Radio Reporters and VJs

Can reporters from one old medium be expected to succeed in many?

It's possible, but it takes time. As a radio reporter with a microphone, keen to get an extraordinary moment of sound for your radio story, you have to be watching your subject carefully, and putting your whole mind into the conversation, where it's going and what your subject is saying.

A photographer at the same scene, is listening to what the subject is saying and wondering how to best capture him or her in a picture that does more than show what's there. The picture has to tell the story. So the photographer is thinking about the story, and watching the subject and how the subject relates to his/her environment. That's a full time job.

So the only conclusion you can reach is that if the radio reporter is to get good pictures he's going to have to do it once for the audio, and once for the pictures.

So Why Not Be A VJ?

If the sound that a reporter could get from a video camera was good enough for radio, would all radio reporters become VJs?

I doubt it. Firstly getting good sound on a video camera takes some work. Secondly, most radio reporters would say the presence of a video would ruin the intimacy of the interview. That may explain why so few radio reporters have picked up video cameras.

Close Up Is Audio's Wide Angle.

To get an establishing shot, a radio reporter needs to go in close. A video reporter needs to stand back. The same task sends them running in opposite directions.

For example if the story is about a crowd of protesters, the radio reporter will want to run into the thick of it to get the best sound available to establish that there's a crowd there. The VJ, to create the same idea has to stand back. How can one person do the two jobs at the same time?

Resources:
1. Beginners: Here's a DJ with a great tip from YouTube on how to get audio out of a board at the level you want, with basic equipment.