Back in January of this year I wrote a review of Gnooze, a quirky news site featuring the wonderful Marta Costello.

I remember thinking “she’s really on to something” back then. In a typical late-night surfing session, I decided to check in on Marta. See what she was up to. I wondered what she made of the elections.

I found this incredible report. Watch it. To the end. The final few scenes really are gripping stuff.

I’ll ask you all a simple question: Have you seen a better piece of reporting from any of the major news organisations at the RNC?

I ask you now. When Marta was out there, reporting from the middle of that protest, where were all the major networks? Where were the journalists earning hefty amounts of money to tell us what is going on in the world?

I’ll tell you where. They were in lovely mini-studios, enjoying fine food and great drinks. Patting themselves on the backs for a job well done.

To steal a popular webby sorta phrase: Journalism FAIL.

Honestly, I’m gobsmacked by what gnooze has done. If newspapers around the world were serious about a) good journalism and b) involving REAL young people in their product, they’d be snapping up the likes of Marta Costello in a heartbeat.

Indeed, once upon a time, they did. But Marta left. She could do a better job herself, she insisted, and so went forth and created gnooze.

Scarily, I think she’s proved herself right.

Something to think about, eh?

This is what newspaper video should be all about. Why it isn’t is a mystery to me.

I’ll be posting more about gnooze soon — I believe it holds the key to the ‘how do we monitize all this?’ question that is gaining increasingly important momentum around the web.