Conference Index

	Louise Lief, Deputy Director, International Reporting Project

When it comes to international coverage, recent news from the broadcast world has been bleak. Foreign news on the networks has dwindled, and bureaus are closing. The occasional offerings that do appear come from fewer sources.

But in the midst of this gloomy picture a quiet technological revolution is taking place, propelled by small, transportable digital video cameras and new editing software. Because of the tremendous cost savings digital video equipment can provide (a camera, accessories and editing kit with the capability to produce broadcast quality work can cost less than $5,000, compared to $35,000 for just a professional standard BETA camera) video journalists can spend more time doing in-depth reporting overseas at a fraction of the cost of conventional television.

Journalists in our core program, the IRP Fellowships in International Journalism, have discovered how valuable these new technologies can be. They have been able to produce overseas broadcast reports largely thanks to this new digital equipment.

On May 4-5, 2001 the International Reporting Project sponsored a conference at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in New York City to further explore the implications of this new technology, and to view some of the finest examples of international digital video reporting that have been done to date. Entitled "A New Look At The World: Digital Video and International News," the meeting featured leading broadcast professionals, including "FRONTLINE" senior executive producer David Fanning, ABC News "Nightline" executive producer Tom Bettag, Washington Post/ News-week Interactive managing editor Tom Kennedy, Tribune Company vice-president David Underhill, and others.

For the first time, over 250 journalists from around the country and overseas -- including video journalists, photographers, television producers, online, radio and print reporters who had worked with digital video or wanted to learn -- were able to gather together for a communal discussion of the pro's and con's of working with digital video. They examined this new method of shooting news and documentaries, showed their work, and learn-ed the basics of working with digital video cameras and editing equipment.

On the first day of the conference, panels explored storytelling with digital video, ways in which the news business is changing as new technologies come online, and the market for digital video reports in broadcast and on the Internet. Keynote speaker Fanning screened a prototype for a possible new magazine show, "FRONTLINE/World," which would create a venue for digital video reporting from around the world.

The second day of the conference featured master classes by long-time cameraman and Platypus Workshops lead instructor Rolf Behrens and ABC field producer Jason Maloney, a spring 1999 IRP Fellow. They introduced the audience to a range of digital video camera equipment and shooting techniques, and Final Cut Pro editing software on Apple's Titanium Powerbook G4. Vendors from Sony, Canon and Apple displayed their wares and helped answer questions. A session on multimedia web reports featured MSNBC senior producer Michael Moran and Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive's Kennedy.

The biggest surprise of the conference, one that bodes well for the future of digital video on television, was the overwhelming audience response to showcase screenings that ran continuously throughout the second day of the conference. The screenings featured excerpts from the work of 25 video journalists from the US and overseas, including award-winning reports such as Sorious Samura's moving film "Cry Freetown," his personal journey in the civil war that devastated Liberia, and Jung-Eun Kim's "On Life's Border," which chronicles the desperate plight of North Korean refugees in China. Many of the video journalists who shot these documentaries came to the screenings to discuss their work.

While outlets for digital video foreign news broadcasts remain few and far between, many participants expressed optimism about its long-term prospects. Bettag of ABC News "Nightline" highlighted the tremendous potential of these new storytelling techniques. "Nightline" is one of the only shows on network television that regularly features long-form digital video reports. He argued that the "guerrilla" techniques of digital video reporting have the capacity to change and reinvigorate television news. He believes that broadcast executives underestimate the national audience for foreign news. "This glut of domestic stories is turning people off. There's just a huge opening for somebody to kind of get the Rosetta Stone and do a number of foreign news programs that just [make people] leap out and say, 'God, I really like that because that's not like anything I've ever seen.'"

When asked by an audience member what video journalists can do to persuade skeptical broadcast executives to create more venues for digital video reports, Fanning replied, "We're only just at the very first steps of this. I think we have to persuade them one by one, story by story. It doesn't come easier than that."

If you wish to view some of the video footage shown at the conference and hear some of the speakers, please write or email us to request a video of conference highlights at:

DV Conference Video
International Reporting Project
1619 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036

Email: [email protected]

Next: "Panel 1: 'Storytelling and Digital Video'"