Wouldn’t you prefer to work with experienced camera operators though who can give advice to the newbies, compliment packages / PTC’s with nice imagery for future showreels, and help you out with contacts?
VJing with two packs teaches you important time management skills you didn’t think you needed. It also gets you thinking on your feet. With a 30 minute bulletin, it teaches you how to write a package to time and telling the most effective story in a short window.
Do you have to work longer than 8 hour days to fit that in? I imagine you’re very selective where you travel for stories if time is a factor.
Two packs a day and you have to drive to the location, shoot, write and edit is an amazing task but it’s probably inevitable how the industry will fully evolve into.
1 Like
Yep I had to be selective about which stories to cover, and account travel time in to any job I went to. The majority of stories do happen in the major towns we covered and during the work day, but often we can be called to a job in another town. We can do out of hours jobs if we choose and depending on the news value.
1 Like
It’s a pretty good training ground to know all those skills.
I imagine you’d have a lot of say in the stories getting covered too because you’re there on the ground while the COS would be in Hobart?
More and more places are wanting people with VJ experience. Even places like Sky News want them but you’d be standing out in the field for hours on end doing live standups but your material is getting edited in Sydney.
1 Like
I’m pretty experienced as a camera operator myself too. I’ve worked with a cameraman too. But being a VJ doesn’t mean less quality or professionalism.
5 Likes
Yep we own all our stories. The VJ skills are handy too in metro newsrooms because of you’re short a camera, you can go out.
1 Like
I work in the Port Augusta area regularly, however don’t watch the SCA News too often. Every time I do there seems to be some sort of glitch or technical error on top of the usual presenter stuff ups. Moving production to Hobart was a bad move IMO, I’ve always thought having it produced out of Broken Hill or Port Augusta with experienced staff who know and understand the area would serve the locals of the Flinders Ranges and surrounds much better, maybe even having an experienced Chief of Staff or Senior Producer to mentor the younger Journo’s out there would be good as some of them are struggling a little bit.
On the topic of VJ’s, patience is the best thing when it comes to them, most are on their first assignments and are still learning the industry after all. Look at someone like Elsbeth Hussey for example, she wasn’t brilliant when she started working in the Port Augusta area, but is now looking after 7 News in Adelaide pretty well, and I’m not a huge fan of her work either! People like Edward McCarroll for example are proof that patience is paying off, from what I’ve heard from those he’s interviewed, he’s on the right track.
it’sd 100% a great entry into the indistry for budding reporters, but sadly it seems it’s not so much a training ground anymore as just having people there for the sake of it.
Having VJs absolute is detrimental to the quality of the product, but it’s just the way they’ve done it for years so it ain’t going to improve anytime soon. Imagine eventually they’ll switch to the noodle update model unfortunately.
Yup, it used to be done in Port Pirie and was very much a local product, then the changed it to be run by people interstate who don’t care for it.
Was gonna say that mic is overly dinged up for being “new” until I realised its been just over three and a half years since the rebrand to Nightly News 
Time flies, it seems
5 Likes
It’s just the stickers that need replacing.
1 Like
More than that. The mic itself is a bit battered.
1 Like
They’re just speed holes, they make the mic go faster
7 Likes
Not really. All the equipment works, I’m happy with using everything for my first report
2 Likes
mate you can see in the picture it’s a bit dinged up, but like most tv equipment is like that, it’s just an observation he’s not having a dig,
3 Likes
Something very interesting I have noted when Louise Houbaer presents. Watching via YouTube when she is presenting the bulletin, there is no shot of the set, fading straight to her. Is is because it is coming out of Hobart or set upgrades?
Also something to note is that John Hunt hasn’t presented a bulletin since June 9, with Madelaine Kerr replacing him. Is this permanent I wonder, or if he is just taking leave from the bulletins?
Finally, an image from Wednesday of @DJPizarro on the bulletin:
5 Likes
You caught me mid pursed lips! haha
Maddie is the permanent regular presenter and COS.
2 Likes
Re Tas- weekends don’t have any many staff on the manage multiple cameras etc, but they do have the full set in Hobart.
Re SA- Yeah John was taken off it a while ago, same time around when Ruby left.
1 Like
Good work at the recent Quandong festival!
2 Likes