Multimedia Journalism: I’m Green

I’m a 37-year-old student…

Forever learning

As an amateur environmental journalist, I put together a short video story for a school project in my Digital Journalism class at Georgia State University (go Panthers!!). I chose to report about a program called Adopt-A-Spot after I saw a sign in the neighborhood, and I also couldn’t help but notice how well-kept and green the area was.

The program runs nationwide; however, it is up to each city to sign-up and participate. Kanika Greenlee, the Executive Director of the Keep Atlanta Beautiful Commission, told me that when she first joined the Keep America Beautiful affiliate in 2015, there were only two spots adopted throughout the city of Atlanta. Roughly 200 parcels of the city’s public spaces are now delegated to individuals and groups of concerned citizens to perform their eco-duties.

The program’s rising popularity coincides with rising awareness about climate change and the solutions all around us to clean-up our acts as a collective and get together as a community to restore nature. This neighborhood is beautiful, Atlanta, Georgia, is beautiful, the world is beautiful, and yes, it would be nice to keep it that way, but it’s also vital.

To participate and adopt a spot or a street, you’ll commit to pick up litter monthly for one year, complete a Department of Public Works safety training, and all the equipment necessary will be provided to keep your spot clean.

To check if your city is part of the program, go to https://kab.org/ and find your local affiliate, or create one yourself!

Get involved.

#DoBeautifulThings

By Laure V. La Vie en Green, reporting for a better, greener world.

Forever improving

3 things I would change in my video story and improve next time

• Sound: I will buy and use a handheld microphone or a Lavalier microphone in the future. I recorded with my Iphone 11 Pro Max and the image/sound is usually pretty good but this was on location near a road and traffic is loud. Pandemic safety protocols do not help either; masks muffle people’s voices.
• The beginning is a bit shaky and even if I meant to shoot it that way to give it a raw, walking by feel to it, it’s better not to walk and move the camera around.
• Include the name of my interviewee as an edit.

Thank you for reading and watching as I continue learning, adapting, evolving and growing in a fast-moving world of information and misinformation.

My goal is to keep creating authentic and ethical content about the environment from the ground up that lifts up the community, too.

Laure V., multimedia journalist in the 21st Century

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Journalism Ethics 101

I understand the media get a bad name, but journalists shouldn’t, and not all media are the same. I pledge allegiance to the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics.

The 4 principles of ethical journalism

SEEK TRUTH AND REPORT IT – MINIMIZE HARM – ACT INDEPENDENTLY – BE ACCOUNTABLE AND TRANSPARENT