[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″]There’s a discussion in our newsroom about how we allocate resources when it comes to video.

I’m curious as to how other papers are making decisions regarding the importance of a video component and how they allocate video staff to gather and tell stories.

The main consideration points we are using, besides all the typical news-related criteria,  are these:

– shelf life – how long will it be worth viewing

– shooting/production time

– reader interest – how does this relate to what our readers are interested in based on daily traffic stats

– a complementary approach – essentially, how is this different than the print story.

We obviously cover breaking news events with video stories that are all-inclusive, but are now working to create a document that outlines how we cover, and in what format, non-breaking news stories in a meaningful way. These could be features, light enterprise, day-to-day
news.

As an online and multimedia editor, I want to make sure we are spending our time wisely on video, which can be time-consuming to produce and often generates less traffic than their written counterparts (with the recent exception of kitten, ‘American Idol’ and Hannah Montana videos). But as a media consumer, I want to make sure that the best stories are getting told in video.

So my question – do you have a policy (RE video) outlining criteria for strong video stories, and how is it implemented day to day? Thanks.[/vc_column][/vc_row]