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. 

Second City Cop, a Great Blog Should Grow Into Video Literacy

Chicago, IL--Chicago cops are represented by the FOP as their collective bargaining agent.  They have lost more ground in recent years for their membership.  The city’s politicians have stolen, squandered and otherwise mismanaged Chicago’s revenue for decades creating a public safety funding nightmare.  

Chicago is the current murder capital of the United states and in the last nine months despite gun bans and draconian restrictions over 3,000 people have been shot here.

Nearly a decade ago with bloggers popping up Second City Cop was Born.  The site is hosted allegedly by a cop who has since retired. He or she has remained anonymous avoiding the wrath of angry police bosses and politicians.   

Second city has done well in calling out misguided management, biased police related media stories and corruption.  In many cases SCC has criticized the FOP for lack of leadership or courage in their representation of cops.  In Short SCC has held the city, lapdog media and FOP accountable for their non-stop mis-steps. 

SCC has also condemned the tireless and constant anti-police race baiting from the likes of Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina’s Church. Perhaps someday SCC can take a look into the funding of Pfleger’s activities and his personal enrichment through use or abuse of his donor’s funds. I suspect he can be easily exposed as a professional instigator. 

The SCC site receives tens of thousands of hits every day.  The readers are politicians, reporters, bureaucrats and of course Chicago’s cops.  The real story is found in the massive amount of reasonably screened comments they receive.   Beat cops are free to call attention to to police related issues they find troubling.  

SCC is not monetized through advertising I suspect to protect the host’s privacy.  That’s a shame because SCC would be raking in some real cash as a result.  I’d love to see SCC become video literate and perhaps employ a video journalist/retired cop to put embedded videos on the site.  A picture is worth a thousand words and video does so much more! 

Such a SCC reporter could bring balance to the propaganda some call journalism published and broadcast by local media/bedmates of Chicago’s despicable politicians. 

That video journalist could expose through public court records the criminal past’s and motives behind the career criminals that falsely accuse cops of brutality and other misconduct. That reporter could ask for tips and information from the public that would aid wrongfully accused cops in protecting their careers and pensions. 

Such a video journalist needs real TV news experience along with police training.  That VJ could attend City Council and Police Board meeting giving an inside video view of the shenanigans. I suspect that SCC has laid a great foundation to become a well-financed and best source for news about Chicago’s public safety issues.  

Why Arn't You Creating and Posting Smart Phone Video?

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People are Asking Me What I Actually Do For A Living. Here are Some Answers!

From an Undisclosed Location—Ok, that’s a fair question.  The answer is complicated.  I’ll do my best to answer that.

Yes, I’m a licensed private detective but I avoid work that’s meaningless, illegal, or immoral.  My primary specialty is criminal defense and I’m considered an expert in self-defense cases involving deadly force. 

I accept other cases including personal injury cases where liability must be established and fixed.

In 1989 I was recruited to work as a TV investigative news producer.  I did not shut down my agency but agreed simply do the work for TV news like all my other clients. 

On news cases I spend my time finding out what the cops and other authorities do NOT want the media to know about the most high profile murders and such.  I’ve actually reported stories but generally never have the time to do anything but locate and hand over the material and important witnesses for interviews to those familiar TV faces. 

I have been sent to all over the USA, India and Europe on cases.  I speak fluent German thanks to that draft/conscript invitation from President Lyndon B. Johnson.  Germany was a much better assignment than Viet Nam!   I served as a medical corpsman which in addition to personally observing nearly 800 autopsies at Chicago’s Cook County Morgue helps me in homicide cases.

I write this blog for fun.  However, I wish I were sponsored more to travel and report on more of the crime stories around the world.  I do manage to cover a high profile story from time to time.

I love to report on filmmakers and review art, music and of course films.  I’m naturally attracted to crime films and documentaries. 

As my blog visitors know I’m a serious gun Rights advocate.  I’m often called to speak about gun rights on radio, TV or live events.

My latest endeavor is the camera/drone technology.  I value drones for video journalism in a big way.  Unfortunately as much as I’d like to be a somewhat less creepy, Droneie version of that film character in Jake Gyllenhaal's latest movie "Nightcrawler",  so far the FAA, so far has obstructed that new passion. 

My news experience has also given me a specialty in Media Crisis Management.  That’s helping high profile people and businesses deal with a sudden onset of bad publicity connected to serious allegations.

For more fun I like writing, acting (I’m a member of SAG-AFTRA) and making short and documentary films.

This blog has brought me some very exciting cases when my visitors have reached out to me for help.  As you can expect I can’t nor won’t talk about most of my cases due to necessary client confidentiality.

I seem to wear at lot of hats but for me they’re all interesting and fun.  I hope this answers a lot of questions.

Please Enjoy Yet Another Drone Video

Los Angeles, CA—On a quiet Sunday Morning my little drone took a ride above Westwood area of Los Angeles.  The video shows the Southern portion of the UCLA campus, Wilshire Blvd and beyond.  On the West you can see the Veteran’s Cemetery, The VA Hospital and the 405 Freeway.   

Unfortunately because of the terrific music attached this cannot be seen in Europe. 

Another Quadcopter video! DJI Phanton 2 with GoPro3+ camera at work.

This is from a friend's property in Wayne, IL.  The morning light helped make some cinematic art.  I saw the raw video on a new 65 inch TV and the resolution and detail blew me a way.  Please enjoy!

You better think of a good teaser hook to make people watch your video!

Los Angeles, CA—As a blogger and multimedia journalist I occasionally put up videos here on Crimefile News.

Currently time and lack of funding precludes me from putting up more video.  Getting people to watch your video no matter how good it is challenging.  You need to tease people with hot button words we’ve all seen. 

“You better watch this video before the censors take it down!”  “Watch Ms. X destroy so and so in this video!”  “Watch Mr. X meltdown under tense questioning!”   “This video will make you break out the tissues!”   Frankly these are getting very old.  They’ve been used and abused and I refuse to fall for them anymore.

The truth is that Internet viewers are incredibly impatient and loading videos for some can be a slow process.  When you add in that many videos turn out to be a disappointment that don't deliver on the promised hype you better be creative rather than deceptive.

Putting in the proper key words or meta tags in crucial.  Having an exciting thumbnail or start image is important. 

Videos need to be clear with great audio.  They need to be short and always leaving the viewer wanting more. 

There are other rules regarding multiple angles and static shots that were established in the past few decades.   Are those rules evolving? 

GoPro cameras are high definition cameras in a tiny waterproof package.  They are incredibly for point of view video and action shots.  They go where other cameras simply cant.  Additionally people don’t shy from them like they do the more noticeable cameras they are used to seeing. 

I’m no expert on video but I have played with the equipment since it became affordable 20 years ago.  It’s getting better and cheaper every day.

Viewers really don’t want junk.  They want to be taken somewhere away from their surroundings and dull lives.

I put up a video a few weeks ago at the largest gun show in the world in Las Vegas.  It’s called the SHOT Show.  The video is not about guns but rather how the show is set up and my actual experience in Sin City.

The video shows my experience from my own point of view.  I broke lots of established video rules. 

My intent was to show you what those few days were like through my eyes.  Yes, I shot this all on a GoPro Hero 3+ .  I edited the video on Final Cut Pro X.  Along with post production, unscripted voiceovers.   I also added some copyrighted music for the mood. 

My pals that love guns would want me to stop and spend time with the actual products but the video would be four days long.  This was really a SHOT Show teaser.  There is little substitute for actually attending this massive show. 

A sign of a successful video is that people think it was shorter than it actually was.  So ignore the time markers until after you’ve seen the video.  Then compare your time impression with the actual time of the video. 

I kept it simple reducing four days into minutes.  I’d like comments on the video.