American television has become homogenized. Every local news station in the country basically does news the same way. This months SPOTLIGHT award goes to Stephen Press of New Zealand for showing us how it's done elsewhere.

Press, a freelancer out of New Zealand, was working with Channel 5 News in the UK when he was covering this flood. Normally he shoots and hands off a tape to a producer, but while working with Channel 5, he was able to shoot and edit all the work himself.

According to Press, the story was shot and edited on DVCpro25 within an two hour of getting on the scene. It may not be his best work, but Press sees it as "an answer to the perpetual complaint, 'But we didn't have enough time to do anything good.' The style is supposed to be 'modern and mainstream' with lots of RI (reporter involvement) and no tripod (oh well.) The 5 mic is supposed to be in shot whenever possible."

"I sent Flood, as there have been a lot of posts about how to cover them. Despite being the last crew on the scene, (had a lunch time stand up at a court house several hours away) we were the only show with these pics as the only way to the village was to walk across a partly submerged bridge. The other crews kept their feet dry and set up on the other side getting nothing worthwhile, (the desk after seeing their lunch time reports nearly didn't send us.) We had no time! Shot in half an hour the Sat truck broke down and we had to drive to a nearby racetrack to feed. I did most of the edit sitting backwards in the car dripping wet as the reporter drove. Not recommended."

"Most of the stuff I shoot now is more "normal," you know nice lighting, tripod etc... fulfilling in a craft sense but nowhere near as satisfying creatively as the style pieces. I loved having total responsibility of the look of the story, it was a real partnership between me and the reporter."

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