Journalistic Video Example - Lauren Zima

I regularly visit cnn.com,which often has both video and text for stories, but rarely both for one story. I watched this video on a woman who won a $50,000 lottery jackpot after being fired from her job. I think this story could have been conveyed just as powerfully in text except for one element: its location. The video was full of colorful, bright casino shots, and many of the shots had lots of movement, such as the slots machines. The location made the story, though its subject matter wasn't particularly visually interesting, very visually appealing.

I then looked at another story, which had both video and text with it. This was the story of an outbreak of chaos at an America's Next Top Model (a reality show) casting call. The story itself is screaming for visuals; it's about a mob scene in which six people were injured. CNN was simply lucky that a freelance photographer was near the scene and shot some footage from a roof, because the text in no way captures the same reaction that video - both the visual and the sound of the screaming mob - captures. I would've liked to see this entire story done as a video, but again, CNN was lucky to get any footage at all. That 53-second video is currently the most-read (most clicked on) story on the site. This story also has potential video because Tyra Banks, the supermodel, produces and hosts the reality show. An on-camera interview with a celebrity would've added interest to the story.

Ultimately, video is harder and more time-consuming to produce than a text story, especially under the time constraints of urgent news. So, in my opinion, video on the Internet should be saved for either stories where the time constraints aren't as urgent (such as the woman winning the lottery) or for when there is a major reason that visual appeal would add to the story (the chaotic scene of the casting call).