The Journalist of the Month for December, Marine Cpl. Paul Peterson, skillfully highlighted the U.S. military in Afghanistan with photography and videos. He documented the service members in support of Regional Command Southwest. ... read more
The Journalist of the Month for December, Marine Cpl. Paul Peterson, skillfully highlighted the U.S. military in Afghanistan with photography and videos. He documented the service members in support of Regional Command Southwest. <br /> <br />
Not only were Peterson's images downloaded more than any other military journalist during the month, but they also received more total views. Image downloads totaled 2,149 times and views came to 16,661 times just in December. Several media outlets used his images including Military.com, Nevada Appeal, Nanuet Patch and more. Peterson also ranked in the top 20 for the number of image downloads and views the prior month, although his images grabbed even more attention in December. <br /> <br />
Some examples of Peterson's eye-catching photos are found in his "Clean Sweep" gallery. His earlier gallery "Under Fire" includes other examples of Peterson's skill at using light techniques to make the photos stand out. One of these images is the featured photo for this article: "Under Fire [Image 29 of 33]." <br /> <br />
Peterson also covered more unusual topics in his news articles like "On pins and needles: Navy doctor branches out with deployment medicine." The article, which was viewed more than 730 times and “liked” on Facebook 277 times, details how acupuncture is used to treat service members with physical or emotional issues at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. <br /> <br />
Peterson's images and news articles are not the only type of his content getting attention. His videos were viewed 6,641 times in December--the second highest number of views for military journalists who submitted videos to DVIDS. He ranked third for video downloads with 288 downloads. Many of his videos attracted so much attention because they were holiday greetings from the service members to their families. Reaching into social media, Peterson's content also started several Facebook conversations on DVIDS with users posting more than 85 Facebook comments on his news, images and videos. <br /> <br />
Because of the interest in Peterson's attention-grabbing content, 12 DVIDS registered users have subscribed to receive alerts every time Peterson submits something new. Peterson's ability to produce newsworthy, notable and conversation-starting content made him stand out as the DVIDS Journalist of the Month. show less
