‘If I don’t update my skills, I’m going to be obsolete’

Posted on September 5, 2007 by Melissa Worden

Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Jennifer Lin has been in the business for 25 years. In this video, she talks about her experience learning and producing video for her paper.

About two to three years ago, her managing editor mentioned that when young people applied for jobs, they talked about their video skills.

“It occurred to me that if I don’t update my skills, I’m going to be obsolete,” she said. So she spent a semester at University of Pennsylvania and learned how to shoot and edit video with Final Cut Pro.

Training is important, she stresses, but she finds the lack of classes offered and time available to be an obstacle. Regardless, you shouldn’t let that deter you because if you want to remain competitive in the marketplace as a journalist, she says, you should know how to use a video camera.

And her advice to students is the same: “If you want to be a journalist, if you want to be a newspaper reporter, you need to know not only how to write stories, but tell stories visually … this is the future.”

Comments

4 Responses to “‘If I don’t update my skills, I’m going to be obsolete’”

Wednesday 9-5 links | News Videographer on September 5th, 2007 12:12 pm

[…] Melissa Worden found a video on YouTube of a reporter talking about why she decided to learn to shoot video. […]
Update your skills or be obsolete « Reportr.net on September 5th, 2007 5:12 pm

[…] (Via The X Degree) […]
Beau Dure on September 5th, 2007 6:08 pm

But here’s the thing — if you look at all the people putting us out of business, are any of them doing video? Maybe you could count YouTube. But we’re actually being nibbled away on the niches, which are usually blogs or other inexpensive (read: not with video) media.
Howard Owens on September 5th, 2007 7:57 pm

Melissa, good find.

Beau makes a good point. There is no doubt that newspapers need to do a better job with blogging and social networks. However, it’s quite clear that demand for video is growing, that it’s a natural fit for what we do, and that getting into video now gives us a chance to skate ahead of the puck a bit.