NYTimes.com video journalists delivered a panel discussion at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism Tuesday night to a packed crowd and an overflow audience via a live video feed. The panel included Adam Ellick, Rob Harris, Shayla Harris, and David Rummel, Senior Producer of News & Documentary at NYTimes.com
Attendees included current students, alumni, students from other programs in the city, freelancers, and journalists from media outlets, including the BBC’s video department.
The panel showed the following videos:
Panel members offered a few insights into video production at the Times:
- “The greatest gift of this job is not thinking about time,” said Rob Harris. The videos are as long as they need to be, and that sets web video apart from other video forums.
- Rummel said he does not share ratings with his team because he does not want them to be influenced by that metric. Instead, the focus is on the strength of the stories, he said.
- Tip: If you’re working with a translator, prep them beforehand to think like a journalist. They should know what soundbites are, what questions you’re asking, and what answers you’re looking for. You don’t want to return with footage that’s entirely different from what you expected.
During the question period one attendee asked about what happens when the best laid plans fail.
“We like to call that Plan B,” said Rummel.
The team talked about a piece they filmed on prom at the International School in Brooklyn. The students they had chosen to focus on and had already interviewed and filmed in the weeks leading up to prom got lost in a bus on the way there. The video journalist with them had no choice but to shoot the inside of the bus. It’s one of the most compelling parts of the piece.
“Just shoot the chaos,” said Ellick.
Aspiring journalists today face a difficult job market. One of the questions from the audience was about compensation.
“I’m not going to tell you what these guys make. They have one of the best jobs in journalism,” said Rummel.
It was a sentiment echoed by attendees like Scott Slack, 33, a student at the New York Film Academy.
“If someone asked me ‘What’s your dream job?’ my answer would be working in the NYTimes video department,” said Slack.