What is the VJ Movement?

The International media is in crisis. News bureaus around the world are forced to make drastic cut backs. As a result, the public is losing out on professional reporting and in-depth coverage. The Video Journalism Movement offers an alternative.

 

With a network of over 150 professional video journalists and editorial cartoonists that is growing daily, VJM brings real stories, from reporters on the ground, unseen anywhere else.

 

The VJ movement combines the best of both traditional and citizen journalism; professionalism and interactivity. VJM’s professional network produces the stories, but it’s the members who set the news agenda. In the online newsroom, they suggest, select and discuss the stories they think should be told.

 

Founder and journalist Thomas Loudon, came up with the concept while covering the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. While talking with other foreign journalists, Loudon realized two things:

 

• Journalists were limited by the news agenda back home
• When covering the same topic, these international reporters all ended up with entirely different stories

 

He realized fundamentally that “There is more than one truth” and this formed the basis of the VJ Movement concept. Loudon then teamed up with longtime friend and web veteran Arend Jan van den Beld, who was instrumental in transferring that concept into the VJ Movement Internet platform.

 

We do not publish citizen journalism.

 

There is more than one truth

We all know that a completely objective perspective is simply not possible, so we've based our news model on the idea that impartiality is only possible through multiple viewpoints.

 

Therefore, our approach is to actively encourage contributors to provide different perspectives, and we ask all of our VJ's to publish a background profile so that you can understand their perspective and potential biases. By encouraging our contributors to provide these different perspectives, we are creating the possibility for you to better understand the world around you.

 

It's not about agreeing with what you see, but understanding where it comes from.

 

So how does it work?

All of our story and cartoon ideas are suggested and voted on by our members and contributors in the online newsroom. The elected story ideas are then produced by one of our VJs or cartoonists.

 

How do I get involved?

You can get involved here. The site is free for everyone. However, in order to participate (i.e. suggest story or cartoon ideas, vote, and comment) you need to be a free or full account member.

 

Our Foundation

In addition to our web platform, we run a non-profit foundation, which aims to make a positive contribution to international journalism by encouraging and educating journalists worldwide.

For more info, check out our FAQ page.