It has been a very busy few weeks. I have been working on my research, teaching classes (I’m even teaching an extra class this semester), working on getting out the educational journal I work on, and filming interviews for my documentary. Which usually means that writing suffers.

I just got back from Dallas after interviewing David Leeson at the Dallas Morning News. David is always inspirational and I’m so pleased he has agreed to be part of my research and documentary. He is currently working on his film “At War” with Scott Kesterson and teaching video to photojournalists at the paper. Earlier in the week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Eli Reed and interviewing him as well. Eli is teaching at the University of Texas Austin and is also working on a documentary. And just a few weeks ago I was able to interview Billy Calzada at the San Antonio Express News. Billy is at the forefront of the changes going on in photojournalism today and, like all of us, is struggling with adapting to this new way of telling stories.

A thread that has been consistent from each person is that multimedia is here to stay. That it is time to get over the battle that has raged over whether it is a good thing or not. The people we are trying to reach with our stories are using this technology and we need to adapt to this trend. It doesn’t mean that we abandon anything about who we are as storytellers. If anything, multimedia gives our stories tremendous depth and allows us to explore issues in greater detail. Technology, whether a still camera or a video camera, is just that, technology. It is what we do with that tool to tell compelling stories that is most important.

Technology has always been there. For the past thirty years we have made tremendous leaps forward in what our equipment can do and how we distribute the news. The constant is our ability tell stories in a way that grabs the reader by the throat and doesn’t let go. Video does not change that.