BBG Watch
Take a look at this Voice of America (VOA) video, and the comment(s) in Spanish criticizing the quality of the video and audio.
Cuba espera la llegada del presidente Obama
Posted by Voz de América on Friday, March 18, 2016
Comment: “Por favor coloquen un trípode en la cámara, abran un poco más el diafragma que entre más luminosidad, a ratos solo enfocan la nariz y los labios de la periodista. Por lo demás si cumple con las reglas de Como, Cuándo, Donde y Porqué. De todas formas es un buen reportaje.”
Translation: Please place the camera on a tripod , open aperture a little more for more light , sometimes only focus on the nose and lips of the journalist. Otherwise, it complies with the rules of how, when, where and why. Anyway it is a good story.”
It is truly sad that Voice of America and Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) management has not been able to solve various technical and program support problems for years despite spending more more on program support and the agency’s bureaucracy than for VOA itself and its journalists.
A former Voice of America employee made this comment in another forum.
Comment: “So an American President goes to Cuba for the first time. We get a reporter in there to cover it. Herky-Jerky camera work like a kid playing TV with the family camcorder is what the audience gets because we’re clearly too cheap to send in an engineer to allow the talent to focus on the story. Meanwhile, RT has a full crew in with their talent.
How can anyone wonder what the problem is when you can SEE it? Yes there are medium market operations now that are using a simple cell phone to shoot their video to save money, but where has the ethic of quality gone? Just because you can send one person out with a laptop and a camera in a dire crisis doesn’t mean it should become the norm.”
Comment: If you and I turned this into an editor before 1995 it would have cost us our jobs. This is what happens when you fill an operation with people w/o broadcast education nor experience.
Comment: That sums it up well. Amateurs.
Comment: I wouldn’t even give them that.
Comment: Quick, quick — run outside and file a live Facebook report from the front of the press center! Doesn’t matter that it looks like crap, just do it!
Comment: College television was much more professional than this c***.
Comment: My wife, a TV anchor veteran and editor said this was Middle School Video Project quality.
Here are some links comparing VOA coverage to BBC on Cuba:
There are a couple of good VOA stories, but VOA Facebook Live videos look amateurish, in both content and video technique.
https://www.facebook.com/voiceofamerica/videos/10153589122493074/?permPage=1
http://www.voanews.com/content/dissident-would-thank-obama-improving-cuban-lives/3245167.html
http://www.voanews.com/content/cuba-set-for-obama-visit/3245295.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35825434
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35809367
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