When I first heard this song, I imagined listening to it while riding the train on the way home late at night after going out with friends or as background noise in a dark coffee shop in the afternoon or tapping through my earbuds while walking along the East River on weekday evenings. I didn’t think about bright sunshine or running through wheatfields or kites or confetti or giant blocks sailing through the sky… so I’m glad I stumbled across the video.
I feel like this is a trend right now, in music videos— the only word I can think of to describe it is “ethereal” (and I’m not 100% sure I’m even using that right). Maybe not just music videos, but creative video in general — commercials and documentaries and programming. You walk away from watching feeling this sense of… inspiration isn’t the right word, it’s too trite… but something. Purpose? Or connection to other people, maybe? I’m not sure. In this case it’s not the kites or the sky-blocks doing it, but the first glance between the couple at the beginning… or maybe the dancing… or, probably the music.
Anyway, my point is, I have to wonder if we can take on some of those qualities in the stories we produce, in a journalistic sense. News is quick — we don’t have the time, production capacities or resources to create complex art every single time, obviously — but I think there’s something to be learned from work outside our field.
“You think football builds character. It does not. Football reveals character.”
-From Undefeated, a documentary about the 2009 football season for the Manassas Tigers in Memphis, Tennessee.
Whether in documentary form or in fictional film, high school sports somehow manage to capture the relationships, experiences and daily lives that come along with them in a way few other subjects do. And or some reason, football seems to do it best. Undefeated is no different, and is a must-see.
(Speaking of which… I totally missed the Friday Night Lights boat, though I did see the 2004 film it was inspired on [and I have mixed feelings about it]… and as it turns out, all 5 seasons are available on Netflix, instant play. My free time is now officially spent. Also, fun fact- both the movie and the series are based on a book that’s essentially a work of journalism, called Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team and a Dream…. it’s now officially next on my “to-read” list.)
Everything from the dark, remote location of the station with the solitary light to the “two hours til DENNY’S OPENS!” to the newsbreak to the “I am so tired” during commercial… perfect.
We hear a lot about using newsrooms to connect the community/make a difference and about how engagement should be an integral part of journalism… but often think of it on a really complicated, trickle-down level. Here’s a concrete example of a journalist who made a simple request for a local viewer via social media, and brought the community together quickly to find a solution.
Alex Rozier, an anchor/reporter at KHQ, the NBC affiliate in Spokane, posted the following message on his Facebook page after receiving a message from a man in the community that could not afford a heavy winter coat in a hard-to-find size:
Soon after, one Facebook friend posted that they had the coat, but weren’t sure how to get it to the man… another posted that they could drop it off at their office and they would get to him… and as the conversation progressed, people living in the area realized that this man’s problem was perhaps one affecting a larger fraction of the area that they’d thought… it seems like it may even grow to something bigger. Whether it does or does not, it shows how one simple message from someone with a platform to post it can make a difference and connect people to solve a problem. Pretty cool.
You can view the whole thread here.
(I should mention that I do know Alex from the University of Missouri where we worked together at KOMU. He’s a great person and a fantastic journalist.)
The Neighborhood of Love, Boyd Huppert, KARE11 News
| Bob Costas: | Right now I'm joined by the anchor of the NBC Nightly News Brian Williams...a jersey boy, a jersey beneath the jacket, we can assume your rooting interest. |
| Brian Williams: | It also looks like Jon Voight playing an American president, what a half-principle owner, anyway, Bob, in our business I think you're allowed to have a team. Presidents have got to be impartial, I think TV news guys, journalists, you're allowed to have a team. My birth certificate says New Jersey, I grew up in the shadow stadium, my family bleeds Giant blue, but I'm from a broken home, my father's from Farmingham, Massachussetts -- |
| Costas: | So that should cover you in the Boston market. |
| Williams: | I love Mr. Kraft, love the Boston area -- |
| Costas: | Otherwise I'm thinking Diane Sawyer and Scott Pelley are thinking, yes, we make inroads now in Boston! |
| Williams: | I'd like to know what their teams are. Pelley's probably Cowboys or Texans, cause he's a Texan. |
| Costas: | Could very well be. |
“My daddy always said it’s not about making furniture, it’s about people making furniture. And I think about that all the time…it’s about people.”
-Made in America…Again, via Rock Center NBC
Blame PhotoShop, not diabetes, for this amputation (via the New York Times)
In this New York Health Dept. ad, the photo’s subject’s legs, in reality, are actually intact— the advertising firm removed them in edit to make a point.
Oh… and the photo’s from a stock photo agency.
