My reflection on the experience of being a journalist in the age of convergence

Although I was introduced to the concepts of convergent journalism and multimedia journalism 2 years ago in United States .. I only practiced it today with the full meaning of the new tasks required from reporters.

I have practiced it partially as an editor by telling the story in different forms and even teaching others how to tell it in text, slideshows and videos.

Today I attended the press conference of Vingada al-ahly club new coach

and I was gathering material to produce interactive content .. I found that :

1- it is a very possible task for one person to gather photos and videos while still taking notes as a reporter in the same time. (I remember how mark comerford said once about how we can do multitasks in the same time in good quality).

2- you have to think wisely when to take video or sound bites coz you should expect when the source is going to say something interesting or u r wasting ur memory card.

3- At the time of video recording u should hold ur camera tight and focus in what is said in order to write it down after you finish recording.

4- to beat ur competitors you should have a speedy internet connection or to have someone on the phone to post breaking news (as ahmed ezz helped me).

5- Start capturing photos for ur slideshow even before the event starts you will be saving ur time .. taking close shots for meaningful stuff in the place can help u create a slideshow story by mixing wide and medium and close shoots (as mentioned by Rob Montgomery). .. I add for low quality cameras u should mix between using flash in certain shots and avoid it in other shots.

6- Don’t sit down in the middle of a row of chairs or u will lock urself from moving to get different angels.

7- in office you need good internet connection or you will be pissed off coz you cant upload ur material.

8- make a plan in ur way to the office like : give photos to the photo editor then upload video to youtube .. continue writing while the first 2 tasks are handled by someone else.

9- as an editor you should know that big news and VIEs (very important events) deserve to send one reporter for every task .. it worth but I time of financial crisis and low budget task one well trained journalist is enough .. he can produce a good story.

watch the video :