Posted on 06/06/2006 5:18:56 PM PDT by SandRat
Improvements to the Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System will streamline news product transmission from military and civilian journalists to the United States for use by civilian media.
TIKRIT, Iraq, June 6, 2006 — Military journalists have always needed a link between soldiers on the battlefield and the civilian media, from the steamy jungles of Vietnam to the smoldering deserts of Iraq. Modern technology now allows that link to be made within seconds from anywhere in the world. The Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System, or DVIDS, is a system that allows both military and civilian journalists to transmit media products, such photographs and video of servicemembers, via satellite from remote locations to the United States for use by civilian media outlets.
“It’s going to help our packages get up in a timely manner. This is going to allow the civilian media to get professional grade news in a timely manner, because, let’s face it, news is timely.”
U.S. Army Sgt. Marvin Cornell
DVIDS has been in use for a few years now, but recent upgrades to the system are going to make a huge impact on how military journalists conduct business.
“In the old system, you could do a data transfer, but it was a nightmare to set up,” said Hans A. Johnson, vender support engineer. “Now that’s gone away.
“The upgraded system does the same thing that the old system did, we just made it easier for [military journalists] to accomplish all of the tasks that we originally envisioned.”
The original vision for DVIDS was an accessible and reliable medium that allows civilian journalists and media centers to find all types of media pertaining to the U.S. military.
The old system allowed access to products that military journalists were producing, but in an unorganized and sometimes unreliable manner. The new changes to the system, which include extensive upgrades to the software and the DVIDS website, are going to make the original vision possible.
“The whole intent behind all of this is to service our number one customer, the public affairs unit in the field,” said Capt. Scott Betts, DVIDS the operations officer.
The 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, stationed in Tikrit, Iraq, and other public affairs units deployed around the world are already beginning to reap the benefits from the improvements to DVIDS.
Betts and Johnson are part of the DVIDS training team that visited the 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment in order to demonstrate the capabilities of the new system. During a training course, Betts and Johnson walked the journalists through the new and streamlined process of uploading their product.
One broadcast journalist from the detachment touted the new features of the system.
“It’s going to help our packages get up in a timely manner,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Marvin Cornell, a broadcast journalist with the 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment and Louisville, Ky., native. “This is going to allow the civilian media to get professional grade news in a timely manner, because, let’s face it, news is timely.”
DVIDS’ number one customer may be the military journalists, but the military journalist’s job is to inform the public about what servicemembers are doing on their deployments. They use the civilian media to get their stories out, and the DVIDS upgrades are geared toward this end goal.
“These upgrades will benefit the external media because it will give them direct connection to content in a different way,” Betts said. “In the end, they're benefiting from the upgrades as much as military journalists are because the entire process of getting the product into their hands will be more streamlined.”
Getting the product into the hands of the civilian media is what is inevitably going to allow military journalists to spread the word about what servicemembers in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world are doing. And, that’s what a military journalist’s passion is about; telling their brothers-in-arms’ story. The DVIDS system is a tool that’s going to allow that to happen.
and despite all this work to improve the direct feed to the MSM does anyone really believe we'll see any change in the MSM news coverage?????
Nope, the MSM hates the military. Maybe not each individual reporter, but certainly the editorial boards. Someone posted this from General William Tecumseh Sherman:
"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."
I do. the easter bunny told it will happen anyday now.
AFR carries Air America for 3 hour? Unreal!
I have to ask, WHY?
The Progressive Democrat Caucus and the Rats blamed Rush'e one hour for their bad showing at the polls on Rush and Sean and Laura
Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that they are insane, or at least do a very good impersonation of someone who is.
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