Getting started with online video

Most newsrooms understand that they need to include video in their online offerings. If they haven’t started doing it yet, they’re behind the curve. But what’s the best service to use for posting video if you’re not going to host it yourself?

YouTube is certainly the most popular option, with more than 5 billion online videos. According to Nielsen Online, 89 million people use the service in the U.S. alone.  It’s free and easy to use, but it’s not the only way to go.

Where to begin? Start by reading Jackie Hai’s brief review of YouTube and two alternatives–Vimeo and Blip–at Save the Media.  She also covers options for streaming live Webcasts–Mogulus and UStream. As Hai puts it, the decision on which one to use “depends on what style of video journalism you’re going for.”

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Online jounalism jobs increase

The American Society of News Editors annual survey of employment at the country’s newspapers is rich in information for journalism job seekers.

First, the news is troubling for anyone who has dreamed of spending a career working at a daily newspaper.

American daily newspapers shed 5,900 newsroom jobs last year, reducing their employment of journalists by 11.3 percent to the levels of the early 1980s.

It’s also disheartening to see that minoritiy repesentation in these newsrooms has stagnated at a little more than 13 percent.  For African Americans in particular, the news is even more bleak.

In this decade, there has been a net increase of Latino, Asian and Native American journalists and a net decline of Black journalists.

However, it’s also worth noting that the survey reports a 21% rise year-to-year in online-only journalists.  According to ASNE,  there are now 2,300 working for daily newspaper Web sites; 19.6% of those employees are minorities.

The message for someone looking for work?  If you have strong multimedia skills, showcase them – if you don’t – start working to get them now!