In the latest example of how the mainstream media is clueless to the online democratization of journalism, a CBS Miami reporter, who makes a living standing in front of the camera, confronted me about video recording him in public while on assignment.
Brian Andrews accused me of interfering with his job when I was not even talking to him or standing in his shot.
All I was doing was attempting to video record him interviewing my girlfriend, Rachel Mestre, about a brewing scandal involving a local towing company that she has been documenting on her blog.
My plan was to send her the video in case she wanted to use it on her blog because we all know that only a fragment of TV interviews ever make the final cut.
The story was on Tremont Towing, the company featured on the reality show, South Beach Tow, and its unscrupulous business practices of how they set up private parking lots to look like public lots, only to tow cars who use city meters to pay for parking.
Rachel has been blogging about it since January, but now the Miami New Times has been reporting on the issue as well as Miami blogger Random Pixels, all who have done a much better job on reporting the story than CBS Miami or Local 10.
But Andrews is obviously more concerned about making a fashion statement than a journalistic statement. As you can see in the video, he admits to hating the Miami New Times, most likely because they run journalistic circles around him as he struts on air with purple pants.
Or maybe it’s because the Broward New Times wrote about how he was chased out of Colombia where he spent a few years as a reporter.
Andrews also accused me of possibly setting him up to make him look stupid but as you can see in the video, he took care of that part all by himself.
He then accused me of misrepresenting myself because he didn’t know who I was, even though I had introduced myself to him earlier and handed him a Photography is Not a Crime sticker, explaining a little about my blog.
But it was obvious from that moment he had a condescending attitude towards me, lifting his nose at the thought of me running a blog that was not connected to the mainstream media.
But I’m willing to bet this piece will end up getting more views than the puff-piece he ran last night.