This project was made possible through a grant from the Brown Institute for Media Innovation at Columbia Journalism School.
With the U.S. elections around the corner, we're looking for journalists and journalism students interested in helping diversify media coverage of this historical moment through free-to-use, Creative Commons footage.
It's no secret that local media is struggling in the United States. 2023 saw an average of 2.5 local outlets close every week, according to a report from Medill School of Journalism. And this rapid decline in local news has been shown to contribute to increased polarization and decreased voter engagement.
At InOldNews, we've been working to bridge gaps like these through our free footage library. And we're excited to announce our call for applications for footage-gathering related to the U.S. elections.
There is a large gap in what footage is available online outside of the U.S.'s major media hubs. On sites like Wikimedia, there are only 12 video clips of Des Moines, many of which are not related to elections. Similar patterns can be found when looking for footage from Topeka (3 results) and Lansing (8 results).
Resources like Wikimedia are important because many newsrooms can’t afford wire service subscriptions or travel budgets to record original footage. At the same time, more people are getting their news from short video, according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024.
But a combination of budget constraints and a lack of freely available footage makes it harder to cover stories from already under-covered locations.
Over the next few weeks, we will be building a bank of footage that will empower newsrooms and independent journalists to cover under-reported areas and topics for the elections.
For this project, we will commission the recording and publishing of unedited video clips under Creative Commons licenses from journalists in up to 12 locations. And we're offering a rate of $250 for less than one day of work — that's a rate of around $30 per hour. The aim is for this to be an add-on for other activities journalists are working on around the elections. This opportunity is perfect for journalists who want to add a video component to their upcoming field reporting, while making a bit of extra money.
Journalist will be expected to spend 4-5 hours recording footage on their pitched topic/location. And another 2-3 hours uploading the clips and submitting related metadata. We're looking for footage of election-related topics such as abortion, recorded from locations outside major media hubs. We're also interested in footage from polling stations on voting day, campaigning, field offices, door knocking, phone bankers, drives to sign up voters, protests and any unexpected angles on the elections.
Journalists interested in working with us on this can apply here.
FAQs
Who is eligible?
This opportunity is open to all journalists and journalism students. We will select at least 10 journalists for this project.
InOldNews uses English as the primary language of communication, but journalists comfortable communicating through tools like Google Translate are welcome to apply. The team is also able to communicate in Spanish, French, Bangla, Hindi, or Telugu.
What is the deadline and project timeline?
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis between the 15th of October and the 4th of November. The final day of the project will be November 5th.
What is the budget?
Journalists will be paid $250 for 6-8 hours of work. That's an average rate of around $30 per hour.
What does publishing under a Creative Commons license mean?
Creative Commons licenses are a set of licenses that grant certain types of usage rights for creative work. Under this project, approved footage will be published under a CC By license. This means that anyone who uses this footage will have to attribute the source, but there aren’t other restrictions. Users can modify and adapt the footage in order to make their own video stories.
What are the project deliverables?
Selected journalists will be tasked with submitting around 30 distinct video clips and related metadata. Each clip you submit will have to be 15-20 seconds long.
InOldNews will reserve the right to publish all or selected clips from the submitted ones. Preference will be given to journalists who indicate that they will be able to document a wide variety of shots and relevant context.
You can see a small collection of sample clips and related metadata here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBwJv3
Each clip should be an unedited video recording that illustrates an election-related topic. They can all be about the same topic from the same location or as many topics/locations as you'd like.
In order to get approved, the shots will have to be still/stable, have good exposure and focus, and be at least 1080p with at least 8-bit depth. 4k is preferred.
If you are pitching to record a polling station, please make sure you are aware of your state's laws around privacy and access. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has some useful guidelines.
Is previous video experience required?
We are open to receiving applications from journalists who don’t have video experience. But we will need to see some video recording samples, even if it’s shot on a phone. So instead of published links, journalists can send some samples of video recordings around their locality via a Google Drive or Dropbox folder.
How do I get in touch if I have more questions?
You can reach us at editor[at]inoldnews[dot]com