UK Berkeley’s Behind Bars
I have a fair amount of experience with Graduate Schools of Journalism
I myself gradated from Columbia’s in 1983.
I taught at Columbia for 8 years and then taught at NYU’s Journalism school for another 8 years.
I used to tell my students on the first day, ‘go to the bursar’s office, get your money back, go buy a camera and get on a plane’.
Thus, I was just astonished to see the quallty of work that has come out of Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism in a special program entitled “Behind Bars”.
This is a joint program between Berkeley, The University of Nebraska, and City University of London.  The participants spent talking to prisoners and their families, working with the California Dept. of Corrections. They produced a series of videos you can see on Youtube by searching Berkeley Behind Bars. I have posted one of about a dozen. They are all stellar.
I have been in this business for nearly 25 years now. I have seen a mountain of crap produced by J-School students. A mountain.
This is not crap. This is better reporting and often filmmaking than you see on the best network news channels in the USÂ or the UK.
Just take a look.
And then look at the number of views. 200. 300.
This should be on Nightline or CBS News.
They have a real command of using video to communicate information and ideas and facts.
And they also have brought a very personal intimacy to what could have been cut and dried reporting – or, if done by a network, a lot of predictable crap and stand ups.
Not a stand up in sight.
Kudos, Berkeley.
Great job, students.
Great job.
Michael Rosenblum
For more than 30 years, Michael Rosenblum has been on the cutting edge of the digital video journalism revolution. During this time, he has lead a drive for video literacy, and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. His work has included: The complete transitioning of The BBC's national network (UK) to a VJ-driven model, starting in 2002. The complete conversion of The Voice of America, the United State's Government's broadcasting agency, (and the largest broadcaster in the world), from short wave radio to television broadcasting and webcasting using the VJ paradigm (1998-present). The construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company, and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the US. Rosenblum was both the founder and President of NYT TV, (all based on this paradigm (1996-1998). The President and Founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company, with more than 100 journalists around the world. (1993-1996). Other clients include Spectrum News, Verizon and CBS News.
4 Comments
Nino November 01, 2010
So Michael, nobody is replying, let me brake the ice on this one.
Why do you think that this is such an exceptional video?
Could you detail your opinion on the photographic and journalistic value of this video?
Thanks
Michael Rosenblum November 02, 2010
Having graduated from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, then having taught at Columbia, NYU and of late CUNY, I know the caliber of most Journalism school students. The vast majority of what most J School students produces looks like bad local news filled with terrible standups. This work is, (and I suggest you go to the website and look at all of it), extraordinary by any measure. This is, of course, my opinion. If you feel differently, I would be curious as to hear why.
Nino November 02, 2010
I’ve been to the web site and have the most respect about those schools, but let me ask you again considering that we are talking about this video.
“Why do you think that this is such an exceptional video?
Could you detail your opinion on the photographic and journalistic value of this video?”
Michael Rosenblum November 02, 2010
I think that for a student journalism project, they’ve gotten their hands on a good story. I think the overall body of work is impressive. I like the melding of graphic information, video and stills, which drives the journalism forward on several levels at once. I admire the web-oriented nature of the way the material is presented. I think they’ve gotten close to many of the subjects – nice sound bites, nice shots. I think they’re on a good path – a far better path than I and my classmates were on, and a far better one than most J school students I have seen in the past. Here’s a link to a story in the LA Times that I like a lot that is also reflective of this multi-platform approach http://www.latimes.com/news/local/me-kettleman-video,0,6389386.htmlstory
I think as the web can carry video, text, still and audio simultaneously, the medium will begin to embrace it. That’s what drew me to this one. And you? What do you think?