I’ve been following the volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands.
The best reports come from somebody called Bushcraft Bear.
Bushcraft Bear is just a guy with a webcam standing on a hill in La Palma, talking about what he’s seeing. Yet somehow it’s better than the TV news, even if they’ve got drone and helicopter views. How come it’s better?
One answer is that the TV news is crammed into a couple of minutes of a news show from presenters who are nowhere near the place. By contrast Bushcraft Bear will talk for 15 or 20 minutes, and will describe what he sees and hears and smells.
Over 16 hours Bushcraft Bear’s video above got 171k views. Over the same 16 hours a Sky News report on the volcano got 219k views. So Bushcraft Bear was doing nearly as well as Sky News, and a lot better than many other news outlets.
Add also that, unlike Sky News, Bushcraft Bear’s English is far from perfect.
What’s he got that they haven’t? Bushcraft Bear is authentic. He’s saying what he thinks. Sky News presenters are saying what they’re told to say.
And that’s refreshing.
I hope to see many more reports from Bushcraft Bears all over the world.
Oh, thanks for a great link! I shall follow.
We have been watching a fellow called Gutn Tog who has been showing the Icelandic volcano since it started erupting.He goes every day and gets as close as is safe.His English is not perfect but he explains well what has been happening.l