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ITV News responds to criticism of video blogging experiment

Posted: 10/03/08 By: Laura Oliver
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ITV News' video blogs will be 'rougher, edgier, sometimes more opinionated' than traditional broadcast news, said Ian Rumsey, head of output for ITV News, in response to criticism of the broadcaster's vlogging experiment.

Last week, Journalism.co.uk reported on ITV News' video blogs from its correspondents in the field, suggesting the tone and style of the posts was similar to traditional broadcast news formats and that small crews with lightweight equipment may have offered an alternative view.

In response, Rumsey told Journalism.co.uk that vlogs would cover 'new territory' outside of news pieces, offering the 'story behind getting the story'.

The platform has already featured video posts from correspondents covering conflicts in Basra and Afghanistan, as well as the presidential election campaigns in the US.

The vlogging strategy, he added, was supported by the 'greater premium' placed on eyewitness reports from ITV correspondents since the launch of the News at Ten.

"To work in tandem with that on-air strategy, our web content taps into our location reporting - with a difference," Rumsey said.

"These vlogs are far from traditional broadcast news. They're rougher, edgier, sometimes more opinionated and don't cover the same territory as our news pieces."

While offering an alternative view to the 'highly produced, edited pieces of reportage' for television broadcast, the vlogs would retain their presenter-driven format, Rumsey said.

"Of course they're presenter driven - the whole idea is that they are not a report but a piece of behind-the-scenes filming that features the lives and conditions of our correspondents on location."

He added that the tone of the vlogs would be different from the news pieces, as it reflects a different aspect of the situation.

"I think if you watched the on-air pieces that went across the week, you'd know that there was plenty of muck and bullets flying around. Clearly they provide the content for our news stories... We're not going to ask someone to do a vlog for the web while they're in the middle of a 'blood and guts' situation," he said.

To read Ian Rumsey's response in full, visit the Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog.

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