With so much video and multimedia on the web, how do you figure out what to watch? POV Blog’s Media Guide is here to recommend some of our favorite online videos.
If you’re looking to watch online journalism at its finest, a good place to get started is with the list of winners from the recent News and Documentary Emmy Awards, which recognized outstanding achievements in journalism for broadband.
Mediastorm’s Kingsley’s Crossing won the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary/Nonfiction Programming for Broadband. In a beautifully produced piece, Kingsley, a 23-year-old lifeguard from Cameroon, takes the viewer through the process of leaving Africa for a chance at a better life abroad. The scale and intimacy of Kingsley’s Crossing works especially well as an online piece, as it uses still photographs, video, title cards and first-person narration to create an engaging 20-minute segment. Photojournalist Olivier Jobard, who captured the photographs and videos used in the piece, clearly established a trusting relationship with Kingsley, and their collaboration has created a thought-provoking online documentary.
The winner for Outstanding Current News for Broadband was The Detroit Free Press/Freep.com’s Michigan’s Band of Brothers. For nine months, The Detroit Free Press documented the more than 900 marines of the 1st Battalion of the 24th Marine Regiment as they trained, left for Iraq, fought and suffered casualties and came back to their families. With a mixture of video, photo galleries and articles, the extended report gave visitors to freep.com the opportunity to go along on a journey with the soldiers and their families.
The award for Outstanding Arts, Lifestyle and Culture Programming for Broadband went to Frontline/WORLD’s Libya: Out of the Shadows. Part of its online video report series Rough Cut, Libya: Out of the Shadows sees journalist Marco Werman use an unusual solar eclipse in Libya as an opportunity to attempt to interview Libyans about the politics and culture of their society, and investigate what life is like in contemporary Libya. Frontline/WORLD has continued to present engaging, relevant stories from around the world in the Rough Cut series, and all of the reports can be at their site.
The San Francisco Chronicle’s video, Oakland Teens Experience San Quentin with Prisoners as Guides won the Emmy for Outstanding Regional Coverage for Broadband. The video shows four teenage boys from Oakland getting a glimpse of life in San Quentin Prison.