Reuters video: Getting very personal in 2019
This year we will continue to refine our journalism, with a focus on more character-led stories.
By Yann Tessier | Jan 20, 2019
A key editorial objective in 2019
A key editorial objective in video this year will be the continued refinement of our journalism through the development of character-led stories that tell the tale of how ordinary folk are impacted by extraordinary events.
We’re putting a lot of effort into these and you will undoubtedly be seeing more. Also, if you look at our service, there’s a lot on there already, but clients are not used to relying on Reuters for it.
Reuters videographers and producers worldwide are going the extra mile to ensure that our coverage is focused on people affected by institutions, events, conflict and politics. For instance, recent coverage of the U.S. government shutdown.
Telling the stories of individuals – the U.S. government shutdown
During the last month, we’ve delivered video of all the political twists and turns of the U.S. government shutdown. Sometimes it seems as if U.S. President Trump has been on our Live service more often than off it. But, what we’ve also done is to tell the stories of individuals and how they are coping with receiving no salary at all.
Excellent examples are the several stories around food kitchens, free beers, the impact on business people and, above all, the terrible effect it’s having on families where the main salary is a government one. Our piece on a family of a government employee ran on more than 200 stations and received a lot of attention.
In an age when many spot news events are commoditized, it is up to Reuters to add the layer of quality, taking the viewer behind the scenes and telling the story of the people.
We have a huge wealth of personal, soft and bright stories that are best-in-class. ”
Yann Tessier, global head of output, Reuters video news
We’ve got a new digital editor!
To ensure that we provide truly excellent coverage and help the drive to personal storytelling, Tom Platt has recently joined us from Sky News as digital editor for agency video.
His responsibility will be to oversee the area of coverage that takes us beyond the spot news agenda, and to make sure that the needs of digital clients are well taken care of.
Here are some personal and softer stories generated by Reuters that Tom highlighted this week.
Miss Algeria faces racism
Miss Algeria trolled for skin colour after winning title
Relax in the anger room
Smashing good time in Beijing’s anger room
This is great footage and great access – people love to watch video of places they can’t go or things they can’t do.
There’s huge opportunity at this end of the editorial scale. All this is quite a way from the ‘how well did we do on the big story?’ conversations that we’re used to having.
We will always endeavour to deliver fast and, when possible, exclusively. But, the new question we’re also asking is ‘how well did we tell that story?’. We look forward to hearing feedback from our clients.