Interview with:Simon Morris [videonewseditor]
JOURNALISM
 | What is your specialty? What subjects do you deal with? Video news online. I'm the Video News Editor for the Sydney Morning Herald. |
| In which media do you presently work or have you worked? Currently online - www.smh.com.au, previously television as a reporter and before that, print. |
| Please list a web address where where one can view an example of your work. I'm responsible for all video news here: www.smh.com.au
Here are some longer form pieces I have EP'd
http://media.smh.com.au/technology/digital-dreamers/digital-dreamers--episode-1-3302673.html?rand=1338164980889
http://media.smh.com.au/technology/digital-dreamers/digital-dreamers--episode-2-3315654.html?rand=1338164852691
http://media.smh.com.au/technology/digital-dreamers/digital-dreamers--episode-3-3347393.html?rand=1338769833389 |
| What is "news"? New information in the form of facts, data, vision, pictures, sound. |
| To you, what is objectivity? The ability to approach information with an open, sceptical mind. |
| What is the best headline you have ever read? The most memorable was 'Freddie Starr ate my hamster,' (even though it wasn't true). |
| What headline would you like to see printed one day in the newspaper? Will there be any newspapers to be printed in? |
| Which paper do you buy on Sundays? Where do you read it? I don't have time to read newspapers, even though I love them. |
| Does freedom of expression end where the editorial line begins? Not sure what that question really means but I can't see how it can be true. If it was, uncomfortable facts could be legitimately suppressed. |
| Do you feel that analytical and investigative journalism is being lost? These are two different things. Analysis broadly comes under comment, provided it's based on facts. That's not getting lost. Investigative journalism involves revealing hidden facts and the ability to do that that within newsrooms is being eroded. However , Wikileaks has shown that there are novel ways of uncovering hidden facts. All round, the jury is out. |
| With a camera on every mobile phone, is every citizen becoming a correspondent? Everyone is a source, all journalists are video journalists, photo journalists, data journalists. But only people who adhere to a set of editorial standards as a matter of practice are actually journalists, or correspondents. |
| How would you explain the boom of the tabloid press? I didn't know it was booming. Not in Australia or the UK, where I work and have worked. All newspapers are suffering decline to differing degrees. |
| What is your position regarding the right to privacy of famous people? This is question is too broad. Famous people can expect privacy like everyone else. Powerful people's right to it can be legitimately infringed at times depending on circumstances - largely where there public and private lives overlap. But any infringement needs to be subject to strong safeguards. |
| What can you teach us about the art of the interview? In video, get straight to the point, be provocative, go after a particular issue - don't meander. Listen to the answers. Non answers can be as valuable and revealing as answers. The moment of drama of the interaction can be as valuable as the facts that are stated. |
| Please list well-known people you have interviewed. Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, William Hague, Tony Abbott (Australian opposition leader), Emanuel Jal, and many others I've forgotten. |
| Would you say the journalism blog is revolutionizing the profession? Journalism is undergoing a revolution, but not just because of the blog. |
| Will the paper press disappear? Maybe not entirely but it will keep shrinking. |
| What are your thoughts of the free papers distributed in cities? The only one I see regularly is worthless. |
| What is the book you would like to write? How the motor car died. |
| Is there a motto or ethical principle that clarifies your decisions in moments of confusion? How will you justify afterwards what you are about to do now? |
| What advice would you give to someone who has just left university and wishes to start in the profession? Work in a newsroom, acquire as many cross-media skills as you can. Don't expect a comfortable existence. |
| 
264 visits Whohub
Simon Morris
Sydney
|
99698 interviews created
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