The BBC signed a major deal with a US consultant last Tuesday (21 May) that will see around half of all journalists from nations and regions train to become 'video jockeys' (VJs), writes Claire Atkinson
The corporation has inked an exclusive three-year deal with New York-based Michael Rosenblum, a digital video evangelist. Working with BBC director of nations and regions Pat Loughrey, Rosenblum is to train staff from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions in digital shooting and editing techniques. By the end of the period, half of the BBC's 1,200 reporting staff will be able to produce broadcast-ready stories using nothing more than small DV cameras.Rosenblum has already worked on a three-week pilot project training around 50 journalists to shoot and edit using DV cameras.His credits include founding New York Times Television and a global newsgathering organisation called Video News International. He also helped train VJs at US women's cable channel Oxygen.Rosenblum said journalists should be ready to shoot news when it happens, not when the camera crew is ready. 'This is not multi-skilling, it is only one skill - the medium of video,' he said.

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