Why do we hate consultants so? Because they have no street creds.
Nowhere is the distrust and dislike more apparent, or more transparent, than this little set-to between Jim Long, an old dog cameraman frequently sited on the SGR who just oozes street creds, and this new media consultant type, Michael Rosenblum, a dude who's busily making millions hawking VJ and branding concepts to old media such as the NYT... with rather dubious consequences.
Mostly Rosenblum is busy pissing all over the history and the craft of broadcast production and photography in his eagerness and greed to not only disassociate old media from itself, but also to relieve it of lots of its hard-earned cash in the process.
Some of the old timers are sick and tired of Rosenblum's big deal, call it professional jealousy if you will, and have called him out on it. 'Bout time. As if Rosenblum ever slung a thirty pound Iki in his life chasing a Class IV for 48 hours straight before even so much as a nap or a meal. It's a little more than "a kid and a DV cam" to commit genuine broadcast journalism.
Seems like Rosenblum would surely know that, because as he says in my pretty little comments place (see below): "I (Rosenblum) actually quit my job as a producer at CBS News and started shooting my own stuff ... in Afghanistan, the Middle East, during the Gulf War for MacNeil/Lehrer, Uganda, Kenya, and lots of other interesting hot spots. Now I don't have the track record Jim has, nor would I claim to, but I think I have earned my credentials."
Yet seems even Long and Rosenblum have come to some sort of mutual, totally wary, understanding here.
I just want to be there with my DV cam to tape a bunch of road dog union camera guys beating some candy-ass consultant's butt with their Beta cam battery packs. After all, those suckers weigh-in at about 10 lbs. each. Now there's a fine use for old media!
Beware the Web 2.0 snake oil salesmen and their bs, folks. I get all kinda nonsense forwarded to me by well-meaning folks about how "I too can learn to blog!" For only $900. per weekend seminar.
Spare the bullshit and just do it. And don't forget to ask for their street creds up front if you're hiring a "new media" type.
Seed Newsvine
4 comments:
Now, I don't begrudge Michael for making money, even lots of it. Hell, I want to! He and I found common ground and in the grander scheme of things, that is good. A lot of what he preaches is well...TRUE. It's worth noting that folks like you and me are entering this space and new media luminaries will do well to NOT to tear down old media (especially the grunts) to build themselves up. Shelly Palmer's words are qutie apt here.
"We attack each other’s ideas but we respect and appreciate the people behind them."
Just an observation on your post here...as a general rule, the accepted practice with those anton bauer brick batteries is NOT to use them as a bludgeoning device. Ole skool NABETS usually just "turn" with camera on shoulder. Sometimes that battery accidentally whacks someone. Shame those cameras are so big, they create quite a blind spot.
Dammit, G, you are totally going to blow the smokescreen off my backup unemployment plan! After two uncons, I walked away pretty convinced that I could make up crap just as well as the next "consultant," and I'll have the fud to back it up. It's like the Oklahoma land run out there!
Dear Spacey
I think your comments are a bit lacking in that old 'southern hospitality', not to mention accuracy. If you wanna be a jouranalist you gotta do a little research.
I actually quit my job as a producer at CBS News and started shooting my own stuff ... in Afghanistan, the Middle East, during the Gulf War for MacNeil/Lehrer, Uganda, Kenya, and lots of other interesting hot spots. Now I don't have the track record Jim has, nor would I claim to, but I think I have earned my credentials.
I have a lot of respect for the folks who shoot and shoot well - I am trying to free them from their producers and 'talent', actually.
I was, by the way, both the founder and first President of NY Times Television. They were not a consulting client. The Times bought a company I had founded, based on the VJ concept and crafted NY Times TV from it. If you like some of the stuff they do on Times/Discovery... well, thanks. I have also shot and produced several hundred hours for cable, including such shows as Trauma, Life in the ER on TLC.. if you like that one. i have spent many many hours shooting in ERs and the back of ambulances. Trust me. I know how to shoot. But also how see what is coming.
Mr. Rosenblum: Having once been a journalist, the last thing I ever want to be is THAT again. I just want to be a damn good gossip columnist.
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