• by Alex Miller , November 28, 2006

At newspapers across the country, reporters are being turned into videographers in an effort to keep online newspapers awash in video. Some of the results are crude, 30-second videos showing high school football game highlights. Others are sleek news shows like “Studio 55,” produced by Florida’s Naples Daily News.

Bigger papers with bigger budgets can hire video pros to get the job done, but reporters at smaller papers are told to do the best they can, often with the equivalent of Mom’s camcorder and editing done on Apple’s iMovie. The results vary wildly, but what the newspaper reporters may lack in blow-dried on-camera slickness, they often make up for by actually knowing what they’re talking about.

With interest in TV news dwindling and online news sites gaining ground, could the future look of the video news reporter be a schlumpy but plugged-in local journalist with bad hair and a regional accent?  Watch out, Katie Couric.