TV news editors wanted

[Allan Black]

Dust off your editing skills here ..

http://fcp.co/final-cut-pro/news/662-walter-biscardi-for-now-editing-is-a-commodity-and-less-a-craft

Cheers.

 

[David G. Smith]

What BS.... no wonder CNN is becoming less and less relevant these days.

 

[Paul Hudson]

CNN continues their long slide into irrelevance.

 

[Scott F]

Yeah, my first thought is that this is like the poptent.com for TV news. I could cry sour grapes, but I do agree with this from the ol' comments section:

It was said a couple of years ago, editing is the new literacy. It's proving true, and many self proclaimed pros are scared to death.

New world we're in. Deal with it, or switch careers.

 

[David G. Smith]

Yeah, my first thought is that this is like the poptent.com for TV news. I could cry sour grapes, but I do agree with this from the ol' comments section:



New world we're in. Deal with it, or switch careers.

And definitely change my choice of news sources.

 

[J Michael]

This has some interesting implications from a journalistic ethics point of view. An "i-reporter" with an agenda can cover or create a story which can be an exclusive in the sense that no other news agencies cover it, and thereby push a particular point of view. Likewise an editor could selectively edit to promote their agenda. So that effectively CNN becomes more of an entertainment outlet than a trusted news source. A team of people secretly collaborating could pull off some pretty wicked spoofs as well.

 

[Scott F]

CNN continues their long slide into irrelevance.

I tuned out years ago. Although sometimes I like to watch this one out of the corner of my eye while I'm writing my own stories.



Once the blogosphere, Facebook and Twitter invaded 24hr news channels, I pretty much stopped giving them credibility.

 

[Mike Harvey]

Oh. My. Lord. J-Michael is right... I'm not sure what internal editorial safeguards there are, but CNN is potentially opening itself up to being taken advantage of and being made to look like fools.

 

[Scott F]

CNN is potentially opening itself up to being taken advantage of and being made to look like fools.

challenge accepted!

 

[snowleopard]

As one who works in TV, if not directly in news, I can validate this article, and am not surprised at all by it. None. There has been a very strong and increasing push in broadcasting for some time to have everything work through templates to an extent. This is the same with all graphics, animations, and increasingly editing. It is, as I see it, short sighted, and in a sense part of corporate america, not just technological advancement.

With impatient or greedy shareholders, a down economy, a way to cut costs and keep profits going is to have systems implemented that allow jobs to be done easily - a lot of cut and paste work done by interns or those with little experience, for low pay. It has gotten to the point of graphics where almost every visual is drawn from a library, and text is cut and pasted to fit into the template, which hits air. This is now approaching editing as well, with very specific times for bites, nat sound, close up shots, wide shots, etc. to where someone with very little editing skill can do it, often drawing from stringer footage, or free found footage. This allows the company to employ less people, and hire people at low pay, with no benefits (where unions no longer exist makes it even easier). This also doesn't include just news, it stretches across the spectrum of much broadcasting - lifestyle shows, local TV magazine, even reality and doc work. No, not all of them, and there is obviously going to be high quality broadcasting done by skilled production companies with talented people. But for organizations like CNN, or many - probably most - local broadcasters, this is definitely the case.

Forgive me if this sounds like a diatribe, or political bickering. I am merely speaking the truth from experience and feel that others should be aware of this.