Media Insider: Drone Filming for Beginners, The Future of Data Visualization, and Media Moves

Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s round up of journalism, blogging and freelancing stories from the week.

Photo by The Open University used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Come Fly with Me. Drone Filming for Beginners. (College of Journalism at the BBC Academy)

This piece contains some cool background information on what it takes to operate a drone for filming and reporting. Six “BBC factual programme-makers” received hands-on training with this developing technology. One of the six shares his experience, and with it, the behind-the-scenes of what goes in to flying a drone out in the field. The writer concludes, “They’d be an asset to almost any film. The sky is really no longer the limit.”

“It’s Black and White to Colour”: Ben Fry on Data Visualisations’s Past and Future (Online Journalism Blog)

Here, Ben Fry, publisher of the 2007 book Visualizing Data, is interviewed and offers “his advice to aspiring data journalists.” Clearly, visualization is an important tool in the profession of storytelling, and as Fry says, “we have the means to more easily distribute interactive works, which is a boon for more sophisticated takes on data.”  In this intriguing piece, Fry proposes making data more interactive and insists that digital media will continue to be a necessity in the practice of visualizing data.

The Pen is Not Just Mightier than the Sword (Society of Professional Journalists Blogs Network)

Speaking of the importance of digital media, the author of this article, Alex Veeneman, points out that it’s not just “the pen that can be mighty, but the video can too.” Veeneman refers to recordings taken at a recent protest at the University of Missouri, where several reporters and photographers were intimidated for documenting what was going on in a public space. He writes how it is the journalists’ responsibility to use these tools to the best of their abilities in order to provide communities with “the gold standard of coverage however they consume news.”

Can You Really Make Money Freelance Writing? (BloggingPro)

This article provides some insight on how much salary potential a freelance writer has. Long story short, it mostly depends on the freelancer himself. A few tips are offered, such as finding a specialization and to consider asking for more money from clients. “So, how much can you earn as a freelance writer?” the author asks. A few efficacious freelancers earn over $3,000 per month, but it certainly takes some serious self-motivation to get there.

Media News and Moves for the Week of November 9 (PR Newswire’s Media Moves)

Media Moves keeps you up to date with who went where in the world of media. This week, several reporters join The Hill, a promotion takes place at New York Daily News and an Editor-at-Large is named at Maxim Magazine.

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Stephanie de Ruiter is an audience researcher with PR Newswire keeping up with media moves throughout the nation with a focus on blogs and online publications.