Video Story Telling

Eric Durban

I watched a piece on CNN.com about an Oral Roberts scandal. Similar to a written piece, the video provided both sides of the story, as well as third parties. I think the video told the story, while still allowing the viewer to make their own decisions. Oral Roberts is a very religious university and I think that made a difference between reading and watching this story. The emotion shown by the university president is not something that someone could accurately portray in a written news piece. The video showed him speaking in their weekly chapel, which showcased a packed house in support of him. Graphics in the video piece displayed key statistical information that helped to give more depth to the story. Since this is a legal preceding, a written piece will be more suitable to spelling out all of the legal jargon. A written piece with allow for more in-depth analysis, while providing links to other documents that could help tell the story. However, if this were only a text story, the emotion shown by the president and the university students would be lost. The video seems to allow the story to become much more personal even if I have no connection to the precedings.