It appears that the chaser who allegedly gave away free video to a major network may have been wronged by the network.  New information from the chaser at the center of this suggests that the he did sell the video to the network and he allegedly has confirmation numbers that can prove that the video was sold.

If this is correct, and there is nothing else to suggest that it isn’t (other than what was aired on a national broadcast), then the cable network has done something that not only provided this chaser a great embarrassment, but who would embarrass any chaser or freelance journalist.

While some may disagree, it is my opinion that people with established reputations within the freelance video industry, operate in a manner that furthers the industry and not weakens it.

A lot of people seem to think that we, as freelance journalist or “stringers”, have no control over the market price of video.  I cannot believe this, because there is a supply and demand for everything.

Imagine what would happen if a crab boat on “Deadliest Catch” pulled into the market and unloaded their catch and gave it away for free – we’d see the entire Alaskan King Crab industry collapse in a single show.

This however doesn’t happen because at least the fisherman are smart enough to realize that if one of them accept a below market rate, even just one time, they will be shamed by their peers and they’ll never get a market rate again.  The same standards should be held in the freelance video market.

My previous post was in no way targeted at the video company that this chaser works with.  It appears that some misread the post and believed that I was targeting a video company.  Not so.  Merely pointing out that any video company should be interested in sustaining the health of the industry and if a customer of theirs is doing something to undermine the marketability of freelance video, which could seriously weaken the market in terms of buying attitudes at the networks, then that company should (in my opinion) take a stance to not condone that practice.

It is of course not my business how another business conducts itself, but it is my opinion – and I know that opinion is shared extensively throughout the freelance video journalism market.  That said, no video company to my knowledge has done anything immoral in regard to this specific matter.

Some have stated that such video is “need to know” information at any cost and that chasers are “bad” for wanting to earn money from their video.  I highly disagree with such statements and attitudes, because video doesn’t save lives.  It is not as if any chaser has invoiced the National Weather Service for ground truth information – information that can and does help save lives.

The video shot of the event is a commercial product that belongs to the person who taped the incident and by selling this video they help cover their cost of the chase, which helps them sustain their work in the field.  There is no shame in that whatsoever.  It is no worse than the network bringing the footage into your living rooms earning money by selling advertising time to cover their expenses.

I blogged my previous post based on the information that I saw, which was at 3:50 p.m. on Christmas Day a video with this storm chaser’s name on it appeared on the network with a “viewer video” template overlaid on the video.

Unfortunately this event was seen on national television by probably millions of people.  It may have only met something to a few dozen, or a few hundred, but it wasn’t the storm chaser’s proudest moment and I hope that he is right in that the network themselves made the mistake of overlaying a “viewer video” template on top of a professionally shot and sold news package.

I’m going to take the side of the chaser because of many circumstances surrounding the event.  And the fact that it did happen on Christmas day and there is no telling who was working at the network on a major holiday (maybe an intern that didn’t know any better?).

The chaser could have just said something to the effect that he did give away his video and big deal, and that would have been the end to it.  But the fact that this bothered him, tells me that his heart and mind are in the right place and he too wants to see the sustainability of the industry.  He has furthered said that he did sell his work and I owe him that benefit of the doubt.

Tags: video