Whether you've been asked to send a video answering a question, or you're taking the initiative to reach out and share your story, video is a simple and easy way to do it. But also a versatile and effective way. It can easily be used as a video for social media, the audio can be used in a podcast and and it can even be transcribed for a written piece. And it doesn't require any more technical skills than the ability to use a phone. When shooting vides on a phone, it's important to get clear audio and visuals. That's it. Because the only quality that matter is the authenticity of what you're saying. So, if you can back it up and record clear audio and visuals, journalists will find it much easier to understand your story.
Recording better audio
You're going to need a quiet place and a microphone.
You don't need to buy a microphone. Just use the mic on your earphones.
Scratch test to make sure your audio works. And if it doesn't try a different mic or app.
Recording better video
Clean your lens.
Put your phone in airplane mode while recording.
Stabilize your phone by prop it up on books, shelves, etc.
Look into the camera lens, not the screen while speaking.
If you take care of these few things, your videos should already start looking and sounding much better. So that's the technical bit. But what about the ethical. Always make it clear to the journalist if you have a vested interest in the profit/loss of something you're reporting on. And explain why you're mentioning something, back it up.
And if someone else needs this information, send them this article or this image:
How do you build an ethical and sustainable UGC model? The rising dependence newsrooms have on acquiring videos shot by the general public — or User Generated Content (UGC) — has raised an interesting conundrum: Should publications pay their sources for the video footage they’ve shot, just like they’d pay a freelancer or stringer?
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