Tale of the Tape: The impact of video

I used my print column this week to talk, once again, about the changes that are convulsing the news business.

Specifically, I wanted to address the impact of video.

We've always been about the printed word, and printed images.

But the Internet has made video an increasingly important part of our jobs.

I was reminded just how important recently by two videos that appears on the DelcoTimes.com website.

The first was part of our ongoing coverage of the heroin epidemic in the county and region. The video depicted a passenger boarding a SEPTA bus, calmsly shooting heroin into his arm, and then collapsing into the aisle as stunned riders looked on. He was revived by an Upper Darby officer using the OD-reversing drug Narcan.

The other was even more dramatic. It was released by the county District Attorney's office in the wake of a drive-by shooting in Chester.

The video looks like something out of a movie. Unfortunately, it's all too real.

In the video, a car is seen sitting on the side of a Chester street. A van starts to pull up beside the car when the sliding side door glides open. What happens next is a little hard to comprehend. A hand with a gun in it protrudes from the side of the van and opens fire on the car, all captured on the video.

So far, there have been no updates and no arrests in the case.

I'm not sure what is more shocking - viewing that video, or the fact that this is becoming all too commonplace in Chester, and that no one has come forward with information on either the van or the shooter.

You can read my full print column here.

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