Pasadena Now discovers the green screen

Pasadena Now, the online "hyperlocal" news site that purportedly pays writers in India to rewrite city press releases, and which has broken such hard-hitting stories as: "Prominent Pasadena business executives and community leaders are accused of 'Having a big heart for Jerry’s Kids'," is planning to launch a TV network, fishbowlLA reports.

James Macpherson, the visionary who founded Pasadena Now, told fishbowl's Matthew Fleischer that green screens plus L.A. talent equals high-quality productions for cheap:

One great example is the green screen + virtual set dynamic. Formerly the territory of CNN's and ESPN's, now this tool is common.

LA is loaded with talent and knowledge. Our objective is to produce compelling content with highest production value at lowest cost. We are very fortunate that a leading So Cal special effects studio has offered to assist us with technology and the use of a studio.

We hope to present a mix of video styles, from user-generated videos which we curate and edit, to studio-shot programs, to live streamed important civic events.

The virtue of cheap*

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times profiles reluctant visionary James Macpherson, who has changed the course of journalism by hiring Indian workers for cheap to transcribe Pasadena City Council meetings and rewrite city press releases for his online publication, Pasadena Now:

It’s not easy being a visionary, he said: “I have essentially been five years ahead of the world for a long time, and that’s a horrible address at which to live because people look at you, you know, like you’re nuts.”

*UPDATED: (Via LA Observed) Macpherson blogs about his system of using nonprofessional sources to gather video and audio so that it can be used by reporters in India to write a story under the direction of a trained editor. The whole thing reads like a long rationalization: If one experienced editor oversees an operation, it doesn't matter how untrained or distant the newsgatherers might be. Indeed, if you set the standards low enough, most anything is possible.