In my journey of reporting local news for the Los Gatan newspaper, which has involved speaking to many business and community leaders, I noticed an opportunity.
It dawned on me that, while readers responded with excitement, they’ve often expressed a desire for more engagement opportunities.
That’s how my idea for creating videos to be published alongside written articles sprouted. Considering we live in the age of digital media, I figured this would allow readers to have an additional medium through which to absorb their news. And that’s exactly what happened with my recent Q&A with Mayor Matthew Hudes.
Creating a documentary-style video—capturing the intimate feeling of the sit-down interviews I’ve been conducting each week—seemed like it could be the best approach to allowing our newspaper audience to connect with the content on a deeper level.
The town of Los Gatos is surrounded by natural beauty and filled with historical buildings that provide the perfect stage for interviewees to speak directly or indirectly to our audience. With all the work it takes—from pitching a story, to scheduling the interview, taking photographs and completing multiple rounds of editing—proper video projects do require going an additional mile. But ultimately they can give readers the chance to absorb their news in the best light (no pun intended).
When I attended university, I had to give a presentation to corporate executives for a team business project. For the company I was presenting about, I was asked what I thought was their greatest opportunity. I always think back to that when I work. I think that, in the realm of local journalism, there is a major opening, since smaller news outlets can find and cover niche stories that larger outlets often overlook. These stories deserve a proper stage.
Filming a video interview of Mayor Hudes is a first for the Los Gatan. From conception to execution, the approach was to allow town residents to become more familiar with their local government. We hear of the names throughout our lives, but to put a face with it allows our audience to feel like they know who they’re reading about, just a little bit better.
My hope is to be able to continue creating more videos like this one in the future.
(Read the full Q&A with the mayor here)
Editor’s note: As of Oct. 6, Faizi Samadani’s video had racked-up 1.2 hours of watch time on YouTube and 42 minutes of watch time on Instagram.
