One-Person Video Crews

One phenomenon of newspaper-generated videojournalism has been the emergence of the "one-man band" syndrome: print reporters and/or still photographers suddenly being forced to master every aspect of documentary filmmaking, including reporting, shooting and editing pieces by themselves. For less pay.

While TV news relied on a small team (reporter, cameraperson, editor, writer) -- each professionally trained and skilled at their respective jobs -- newspapers had no tradition in moving images and, budget-strapped, simply piled on extra chores and demanded extra skills from their already overtaxed staffs.

Well now it's happening in TV news, too.

As the Washington Post reports, WUSA, Channel 9, will become the first station in Washington to replace its crews with one-person "multimedia journalists" who will shoot and edit news stories single-handedly. This story is worthy of your attention, because it underscores a dangerous mentality among media management types, who think this is a smart way to save a buck, and seem hellbent on convincing themselves that this will somehow improve quality.

The change will blur the distinctions between the station's reporters and its camera and production people. Reporters will soon be shooting and editing their own stories, and camera people will be doing the work of reporters, occasionally appearing on the air or on in video clips on Channel 9's Web site.

For decades, TV journalists have worked in teams, with the lines of responsibility regulated by union rules or simple tradition. Stories were covered by a crew consisting of a camera operator and a correspondent (and further back, by a sound or lighting technician); their work was overseen by a producer and their footage assembled into a finished story by an editor.

But technology -- handheld or tripod-mounted cameras, laptop editing programs and the Internet -- have made it possible for one person to handle all those assignments, station managers say.

The change is driven by increasing financial pressure on TV stations, as advertisers disappear from nightly newscasts and audiences scatter to the growing number of channels and Web sites. In fact, separate from its new union agreement, WUSA -- owned by media giant Gannett -- plans an across-the-board cut in reporters' salaries as it increases their responsibilities. Multimedia journalists will earn 30 to 50 percent less than what traditional reporters have been earning, with salaries topping out at around $90,000 annually, according to people at the station.

Channel 9 will switch to the new system early next year, becoming the first station in a major market to revamp its entire newsroom.

Leave it to management to put an absurdly positive spin on this:

"We believe strongly that [this change] will raise both the quality and quantity of the product we're putting out" on TV and on the internet, said Allan Horlick, the president and general manager of WUSA. "The concept of a multimedia journalist, having his own beat, with an area of expertise, and a limitless virtual news desk is something we can get very excited about."

However, the concept gets mixed reviews in other quarters.

Veteran TV journalists say their concern isn't the quantity of news that can be produced but the quality, because not all TV journalists are skilled enough to do a job formerly handled by specialists. "There are some people who will be very good at this, and some not as much," said Bill Lord, WJLA's news director. "If you're forcing everyone to do things against their skill levels and desire, your product suffers."

Lord says stations in Nashville and San Francisco have used multimedia journalists on an experimental basis in recent years but have backed away because of "falling quality" and declining ratings.

Another concern: safety. With complicated, fast-moving news stories such as traffic accidents or civil unrest, people on a news crew watch out for one another, said Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association. "You need to be careful," she said.

The upcoming changes at WUSA have soured veteran reporter Gary Reels, who began working at the station in 1980. "It takes a lot of time to shoot and edit and write and prepare a story, and if you have one person doing all that, something has to give," he said .