Little Miss Know-it-All and I have spent considerable time bemoaning the quality of reporting of the local paper in the community we once both lived in. Well I have been bemoaning, but Little Miss Know-it-All has been on a bit of a journalism jihad.
A number of her recent posts demonstrate this. One post, Little Miss Know-it-All joins the editorial board, a mock-editorial had me freaking out when I thought it was actually published. The most recent post offers a tongue-in-cheek review of one of their latest news (and I use the word loosely) articles on YouTube. Click through and read the article before reading the rest of this post.
In our talks about this poor quality of reporting and editing, I indicated that the story could probably be saved with some rewriting and a judicious editing of the puns. Little Miss Know-it-All's reaction was "you should totally do that and post it on your blog". Granted, I'm no reporter, but I did work in media relations for a number of years, so I decided to accept the challenge.
I decided on the following rules, I could only use the article for material, do no additional research, or add in material. I could edit, paraphrase, infer, rewrite and remove but could not add new content. This is not exactly how I would do the story if I was assigned to write it, but simply what could have been done by the editors with the story they were delivered.
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From Dog Harnesses to Helicopters: Northern Life on You Tube
[Name of town withheld] (Jan 12/07) [Name of town withheld} residents are capturing northern life on video and are posting it online for the world to see.
In less than two years, You Tube has become a cultural phenomenon on the Internet. Started in 2005 by two young Californians, the web site allows everyone to post and download video footage, homemade or bootlegged, for free. You Tube has proven so popular Google recently purchased the site for $1.65 billion.
Although Google still needs to resolve the legality of bootlegged video, such as clips from movies or TV shows, some of the most popular videos on You Tube are produced by people on their home video camera.
A search for [name of town withheld] resulted in more than 70 videos posted by local residents. The posts range from a helicopter tour of the city, to a mini-documentary on Folk-on the Rocks.
After reviewing these video clips, “How to harness a Canadian Eskimo dog,” deserves some recognition of homegrown talent. In this video an enthusiastic [name of town withheld] gentleman promises a 15-second harness demonstration.
"You can tell you're getting better at this, honey," shouts the man's spouse around the one-minute mark while the dog jumps all over him. The appearance of subtitles, necessary to highlight dialogue over the yelping dogs, definitely gives this effort a homegrown, comedic feel.
You Tube also provides the opportunity for viewers to comment on the videos, where comments range from serious to sarcastic.
Local youth are some of [name of town withheld]’s most active contributors to You Tube. Whether demonstrating their basketball slam-dunk skills in a video called “Chillin’N’illin,” or posting highlight reels of the local school sports teams, their activities are now available on the Internet.
The videos all have a local feel that captures some of the interesting elements of life in the North. Life in [name of town withheld]’s Woodyard is a popular topic. Whether clips from the Snow King’s dances to life in a shack, the videos offer the world a look into northern life.
However, that local feel comes with homemade quality, shaking handheld cameras and grainy video.
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As an added bonus, here's the dog harness video featured in the article:
Also, if you are worked up about the quality of local reporting or just like a challenge, why not do a rewrite of the article yourself following the rules above, send it in and I'll post them on the site.
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1 comment:
There is a word for what should have been done with the original story.
That word is "spike".
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