Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Beirut Videojournalism - Media Press Release

Beirut Videojournalism - Media Press Release

Immediate use

You don't always need to plan, but you can still come away with a film of value, that's the beauty of videojournalism says David Dunkley Gyimah.

Award winning videojournalist, university senior lecturer and videojournalism trainer David spent four days in Beirut with one of Lebanon's leading independent newspapers, Annahar, swapping ideas and training tips with their videojournalists.

Annahar which prides itself on its innovation and independence is one of the first Lebanese newspapers to adopt videojournalism, hiring in ex-university film graduates.

Says David: "There are a number of skill sets I feel a videojournalist should have and the brief couple of days training provided an opportunity to make the team aware of them".

Wadih Tueni, Annahar's IT Manager, was responsible for setting up the scheme, which provides his videojournalists with the remit to report on lifestyle, society and people issues.

He invited David over after the pair met in Gotheburg, Sweden where David was presenting at the World Association of Newspapers.

Wadih says videojournalism answers a promise he gave to the former newspaper's editor Gebran Tueni, (also a relative), to put the paper at the forefront of technology.

Whilst in Beirut in between training, David snatched some shots which he's used to compile a 15 minute report that gives an overview of Annahar's plans and the course of videojournalism, which newspapers elsewhere may face.Link
His report also provides a backdrop to the city recently named one of the best tourism destinations by the New York Times.

A three and half minute preview cut can be viewed on Viewmagazine.tv with the full version posted on the 6th of August and also offered to Annahar TV

Ends

Continue here: David explain how one facet of videojournalism works and more on his background, which includes working for Newsnight and Channel 4 News