A graduate from GMU and a comm major, BJ Koubaroulis has been named twice as Alumnus of the year.
As a journalist, most often you can expect you’ll start from the bottom, which is what Koubaroulis said is an experience valuable to a developing journalist.
After realizing he wasn’t cut to being a super-star journalist, Koubaroulis began searching for a way to excel and make himself stand out.
Video was his answer.
With the Washington Post, he didn’t feel he stood out to his editors until he began to really utilize video to illustrate his stories. Making the video tell the story that doesn’t just regurgitate the writing adds depth and a different angle.
For him, the video production that he does which makes him unique is the speed with which he can produce it. For the high school sports he enjoys covering, the video he puts up is generally there within two hours.
One video project BJ does involves the Capitals, where questions are presented to the players in the locker room. What makes this interesting is that the questions are taken from fans who submit them. This allows a great interaction between the audience and the Post.
The journalist of today needs to learn and have all the skills that the maybe five journalists in the past had.
- Video editing and production
- Reporting
- Writing
- Radio
Be everything! You are your most important tool.
Many video journalists work alone today, there is no longer the need for a second person to shoot video or find audio. Anyone can be the full package with all the new technology today, and there are four vital points necessary for today’s journalist:
- a camera,
- a computer with multimedia software,
- a microphone,
- and the will to work hard.
One place to go to help find the tools to succeed as a journalist – B&H, Photo Video Digital Cameras.
Encourage yourself to jump into the media platforms you’re not used to – help yourself by using these for the final project!
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