WTSP looking for 20 CJ's

[Buck]

$20 a story!!

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/loca...=84275&catid=8

Tampa Bay's 10 is looking for twenty people around the Bay area to help us with a special project. We will teach twenty lucky people how to shoot a video camera, and how to get the video to us here at the station.


Here is how it will work:

For one year, these twenty people will agree to send us video stories which we will air on our newscast or post on our web site.
Every three months, shooters will be required to send me ten stories, or clips which I can put on the air.


These clips can be about many different subjects. Things that happen in your community. Anything from bad weather to your childs play at school. Maybe your neighborhood meeting.
Each time you send me a video story that either makes it on the news or on our web site, Tampa Bay's 10 will pay you TWENTY DOLLARS!

If you hold up your end of the deal, after a year, you will KEEP the video camera we assign you.

Tampa Bay's 10 will issue you a video camera, a tripod, a bag for the camera, a battery, all of the necessary equipment to download video into your computer and a bag to store it.
My name is Mitchell Wallace and I will work with this citizen journalist team to get these stories in our newscasts and online.
If you'd like to learn more or be considered, send me an e-mail mwallace@tampabays10.com.


Right now - there is no form to fill out. But in your email make sure you include:

- Your Name
- Where you live
- What kind of videos you currently shoot (Children's programs, church events, etc.)
- How we can contact you (phone, e-mail)


Mitchell Wallace, Tampa Bay's 10 News

[svp]

I'm guessing WTSP is the last place station in Tampa???

[patssle]

Holy crap thats awesome! I'm moving to Tampa!

[Cambot Mk. II]

I would act surprised, but at this point?

Meh.

There's nothing I could say here that would contribute anything new to the conversation. I got out of TV 3 months ago and I still can't watch the news without getting angry.

[Erik P]

I bet IBEW and NABET will get right on this and nip it in the bud before any more stations/networks get the wrong idea.

[Rad]

Originally Posted by Buck

$20 a story!!
Tampa Bay's 10 will pay you TWENTY DOLLARS![/B]

Dear Citizen

Tampa Bay's 10 is a multi-million dollar business that pays its executives large sums of money. Your 20 dollar video could air in a show the station charges thousands of dollars for a 30 second ad. Do the math.

Thanks.

[svp]

As much as I would like to rip WTSP for doing this, the REAL blame falls on CNN with its stupid IReport crap they air. They are the ones that opened the flood gates to this crap. That's where these stations are getting this idea from.

[Latin Lens]

2 words.....Dear God!

[f11vid]

Do the citizens know that the station is giving them their old Ike-79's?

[MtnShooter]

Two words: in credible.

But SVP's right... CNN started it. Fox does it, too. I think all of the local stations in Denver and Colorado Springs are doing it, now; only they don't pay you anything, much less give you a camera.

I'm doing 1/3 the freelance news stuff I did last year at this time... not becasue of this sort of thing, but because I'm sick of If It Bleeds It Leads, and having to nag stations to pay their friggin' bill. That's the thing I hate most. I wonder if the people who work in accounting have to beg for their paychecks. Anyway, with any luck, I won't have to do news at all by this time next year.

[newz2me]

"We will teach twenty lucky people how to shoot a video camera,...."
Shoot it with what, a .38?

Note to WSTP: If your CJ's shoot as good as you write, good luck.
Love the picture on the page of the guy in the Hawaiian shirt with the the goofy look holding the camera in one hand and pointing with the other as if to ask if "this is one of dem der videographic cameras"?

[Shootblue]

The comments have some valid points-

jacfiremedic wrote:
Dangerous idea!! I am a local FF/Paramedic, and the last thing we need is more people stopping near and around emergency incidents getting in the way, attempting to get the "best" shot. I do agree there is some value to having more eyes and ears around the community, but my fear is that there will be those who do not know when and where to draw the line, and the safety of all involved may and will be compromised. We see the effects of all the paparazzi in the major cities and venues. That is not what we need around here in the local communities. Please consider this message as another perspective. If nothing at all, consider some sort of training for those who will be on your payroll!

saintpete15 wrote:
Welcome to Tampa Bay's 10 amateur hour. If I wanted the news from a guy down the street with a little camera I'd just go ask him. What ever happened to professional journalists gathering and reporting the news?

Perhaps the public is not as stupid as they are thought to be...

[cameradog]

Since you asked:

Originally Posted by MtnShooter

I wonder if the people who work in accounting have to beg for their paychecks.

When we're doing contract work: yes.

In fact, if we're auditing a company, and the company doesn't pay us, the outstanding balance is eventually considered a loan. Ethically we're not allowed to loan our clients money and continue to audit them, because it means we have a financial interest in the client's company and a conflict of interest.

[MightySlam]

So this is what CJ looks like...



I've always wondered.

[The Daywood]

So what happens when they get injured or cause injury as they try to get the story and have already been established as "working under the auspices of WSTP"?

Can you say Cha-Ching?

[eb]

Originally Posted by The Daywood

So what happens when they get injured or cause injury as they try to get the story and have already been established as "working under the auspices of WSTP"?

Can you say Cha-Ching?

Good question. Do you think they will have to sign a contract to spell out the working arrangement? (Maybe it's in the press release or details somewhere.) It probably says "you're on your own." "We get all the rights to your work, but other than that, you are on your own."

[pre-set]

I say they'll get exactly the "quality" they're paying for.

[A Step Above Productions]

Our profession continues to go down the toilet!

[ntxshooter]

Originally Posted by The Daywood

So what happens when they get injured or cause injury as they try to get the story and have already been established as "working under the auspices of WSTP"?

Can you say Cha-Ching?

Yep, Cha-cha Ching! it's only gonna take one or two times. When one of these CJ's are involved in a serious car ax. And hurts someone or gets hurt themselves.

[sixtycyclehum]

Tampa Bay's 10 will issue you a video camera, a tripod, a bag for the camera, a battery, all of the necessary equipment to download video into your computer and a bag to store it.

I guess a mic would be too much to carry...

I wonder how much actual NEWS GATHERING will be involved in these "video-stories."
If they shoot a bad accident in one of these local communities should Channel 10 take their word for it when they explain what caused it to happen? Will the police even talk to some guy with a handy-cam that says he "works" for WTSP? Will the fact-finding fall on a real reporter or producer at the station and the CJ just sends in the video? And what is a "video-story"? Is it just the video or is it a written, vetted, and thorough reporting of an event?