AJR Celebrates Video Picks

Some of this year’s most innovative online video news stories are highlighted in the latest American Journalism Review (AJR).

Among the video packages picked out for praise is the Band of Brothers multimedia project from the Detroit Free Press, which won a national Emmy this year for best news coverage for broadband media.

The project used videos, slideshows, stills and text to tell the story of a local marine battalion’s experiences before, during and after its seven-month deployment in Iraq.

Also discussed is a Washington Post story by Gene Weingarten where video gave the online version the edge over its printed counterpart.

The article Pearls Before Breakfast recounts an experiment to see how commuters would react if one of the classical world’s most highly regarded musicians - Joshua Bell - performed anonymously as a busker on a busy morning in a Metro station.

AJR reports: “The story ran in the paper’s Sunday magazine on April 8, accompanied by still photos.

“It was a fine story in that format, but the Post enhanced it online by embedding small video clips in the text.

“By mouse-clicking one of those videos, readers could see - and hear! - exactly what Weingarten described.”

Weingarten says the story was like a “perfect storm” and told AJR: “First, it was about a celebrity, which always helps.

“Second, it was easily summarisable in one sentence: A world-class musician plays in the subway and nobody notices.

“But the third and probably most important reason was that there was video, so this became quickly viral. I was getting e-mail from cybercafes in Beijing.”

Further stories and tips on using video for news coverage can be found at Poynter Online.