More good video journalism

The New York Times has come up with another stunning display to remind the rest of us how multimedia journalism should be done.

Flipped takes us inside the dark and mysterious world of private equity, and it’s affect on the market, business and jobs…OK, I’ve lost you already haven’t I.

Well this is exactly why Flipped is so good. It fulfills two things journalists of the future will need to do no matter what changes in technology come along. Firstly they need to keep telling us about complicated things in an accessible way. And secondly they need to find a way of grabbing us by the collars and saying “this is really important!”

Flipped does that. I have never had an interest in private equity, but the style, brevity, flair of Flipped kept me watching through all 10 videos. 15 minutes of my time, and I was enlightened.

And that’s what this is all about, right?

So what lessons can we learn from Flipped?

• It is made up of 10 short (2-5 minute) videos, instead of one long one. This makes it easier to digest.
• It has an easy to navigate flash carousel, which leads you through the story.
• Videos appear instantly inside the window (very important).
• The subjects (mostly NYT reporters) are extremely engaging, and very good at breaking down the issue
• It doesn’t take itself too seriously, with short cartoons to help understand the complicated bits
• It puts a human side to the story, with workers who’ve been screwed by the system

Mindy McAdams writes on Twitter it could have done with key words on the side to help chose which videos to watch. I agree, but I got most value from watching all the videos and understanding the whole story.

And there is huge value in this isn’t there? Matters of huge interest, broken down and made accessible, relevant and engaging. Private Equity is a creator of huge wealth…but also huge debt, and impacts all our lives.

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