The new tools of a young journalist
While covering Constellation Energy's press conference on how they think the PSC screwed up last week, I got a tap on the shoulder from this guy on the left.
He's Tyler Waldman, a student at Towson University and an intern at WBAL Radio. Notice I said radio.
Yet Tyler (who keeps the Tyler Tech blog) is carrying a little Flip Mino video camera, which of course is branded with the W-B-A-L. logo.
Tyler was kind enough to introduce himself to me at the presser. Previously, we were only virtual acquaintances, on Twitter (he's @aresef).
I was heartened to see that as an intern at a radio station, he's also learning to shoot video, even if it's with a teeny-tiny camera (which, apparently, shoots some pretty darn good high-def video, I hear.)
The Web has torn down the walls among different kinds of media (print, TV, radio) and given us all the same level playing field.
It's so important for the next crop of journalists, like Tyler, to get early experience in doing journalism with whatever tools can help him tell the best story, and one that can be consumed by the most amount of people.
Kudos to Tyler. Keep at it. Just remember to keep lots of spare batteries on hand for the gadgets you'll have to carry!
This is an archived version of the technology blog. For updated coverage, see the current baltTech location: baltimoresun.com/balttech
Comments
Hey, thanks for the shout-out!
I was really surprised by the quality of the video they get from the flip cams there -- I keep reminding myself to get the model number so I can pick one up before going out to an anime convention in Los Angeles in a couple weeks as press for my podcast.
At Towson they've really changed up the journalism curriculum to stress convergence. Students who jumped into the Journalism and New Media track the year after I did now are really getting that. They take two semesters of this course called, well, Journalism and New Media, where they're producing audio for the web, blogging, coding sites, taking pictures and doing all this stuff I generally only do in upper level courses.
For my part, I'm getting broadcast experience with the WBAL-AM team and taking courses in new media, photojournalism (with former Sun photog Monica Lopposay) and even film. Learning to be versatile is going to be key for the next generation of journalists.
Posted by: Tyler Waldman | June 15, 2009 2:51 PM
Tyler is the only reason I ready the Towerlight these days.
It's okay to have man-crushes, Matt. I'm sure Tyler would appreciate it. ;-) -gs
Posted by: Matt | June 16, 2009 4:32 PM
As a fellow Towerlight staffer at Towson University, I've seen Tyler during the daily grind of a bi-weekly college newspaper and he is one dedicated guy. Props to him for the WBAL internship and way to go for being a "backpack" journalist.
Posted by: Daniel Gross | June 16, 2009 5:39 PM
Wishing to remind you, Matt, that there are many other excellent reasons to read The Towerlight. While I'm certainly flattered by the man-crush, we have a whole team of amazing writers (including Dan) in our office.
Posted by: Tyler Waldman | June 16, 2009 10:18 PM