Multimedia GM
Meet the first Multimedia GM in the country, at least as far as we can tell. Mary Beth Farrell, general manager of Reno station KRNV, uses her Flipcam when she spots the right opportunities.
What made you think of shooting Flipcam video?
The President of our company, Ralph Toddre, suggested we get a couple of extra cameras for just this purpose so I bought flip cams for all of my Department Heads to expand our ability to gather video.
Being a news junkie, I’m always on the lookout for good video, and for something I think our viewers might be interested in seeing. That includes everything from breaking news to Fact Finders, to events coming up this weekend, and everything in between.
Did anybody at the station know you shot the videos?
Yes they always know when I’m sending video… I call right away. Or, they know in advance if I’m shooting a package.
Any reactions by them?
At first, people were surprised that the GM was shooting stories but they’re getting used to it. I think it sets a good example and sends a strong message about my priorities and the station’s priorities. We work hard for our communities and news doesn’t take the day off.
One reporter/producer/photographer said “If she’ll do stories — and do them on her days off, I think we can all afford to go the extra step”.
When the stories air — like this one related to a major traffic tie-up — we tell viewers that the video was shot by a News 4 employee.
That’s because you can tell it’s not the same HD quality as our regular newsgathering cameras, and that gives us the opportunity to ask viewers to send us their video or photos.
News has always been my passion, and quite honestly, this has given me the chance to go back to my first love: telling stories. There’s something very meaningful about it and it’s fun.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Multimedia Journalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.