Posts filed under 'video'
Rating: 
What do they say it is?
Gnooze describes itself as: “The day’s news, with funny voices, in about two minutes. Featuring Marta Costello, produced by Amazing Cosbars”
What do I say it is?
A daily news show with a difference.
Meet Marta Costello. She’s blonde, pretty and opinionated. She’s also strikingly intelligent, rip-roaringly funny and a measured professional. Her show tackles the big news stories of the past 24 hours. ‘Tackles’ being the best word there: Marta goes from a calm, factual narrative to shouting and screaming her opinions at the camera.
Most stories follow the format of roughly 10 seconds or so of news-y detail, and then satirical role play that often start with the phrase: “So Bush was all like, y’know, whatever…!”
What’s great about it?
It has two great attractions. One being the obvious appeal of the stunning Marta who, you’ll soon realise, has quite a following of entranced male fans. Two being the extraordinary way in which the news is portrayed. Marta piles fact after fact on the viewer, and then puts it in a language that can not only be understood by everyone, but also laughed at too. It’s infectious.
Adding to its greatness is Marta’s video blogs. In these, she defends her editorial decisions – if you can call them that – with surprising integrity. Her recent thoughts about comments made by Hillary Clinton were particularly interesting and blissfully well put.
What could be better?
I hope that as Gnooze blossoms it may make its way to its own fully-formed news site, or maybe even a television show. I can imagine people watching this. Think Newsround but for late teens and without all the horrible patronising.
If Marta can get some more presenters on board and produce regular coverage of the same quality, we could have a youth-media revolution on our hands.
How is it going to make money?
Adverts, adverts, adverts. Gnooze is screaming out to be picked up by a television network. Something like ‘MTV Gnooze’ has a certain inevitable ring to it. It certainly wouldn’t be out of place on a channel like E4 either. The program’s almost cult-like quality will stand it in good stead.
Should I pay it any attention?
Absolutely. Not only because it can only grow and grow, but also because it’s rather, well, fun. It’s a nice break to hear some brash, opinionated American sound off about huge global news stories. It becomes even more enjoyable when you realise that somehow, in amongst the arm-waving and the face-pulling, Gnooze provides some of the most truthful, to-the-point journalism I’ve seen for quite some time.
A triumph in every sense of the word.
by Dave Lee
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January 15th, 2008
Rating: 
What do they say it is?
“Thisismereporting.com was set up to combat all of the one sided journalism we are currently exposed to. You never hear the real story from real people, you never hear about anything good, you never see reports about ordinary people and their day to day lives.So here it is, show us your world.”
What do I say it is?
A place for video footage that may be considered as newsworthy. Most cases, it’s just a collection of extreme situations that were caught on tape by common citizens.
What’s great about it?
Not much, they just follow an equation to which all videos must agree: videos and citizens plus event equals news. Not really, though. But the main idea is great, turning common citizens into ENGs (Electronic News Gatherers, aka video reporters).
What could be better?
The design could be a whole lot better and that camera on the logo is totally wrong, it should be a cell phone. There is no context for most of the videos. This isn’t journalism, it’s voyeurism. The videos can´t be easily embedded, so the website’s purpose stays within it’s bounds, and dies there. And so does the intention of reporting anything, because the drama is there, but not the plot, so they fail completely. Besides, citizen videos that are used in breaking news reports go all to the big media outlets, not here.
How is it going to make money?
Is it? Ok, they have some ads, and it doesn’t look like they’re spending a lot of money, but survival is going to be hard in my opinion, unless they change something. Or maybe they’re just hoping to be absorbed by a major news corp.
Should I pay it any attention?
Yes, if you want to see some dramatic footage and be happy with just that.
by Alexandre Gamela
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December 19th, 2007
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What do they say it is?
“FORA.tv delivers discourse, discussions and debates on the world’s most interesting political, social and cultural issues, and enables viewers to join the conversation. It provides deep, unfiltered content, tools for self-expression and a place for the interactive community to gather online(…) enables a new, global media opportunity by aggregating a daily range of events, produced and electronically shipped by institutions or freelance producers, from around the world.”
What do I say it is?
A top I.Q. multimedia soapbox, where we can find the ideas of “poets, authors, policy experts, activists, madmen, government leaders, visionary thinkers”. A showroom for brilliance and discussion, in various topics from health to religion, from politics to arts. Video is privileged.
What’s great about it?
The content, the huge amount of videos for a so called beta version, and the number of posts at the forums. The quality of the videos seems to be pretty good also. And we must point out the will to open the site to various subjects and origins (geographical too). The team running the site is top notch. No amateurs here.
What could be better?
The organization of the website is a bit confusing, but they say they’re working on it. And what makes it great for some will be a put down for others, because it can look a bit elitist.
How is it going to make money?
This appears to be well funded, and they have advertisements from big companies, that also promote some of the events displayed on the website. Example: Pfizer.
Should I pay it any attention?
If you’re interested in think tanks, lectures, debates, and sky level arguments, fora.tv is for you. It can become a reference for specialized journalists and experts.
by Alexandre Gamela
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December 6th, 2007