you simply can’t wait for the news bureaucracy to adapt to progress.   It’s you that must learn how to create and then demonstrate your abilities. 

The camera drones have made a big splash and the novelty has brought with it massive ignorance and contrived controversy. 

If you have a camera drone use it.  Get the video and worry about what your bosses will say later.  It’s better that they see your amazing images even if they are two cowardly to use them!

Why wait for someone else to do this and steal your thunder?  If you make something spectacular with a drone camera your bosses will soon be fighting to use what they did not have the testicles to allow earlier. 

Can Quadcopters facilitate the Salvation of TV New

Helicopter Crash Scene Courtesy of KOMO-TV Seattle, WA

Seattle, WA—Tragedy struck this morning as a TV news helicopter crashed near the landmark Space Needle.  At least two people are reported dead and another is listed in critical condition at a local hospital.  At least three cars have been set on fire as result of the crash.

TV news helicopters have a relatively good safety record, but every few years somewhere, these horrible accidents are repeated.  

Over the years I’ve lost friends in crashes in Phoenix, AZ and Denver, CO that lost their lives covering news from the air.  Trust me, it always hurts.

Aerial news coverage is necessary but can be a little risky.  It is also the single most expensive cost of most TV news organizations. 

TV news has lost a major portion of its audience and revenue and many news organizations have curtailed or eliminated helicopter coverage altogether.

Technology has brought us something far lass risky or expensive, the camera armed, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.  These devices are very light, inexpensive, safe and perfect for gathering and broadcasting news video.  

The little drones can cost at little at $1000.00 with the popular high definition GoPro cameras or as much as $15,000 with a larger camera such as the Canon 5D DSLR with live broadcasting capability.   Either way it’s only a fraction of the cost of operating a helicopter.

The upside is that accidents with quadcopters are nearly always free from damage or injury.  They are so light that should they fall from the sky there is little or no damage in most cases.  The size of the quadcopters range from a small to an extra large pizza.

Medium and small market TV stations can keep several of these quadcopters in their broadcast arsenals at little cost.  They are also much quicker to deploy for a news story than those helicopters they now rely upon 

They can operate as long as 25 minutes before they are brought down for a quick battery change.

Those sensational and famous Los Angeles freeway chases are not currently suitable for the quadcopters because they often go on for hours and many miles. 

In riots helicopters are often shot at from the ground. That’s dangerous to say the least.  Quadcopters are a much smaller moving target and lives are not at risk should they be hit by gunfire.

A Denver federal judge has just reversed the FAA ban on commercial use of these drones.  Use of drones by hobbyists was always allowed but now news organizations are free to employ these devices.

I know for sure that employing drones will slow down the steady downpour of pink slips in newsrooms because they are so incredibly cost effective.

I can predict the immediate hiring of quadcopter multimedia journalist-pilots that can also edit the raw video into news packages on laptops in their vehicles at various news events. 

In the long run the use of drones will bring more use or aerial video than the helicopters simply because of the ease and reduced cost involved.

Another advantage is the drones can easily operate at much lower altitudes.  In fact the FAA wants them no higher than 400 feet.  Aerial video from just 30 to 75 feet is truly amazing.

The drones can be effectively flown and operated after only a few hours of practice.  News organizations cannot afford, not to employ these gee whizz gizmos if they are serious about their mission and financial survival. 

Below is my first video flight of my Blade 350 quadcopter and GoPro Hero3+ camera.  The cost of this bare bones package was about $1000.00.  I was able to do this with only about an hour’s instruction and practice.  I edited this video on a laptop with Final Cut pro X software. 


Here is some exceptional night video over Los Angeles with a DJI Phantom II with a GoPro:

Breaking News! California’s Concealed Weapon Ban Struck Down By The 9th Circuit Court of appeals!

San Francisco, CA—Today the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals followed recent rulings by The United States Supreme Court by striking down the California ban on concealed weapons.

In a 127page opinion ruled that the long standing law that allowed for “may issue” permits was un-Constitutional. 

The stricken aw had given police official’s absolute power to issue or deny permits to applicants.  The permits were almost exclusively issued to politicians, bureaucrats and heavy political campaign donors in the more populous jurisdictions. 

Appeal is unlikely because of the SCOTUS McDonald decision that is in fact the law of the land.  That case is what toppled Chicago’s ban.  Illinois officials  are currently issuing thousands of permits to law-abiding citizens. 

What this really means is that if a gun owner is free of felony or domestic violence convictions and is not mentally ill the current law requiring a permit to conceal a loaded firearm in their vehicle or on their person is simply unenforceable.

The police may still decide to make an arrest but the case will eventually crumble in court. At some point arrestees may be able to sue police for violating their Civil Rights for making such an arrest.

California will now have to write a new law that is not in conflict with citizens Second Amendment rights.   That law must mandate that permits be issued freely to qualified gun owners.  

If California chooses to not promulgate a new law there will in effect be no law to regulate concealed weapons.  I’m sure they will write something.

Here is the opinion below: