Have iPhone, Will Travel - how MMJs and iPhones are expanding the potential of local TV news
Michael Rosenblum
Father of video journalism - designed and built more than 50 TV news channels and networks worldwide.
Spectrum1 LA, the all MMJ (or VJ) 24-hour news channel in Los Angeles continues to break new grounds in what a local TV news station can accomplish.
Last week, LA MMJ Itay Hod (a graduate of our bootcamp), joined actress and climate activist Roseanna Arquette as she went to Washington DC to team up with Jane Fonda.
Fonda had for weeks been protesting the lack of progress in Congress when it comes to climate change. Fonda had been sitting in, in a series of weekly protests and getting arrested each time.
Fonda was in DC, but Arquette was in LA (the home patch for Spectrum1).
So Itay joined Arquette in LA and flew with her to DC to join up with Fonda, protest and also get arrested.
Because he works only with a phone, Itay Hod was able to join her in LA, on the flight to DC at the protest and at her release.
Flying with a camera crew from LA to DC to do one story would have been, for a local TV news channel, impossible. First, most local TV stations only have 8 crews or fewer. No news director would assign 1/8th of their fire power to fly 3,000 miles to do one story.
And then there's the cost. Not just the airfare, but also the hotels, meals, rental cars, overtime, etc...
But because Itay (and every other MMJ) works on their own, does not have to check 'the gear' because there is no 'gear;, AND edits all their own stuff, it opens an entirely new world for the kinds of stories you can do.
MMJ or VJ VASTLY expands the potential for news and journalism.