Confessions, Already, of an MTV Citizen Journalist
Shelby Highsmith is Georgia’s MTV citizen journalist. He provides a little tell-all of what his training was like, and, hey, look what they provided for his backpack journalism:
There’s the Canon SD1000 for stills (the same model I already carry everywhere); a nice Panasonic 3-chip camcorder (consumer, not pro-sumer…we need to remain portable, you know); shotgun mic; an external hard drive the size of a Bible for footage; and a laptop the size of a boogie board (Dell, not MBP, but hey), all jammed into a spiffy and very comfortable backpack with our Choose or Lose Street Team ‘08 logos embroidered thereupon.
As they were filling his backpack, they were also filling his head with legal advice:
Yes, to appear in my videos — even if it’s because you stepped up to a microphone to ask John Edwards a question, in front of all those people and cameras — you need to sign my Guest Release. Otherwise, it’s the cutting room floor for you. I’m also going to need someone who is authorized to represent the Atlanta IBEW to sign my Location Agreement, saying I have permission to film there. Oh and I have to slap up Cablecast signs at the door, warning the rest of you that you’re wandering into the line of fire. Meanwhile, my MSM rivals will be pointing and laughing at me, who is now neither as credentialed as a “real” journalist, nor as free from restriction as a “citizen” journalist.
And who are those MTV citizen journalists:
The rest of the Street Team seems pretty cool — even the small handful of Republicans! Well, what do you want, it isMTV after all, so our conservative caucus definitely has the look of a token minority; but I’m sure Vermont, Rhode Island, Indiana, and I believe even Alaska (she’s hard to call) will do you right-wingers proud. The group is split right down the middle in gender, and, as an ever-so-slightly snarky article about our orientation in the Boston Globe says, we even have enough diversity to appeal to “Hispanics, African-Americans, and lesbians.”
She neglected to mention that we are also really, really, incredibly good looking, and do other stuff good, too.
By the way, Shelby will be at our SoCon08 conference on Feb. 8-9, 2008 at Kennesaw State University. We just broke the 146 registrant mark, so are on our way to 200 people at the conference. Having Shelby there will be like having your very own American Idol star sharing dinner with you. Who will you be dining with Friday night Feb. 8? Sign up now.
Yo, Shelby bring your gear. We want our MTV. I’m looking forward to meeting you.
January 25th, 2008 at 11:09 am
[...] in leading the discussion table on electronic politickin’ — and as Prof. Leonard Witt put it, it’ll be “like having your very own American Idol star sharing dinner with you.” [...]