Washington Times hires YouTube journalism contest finalist

The Washington Times has appointed a new multimedia journalist as a result of his participation in a YouTube contest.

Freelancer Torrey Meeks, who started at the Times on January 13, was one of 10 semi-finalists in the video-sharing site's first journalism contest, Project:Report.

Despite previous experience as a freelance - self-taught - B2B writer, he had no experience as a videojournalist prior to the contest; in fact, he taught himself to edit video. He will now report and produce multimedia packages on US-Mexico border issues for the title.

His competition entries ranged from a profile of a local soup kitchen manager to a film on life in Juarez, Mexico.

After meeting the Times' managing editor, David Jones, at an event for the Project:Report finalists, it was Meeks' Mexico work that helped him get his new job, he told Journalism.co.uk.

"While some really great journalists have covered the escalating violence in Mexico, I felt rank and file Americans were ignoring the situation because they didn't understand the severity of what's taking place," he said.

"The Washington Times job was serendipity at its finest (…) Earlier in the day [before the contest final], The Washington Times editors had discussed their need for a man on the ground in the south west covering US-Mexico border issues."

Participating in the YouTube competition provided Meeks with skills and experience to apply to his new role, he added.

"Up until then [the contest], I was really scraping it out as a freelance writer and didn't have any credits to my name that would have landed me a job at a newspaper," he said.

"I think it's wonderful that YouTube has started embracing and encouraging videojournalism. As someone who landed a job as a direct result of my work on YouTube, I've discovered first hand that it breaks down traditional routes to employment in a stunning way.

"What I like most about YouTube is that it's a meritocracy: If you do good work people will pay attention to it, and the potential audience is staggering to contemplate."

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