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. 

Expect More Surprises in The Jodi Arias Case

Phoenix, AZ—The second attempt to get a verdict in the penalty phase of the Jodi Arias murder trial is about be get underway before Judge Sherry Stephens. Will it be death, life without parole or a 25 calendar year sentence?   Arias would get full credit for her years in pretrial custody. 

Arias is understandably and desperately seeking some control over her defense and public relations matters.  The problem is that she’s woefully unqualified to make any of those decisions.

The lawyers assigned to defend Arias are not exactly heavy hitters.  They are lightweights with limited skills and resources.  

Arias has been widely criticized for her missteps at every turn.  This young woman is fighting for her life while dealing with complicated issues few of us will ever have to face. For her there are no right answers.  Whatever she does turns out wrong. 

The only thing I know about Arias for sure is she has given substantially different versions of whatever happened in that Mesa, AZ home. I’ve learned long ago that people that use legitimate and lawful deadly force in self-defense far too often lie to authorities because they think it’s somehow necessary.  

The simple truth is if Arias had invoked her right to remain silent and simply refused to answer police questions she would have probably never been arrested.  In any event she’d be a free woman today.  

People that have never walked in this Arias’ shoes are the first to castigate her.  

Judge Stephens wisely booted the Media’s cameras out of the courtroom for the second penalty phase.  The actual murder trial that ended in conviction was as ugly as any court/media circus in American history. Perhaps this time the jury can do their jobs with less outside influence.

Protecting un-sequestered jurors from published material and videos is absolutely impossible in this day and age.  Judges have to take special precautions to prevent the court’s evidence from being co-mingled with Internet gossip.

Frankly the courts have been incredibly negligent beyond giving jurors redundant but meaningless admonishments to avoid such material. 

Under the media's radar, this case has had lawyers arguing and litigating under court seal since this sensational trial ended.  In my decades of courtroom and criminal justice experience I’ve seen nothing like this. 

My trusted Phoenix court sources have told me the protracted secret fight is over a “new” witness and evidence that was not considered at the first trial. This has nothing to do with the penalty phase but in fact what may actually lead to a new trial that may yet clear Arias.

This case has drawn an astronomical number of vocal trolls that have consistently spread anti-Arias hate and venom.  These trolls all claim to have watched the whole trial and know everything.

What these trolls are clueless about are the hours of the trial that they have never seen!  That was the numerous fights over evidence and admissibility in Judge Stephens’ chambers where the press, their cameras and public was excluded.

I hear the trolls say, "But she stabbed him so many times!"  What people don't realize is that few of these wounds were mortal.  The human body is so amazing that it will continue to fight to survive.  

A somewhat frail woman realistically would have to stab a stronger male numerous tines before he would begin to weaken or expire. Superficial wounds inflicted by a weaker female would do little but invite more aggression from a stronger male. 

The Arias case is sure to take many more surprising turns before it is over. 

I’m convinced that ultimately there may be enough prosecutorial and judicial misconduct in the Arias case to reverse any conviction and prevent a retrial.  I would not count out the real possibility that Arias may be freed before the litigation is over.

The Unimaginable Downfall of A former NBA Basketball Player and Current Sports Broadcaste

Rex E. Chapman (credit Maricopa County Sheriff)

Scottsdale, AZ—Rex Chapman, 46 had a great 12-year NBA basketball career Playing for the Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets.   

In 2006, he served as the vice president of player personnel for the Denver Nuggets.  Today he’s employed TV sports broadcaster for Turner Broadcasting. 

 I say that he had a great career, because it has suddenly all ended in an epic crash after his September 19^th arrest for stealing some $14,000.00 in merchandise from a local Apple Store. 

The foolishness of Chapman’s caper defies logic.  Apple store records show he was present on several occasions and video shows him purloining the property with a knapsack or white Apple bags.

In an even more stunning lapse Chapman apparently wasted no time selling the booty to local pawnshops.  They too keep surveillance video recordings and are required to obtain identification of anyone pawning or selling property. 

Most people are thinking this mess may resolve itself with some probation with restitution.  Not in Arizona! This state has some of the more draconian laws in the USA.

Since there are several separate criminal events they are all treated as prior offenses.  The five separate felony counts of Trafficking In Stolen property counts involved alone could easily put him behind bars for the rest of his life. 

Video surveillance without eyewitness testimony is worthless because it is hearsay.  However in court the Apple Store’s records will refresh the clerk’s memory so he can identify Chapman, as the person on the video is the same one he served.  The same holds true for the pawnshop clerks.

I can’t imagine Chapman being so desperate for money considering his high-end salary garnered from both careers.  I can only ask what was he thinking? 

The Scottsdale police officer’s probable cause statement below in the attached court record tells this sordid story. 

Should The LAPD Use Drones?

Dragonfly Drone 

Los Angeles, CA—Let me be the first to say that I find the increasing militarization and spying by police repugnant.  Government at every level is out-of-control.

Today there is a demonstration in progress at City Hall protesting the use of two small multi-rotor drones in possession of the LAPD.  This group is uninformed and unfamiliar with the limitations of these devices also called unmanned aerial vehicles. 

I suspect these demonstrators are confusing these drones with the much larger, multi-million dollar weaponized drones used by or military in combat zones.

However there are substantial benefits of our first responders using multi-rotor drones to deal with instances such as common disasters, searches for lost people and potentially dangerous animals on the loose in neighborhoods.  The diminutive drones can more safely enter tighter spaces than any helicopter.

As a camera drone pilot, former cop and licensed private investigator let me be the first to say the drones just are not helpful for spying. 

The drones don’t stay in the air for more than 20 minutes because of battery limitations and they can only carry smaller cameras.

Getting identifiable pictures of people with those drones is nearly impossible unless the drone is within a few yards of it’s target.

Capturing conversations is another impossibility because of the sound of the motors and prop wash.

Conventional helicopters and the technology of special cameras and other devices is a far superior surveillance tool.  The little multi-rotor drones simply can’t carry the weight of that kind of equipment.

In the case of a fire, earthquake, tsunami, floods or any natural disaster the drone are already proven lifesavers.  Victims needing rescue can be located.  Damage surveys can be made so that needed resources can be quickly allocated.

The benefits of first responders being able to deploy drones in emergency situations far outweigh their possible abuse. 

Here is drone video of a recent flood: