TV News and Transgender Reporters

 Anaheim, CA— I recently attended the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) conference, a large professional gathering that lasted four days and was packed with educational sessions. It also served as a recruitment ground for news corporations looking to find new talent.

It seems that the era of hard-hitting investigative reporting, especially at the local news level, has all but disappeared. Legacy media has strayed far from its mission, rarely exposing government misconduct or holding politicians and bureaucrats accountable for their corruption.

Most reporters today tend to lean liberal, and their idea of investigative reporting unfortunately  aligns with political advocacy, particularly in support of the "woke" agenda. When reporting on crime, courts, and corruption, there should be no place for political favoritism; the focus should be solely on the facts and the evidence.

Legacy media has also taken on the burden of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) hiring practices. While hiring should be based on talent and ability, some organizations are overly concerned with meeting politically correct quotas. Equal opportunities should be available to all, regardless of race, religion, or sexual proclivities.  Hiring decisions based on quotas is simply wrong.

Over the years, many openly gay men have entered the journalism field and achieved significant success, such as Anderson Cooper and Sheppard Smith. Recently, the focus has shifted to legitimizing transgender identities. While most men dressed as women may appear comical or freaky, others manage to convincingly present as women.

At the IRE conference, I noticed a strong code of conduct was posted aimed at protecting transgender members from ridicule and gossip. Soon I was surprised to see about ten obvious men dressed as women among the attendees, which indeed was an unexpected distraction.

Upon reflection, I realized that these individuals were there to learn about investigative reporting, giving voices to the voiceless, and holding wrongdoers accountable. Ultimately, I believe that as long as they can perform their job aggressively, fairly, and objectively, their appearance should not matter. What is important is their ability to report the unbiased truth, rather than perpetuating left-leaning propaganda.

I am curious to see a major network place a transgender woman in an anchor chair and how it would affect ratings. Initially, curiosity might drive viewership up, but the long-term impact would prove interesting. 

Local Crime News Is Selectively Reported By Today’s Media.

Chicago, Illinois— As everyone knows, our Legacy Media is owned and carefully controlled by Left Wing propagandists.  They report in unison to influence useful idiots and otherwise impressionable people.  As social media has spread, the Legacy Media has lost much of their influence and market share.  As time marched on, the state controlled, Legacy Media has become more vocal and more desperate, stretching their misleading content to the limits.  As a result they have hemorrhaged their viewers and readers. 

Make no mistake if they really want viewers/readers, they must remember rule number one, if it bleeds it leads.  Violence threatens our safety so that’s really why this is so important to everyone.  George Orwell said it best, “Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.”  Rule number one has been sidestepped to conform with the current Leftist narratives. 

One real problem for the Legacy Media is that they’ve carefully covered up the race of black criminals whenever possible.  They’ve claimed they’re trying to avoid contributing to stereotypes.  I don’t give a shit what they want to call it, a cover-up is still a cover-up.  Of course, when the shoe is on the other foot where a white person victimizes a black person, that becomes leading headlines.  

The Democrat politicians are really concerned about the backlash against their perennial, facilitation and enabling of criminals.   This is through their continuing efforts to defund, and castrate law-enforcement as they allow criminals to evade being held accountable for their crimes.   

The Legacy Media and left-wing politicians have become bedmates as together they changed the direction of local news dramatically.  Instead of investigating crime, the media only reports what the local police dictates.  Of course, the police and what they tell the media is carefully controlled by the various mayors.  

The various cities are supposed to file accurate crime reports with the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports however, they conveniently and regularly find clever ways around accurate reporting.  Politics before truth is all that matters.  

In Chicago, there is a small social media organization of anonymous reporters and producers.  It is called CWB.  They understand the first rule of news, and if the story doesn’t bleed, they won’t cover it.  They report on  crime as accurately as they can and publish the police booking photos of the criminals. Chicago’s Violent crime is almost exclusively perpetrated by blacks and the mugshots prove this. 

I can only assume CWB wants to stay anonymous to avoid the threats and attacks they would receive for reporting the brutal truth.   If there is something that I wish CWB would do is to employ video to report their stories.  This takes, guts and money because turning a profit for any news, organization is difficult.

So if you’re watching your local news and most of what you see are feel-good, public relations stories that lack any importance to your life this is the current direction of local news.  

Electronic Newsgathering, the FAA and Drones

NJ Governor Chris Christie captured by an exclusive drone photo by, NJ Advance Media

Los Angeles, CA—The FAA is over-regulating while moving at a snail’s pace as drone technology is advancing at supersonic speed.  Right now camera drones manufactured by DJI are totally safe and virtually crash proof.

Despite claims of potential airline crashes and total mayhem there is not a single death, serious injury or significant property damage from our modern camera drones. They've been around for years now. 

TV news is spending millions that they really don’t have on $1,500.00 to $2,000.00 per hour news choppers.  Drones operate at a tiny fraction of the cost of news helicopters and they are much safer.  There are already million of drones out there in the hands of Americans of every description.

Noisy helicopters are a serious distraction to first responders even at the 500-foot altitude they are required to maintain.   Today’s camera drones fly much lower and can barely be heard.  The prop-wash from drones is miniscule. 

It was a low flying drone that recently caught New Jersey Governor Chris Christie arrogantly enjoying the beach he closed to the public during a fiscal crisis. Drones are actually superior to choppers for covering all manner of news stories except high-speed police chases.

Journalists everywhere are feeling the pinch of lost viewers and readers.  Newsroom budgets are under the ax all over the world right now.   Using drones can save jobs.  The single largest expenditure of every medium and large market American newsroom are for helicopters. 

Where is the media lobby when ignorant and paranoid politicians are trying to ban or restrict drones for electronic news gathering?  The First Amendment issues are glaring! 

Media organizations are fighting for survival right now but the empty suits in corporate management just don’t get it.  Commonsense and the desire to improve the product they are selling should motivate media executives to demand the FAA and Congress allow for unbridled drone use in urban areas.  Certainly,  just as helicopters are allowed drones belong integrated in our skies.

The spectacular video below was captured by a $1,000.00 DJI Mavic Pro, 4K camera drone. 

2015 Will be the Year of The “Newsdronie” (TV News Drone Correspondent)!

Phoenix, AZ—My spies at the FAA insist that they will very quickly authorize the commercial use of multi-rotor, mini-drones weighing in at less than three pounds for among other things, newsgathering.

Any TV station news department that has not made plans for this new technology will be left in the dirt.  The very day the drones are authorized is when the promotions departments should be heralding their new newsdronie correspondents.

They all should be up and running with two or three of these prime time ready “newsdronies” to cover routine accidents, crimes and fires.  Sending a helicopter to a school lockdown for example is foolish when you can use a drone and only pony up a fraction of the price.  

That FAA weight constraint will limit the size of the cameras that of the GoPro types.  But they can really capture epic and stunning imagery.

What that means is the local television markets can dispatch a drone pilot that’s able to operate the device, camera and edit the video with voiceovers. It's just another needed storytelling skill.   

Many stations want live shots from the news making scenes for their newscasts.  That can be done easily with almost no delay of the aerial shots. 

The drone correspondent will be the ultimate multi-media journalist.  The drone correspondent should also carry gear to obtain ground shots and video interviews too. 

The days of the helicopter pilots are numbered especially in all but the largest TV markets.  Unlike helicopters the drones are inexpensive, inherently safer and completely green. 

The drones can be sent up in less than favorable weather conditions since there are no real safety concerns. 

Nearly any news story will be more watchable with quality aerial video.   News making locations, conditions and hazards can be brought to the viewer’s screen better than ever before. 

A picture may be worth a 1,000 words but aerial video takes everything to a whole new level.

Okay let me say I want to be the first newsdronie correspondent in America!  I certainly can teach TV news journalists how they too, can be Newsdronies! 

News gathering Video Technology and Guerilla Journalism!

Los Angeles, CA—Wherever you go in the City of Angeles doing news the paranoid public relations people and their security agents demand absolute control over anyone shooting video.   The equipment to shoot quality video was cumbersome and difficult to move around without attracting loads attention.  That’s changing faster than the speed of light.  They can’t seem to repress the journalist with the notepad but ejecting cameras from most real estate has proven all too easy.

Today you can shoot very watchable video with quality iPhone cameras and a host of small camera choices.  The somewhat new GoPro cameras are nothing short of incredible.   I have two of them now; the Hero 3 and a Hero 3+ are in my video gathering arsenal.

Any day now and I will take delivery of a Blade 350 Quadcopter that will zip right past security guards, police and fire lines.  It will instantly defeat even the tallest walls and fences to obtain exceptional HD GoPro camera video.

On the ground I’m looking for ways to conceal the little GoPro cameras so I can do interviews and get B-Roll without attracting any unwanted attention.  I am learning to do low profile scene stand-ups guerrilla style.  My goal is to get in and out of the scene before anyone knows I’ve gathered my needed video. 

Quality audio is important so as you see I will rely on a Zoom H4N recorder with lavalier or shotgun microphones.  As you can see below the onboard microphone does not cut the mustard!  As a freelancer there are really no equipment limits as long as I can bag the story.

The tiny GoPro needs some stabilization when handheld and there are solutions in the way of small Steadcam type devices that can be obtained and employed.  

Most mainstream news directors and editors are presently fumbling around with the lawyers, journalism ethics professors hoping to learn if they can embrace the technology for their own reporters and photographers.  In the meantime I will go out and get the story! 

The Blade 350 can be purchased from B&H Photo 1-800-221-5743

Crimefile News Needs Reporters!

To my visitors:  From time to time I get requests to post the writings of others.  Unfortunately some of these people are really promoting their personal businesses rather than providing information suitable for Crime, Guns and Videotape.  I want more news in Crimefile News but I can’t be everywhere to do it myself.

This is where some of my skilled visitors come in. I want your stories.  They must be up to journalistic standards.  I don’t want rewrites of published news stories.  They should contain video or at least pictures taken by the contributors.

That means getting interviews of your newsmakers, vetting the information properly and avoiding libel.  Diligent use of public records is a must. 

There are few limits on subject matter if the material is compelling and interesting.  Submitting stories about government policies, crimes, courts, corruption or your latest gun are acceptable.  Perhaps the actions a local hero, or some inspiring person may be great material.  I’m not looking for commentary or opinion material from the contributors however I expect to see opinions pop up in provided interviews of newsmakers.

I want acceptable and properly edited video.  An iPhone can be used with iMovie can accomplish great things with minimal training.  May I suggest an E-book called iPhone Millionaire by Michael Rosenblum.  You can get this through Kindle, iBooks or Amazon.com. It will give you a great deal of information you will need. 

The bad news is I can’t pay for your material.  The good news is your work will be seen and properly credited.  Additionally of this idea flies there could be money down the road. 

I don’t want discourage your quest to report news but there are roadblocks and speed bumps.  CNN has had iReport out there for years.  It’s been a colossal disappointment. I would hope someone would be able to dazzle CNN enough to hire them.  I call that missed opportunities. 

Occasionally excellent raw and unedited video has come in as news was breaking at violent events and disasters.  But for the most part all that came in was unwatchable crap.   If you’re at a news-breaking event get some interviews.  Most people will talk if you bother to ask them. 

For your video editing you need to put in well-written voiceovers.  iMovie has the tools for this.  Added voiceovers are much better than trying to narrate on the fly.  That’s how the people you watch on TV news do this.  You can also do a stand up where you face the camera to tell a small part of the story.

For my cop, paramedic and fireman friends may I suggest that you use a pseudo name to avoid difficulties with your departments?   This is a great way of exposing the truth that too many government administrators can’t handle.

Below is a simple video news package I did on the death of Conservative Blogger Andrew Breitbart’s death in the Brentwood neighborhood of L.A.   It contains a voiceover, graphics, an interview and a standup: 

It was Social Media Not the Main Stream News Media That Reported First on The Boston Marathon Bombing.

Boston, MA—Times are changing faster than even the news productions experts could imagine.  Ordinary people are carrying smart phones and sophisticated cameras that can even upload instantly to sites like UStream. 

Yesterday the bombing was covered from nearly every conceivable angle by hundreds of cameras shooting high-resolution images.  These images undoubtedly captured the criminals responsible for this mad and cruel act.

There were numerous mainstream photojournalists on the scene shooting but for few if any live broadcast cameras their images were not broadcast or published until they were first transmitted to their electronic news gathering hubs for redistribution.

Some people were uploading still and video images to Internet sites as they were actually happening.  One thing for sure the world will not have to guess what happened because of the massive presence of cameras.  Courts and the jury will also see many of these images as critical evidence needed to bring justice to the offender/s.

Police will have to learn not to obstruct those with cameras capturing images, video and audio at live crime scenes.  They are beginning to understand the value of the potential evidence.  It would make much more sense for cops to allow those shooting cameras and to get their contact information for follow-up investigators.  The old police habits of aggressively chasing photographers away needs rethinking.

The first celebrated citizen journalist of our time was the unlikely, Abraham Zapruder who by chance captured on color movie film the actual assassination of President John F. Kennedy.   He had a new Super 8 movie camera.  His stunning film was the centerpiece for news broadcasts and the massive investigation that followed.   Imagine what an evidence and media bonanza there would be it that happened today.  Many more questions about that crime would have been answered.

Arson investigators have long known that photographs showing bystanders at fire scenes very often reveal the suspects admiring their work in crowds of onlookers.

Oddly enough the first reports of yesterday’s bombing were posted on Twitter and Facebook!  Television broadcasters took much longer to get live images to their viewers.  Our sophisticated media giants are more concerned about copyright protection and the business aspects of their images than members of the public shooting pictures.

One L.A. TV reporter, Alycia Lane of KNBC-TV was off duty and in Boston close to the scene in a restaurant.  She did not miss a beat and became a “Citizen Journalist” when the police came in evacuating them to the street.  She had a companion shoot her in a broadcast standup with an iPhone as she walked in the street described what was going on.  The bad news was the companion was not smart enough to hold the camera horizontal like our TV screens.  The valuable video made air anyway.

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.