The future of journalism is in safe hands


A talented practicum student we had at the Knoxville News Sentinel during the University of Tennessee’s spring semester has created an interesting new Web site called sfevent.tv

Franck Tabouring, who came to the U.S. from Luxembourg to go to college, received a bachelor’s degree in journalism this year from the University of Tennessee and moved on to  study film in San Francisco.

As a practicum student on the knoxnews.com online staff, he did a variety of maintenance tasks and site updating, but he also had time to do several videos that show his sense of humor.

Tabouring has been doing an excellent movie review blog since late 2007 called the Screening Log that has frequent posts so I found it interesting he was taking on another project while still in school.

In an email, this is what he said about sfevent.tv:

Yes, I decided to start a small cultural online video magazine that focuses on San Francisco and the Bay area. I plan on posting photos, raw footage and more detailed short documentaries about and surrounding people and all kinds of events here. I will also shoot what I call SF Spots, short clips highlighting wonderful viewpoints and other nice spots in an around the city. I will share all videos on YouTube and Vimeo, and use embedding for the site. That way, I won’t need to spend tons of money on large storage online.

I’m only starting now (and slowly) with the Pride Parade, but hopefully I will get through all my Final Cut manuals soon and get to work on bigger videos for the site.

Knowingly or unknowingly, he appears to be among a growing number of journalists who are fashioning a new model of developing content and brands beyond the realm of a traditional media.

Here’s what the about says about the site:

Welcome to sfevent.tv, a cultural online video magazine that focuses on San Francisco and the Bay area. Essentially, what you find on here are several categories of short documentaries and video clips about all kinds of events that have taken place in SF. We also focus on local businesses and profile interesting SF people who have a compelling story to tell and would like to share their ideas, concepts or events with online users.

Unlike the regular television newscasts, we don’t simply cover an event, but we try to focus more on the people who put their energy and passion into organizing them. We want to figure out who these people are, and we give them the opportunity to share their adventures on camera. If you would like us to come and document your event or you want to spread the word about your SF-based business, please get in touch with us.

He’s looking for feedback on the site so if give him a shout. I think all the sky-is-falling pundits who worry about where journalism is going just need to look to the Franck Tabourings coming along.