Reinvention chronicles: A video update

Three weeks after we put 20 people from the Star-Ledger newsroom through a video boot camp run by our friends at Rosenblum Associates, we’re producing a bumper crop of video stories for NJ.com and gearing up to launch a noon webcast on July 1.We’re also in the midst of a reconstruction project to create a set for the show in the middle of the newsroom, right next to our continuous news desk. You want ad hoc innovation? Here we are messing around with some early piloting, surrounded by gutted desks and torn carpeting:

(That’s Michael Rosenblum and Lisa Lambden in fashionable black behind the camera, trying their best to make us newspaper people look good.)

Why are we putting ourselves through this? Why all the noise, disruption and diverted resources? The short answer is a desire to get ahead of the inevitable convergence of print, TV, radio and online news media by teaching journalists in our newsroom how to tell stories in new ways, using every tool available.

For a longer answer, including thoughtful bits from colleagues Sharon Russell (AME/Video) and Seth Siditsky (Video Enterprise Editor), you can listen in on this chat we had on BlogTalkRadio earlier today with Chere Martin of News & Technology magazine, which has a piece on our efforts in this month’s issue:

And finally, here’s a little show and tell: three pieces produced in the past week by participants in our boot camp.

The first is a look at women’s football, by photographer Scott Lituchy:

Next up is a feature on a family-run rodeo in New Jersey by reporter Nyier Abdou:

And finally a news story (covered by the entire NYC TV gang) about bears being released into the wild, by graphic artist Andre Malok:

Each of these was shot and produced on deadline in a day or less. Pieces like these will comprise much of the content of our noon show, along with the day’s top stories delivered from the center of the newsroom.

It’s a work in progress, to be sure, but it’s starting to feel like it might actually come together. As always, I’d appreciate any thoughts, criticisms or suggestions. What do you think, can a newspaper newsroom produce quality web TV? What should it look like?