June 11, 2015
Oscar Pea, longtime Chief Photographer at The News on 6 has seen a lot of changes in camera equipment. He fights hard to keep the quality of his photographers equipment professional, as does his counterpart in Oklahoma City. The lens of their cameras alone might run $19,000, and it is the glass that is most important.
Chief photographers lament when they see MMJs (multimedia journalists) run and gun with cameras that cost half or sometimes even a fourth of what truly professional ENG cameras cost. The MMJ cameras used by the FOX station are certainly of lesser quality (and cost), and the reporter shoots his or her own story, edits it on a laptop and ftp's it back to the station, never leaving the field.
Can most viewers see the difference, and, if they do, do they care? On this question rests the future of TV news gathering, I think. Will reporters of the future be mostly MMJs or will they enjoy sharing ideas and the workload with a professional photographer? Will viewers appreciate the quality of better images and higher craft, or are most viewers satisfied with product from run and gun MMJ's knocking out more product faster? (We'll revisit this discussion).
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