I see some kind of media crew at one market or another every week or two. Farmers' Markets are hot. Everyone wants to do a story on them.
These guys were at the Queen Anne Farmers' Market yesterday afternoon. I'm not sure what they were filming for, but I overheard someone giving stage directions to someone they were interviewing. Hmmm.
Personally, I've had some less than positive experiences talking to the media at farmers' markets. Last year one of the local TV stations was doing a story on Sustainable Ballard's 100 mile diet. They asked me if I thought people were ready to eat all local foods. I answered honestly that I didn't think it had to be an all-or-nothing endeavor: we should all eat as many local foods as possible, but it didn't make sense to eat a 100% local diet because there are items that just aren't available locally, like salt, spices, coffee, chocolate, and olive oil. They only part they included in the broadcast was this list of items.
I learned an important lesson from the experience: shades of grey don't make good mainstream news stories. Ever since then, when I've had the opportunity to speak to the media, I haven't expressed a shred of ambivalence. If they want nuance, they'll have to earn it.
2 comments:
Hi Devra,
I was asked the videographer why he was there, and he said they were shooting a commercial for PNB Nation, which is apparently an "urban clothing line."
The market master should give vendors (and the rest of us with booths) a heads-up when video crews visit. I'll talk to Judy about that.
Best,
Julie
Thanks, Julie. Usually when they do commercials at markets they ask everyone who might appear in the background to sign release forms. It's wierd that they didn't do that this time. But that explains why they were giving stage directions during an interview.
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