Journalist suspended for refusing to use video on a job

Posted by Marion Geiger on April 7, 2009 at 9:55 AM

A Glasgow journalist at the Herald and Times group was recently suspended for refusing to use a video camera on a job. The reporter was never trained to use a video camera, but was immediately suspended.

Paul Holleran, the union's national organizer in Scotland, told Press Gazette that "he was approached to take a video camera on a story. He didn't have any technical training or health and safety training." He added that "there's no logic attached to their decision, that's why it's so shocking. I just hope it's not victimization. It just seems a complete over-reaction."

It is increasingly common to see journalists multitasking on the job. Rather than having one journalist, one cameraman and one photographer, newsrooms want to combine the jobs into one. People argue, however, that without the proper training and understanding the tools may be used wrong, such as music in multimedia journalism, compromising the quality of journalism today.

Source: Press Gazette