In that, he echoes Andersen's belief that whereas the YouTube paradigm is amateurs having fun with cameras, the newspapers' Web videos are professional journalists operating like amateurs in the best old-fashioned sense.
What will emerge from this, Rosenblum says, is "a storytelling grammar that has never been employed before, because the technology for it never existed before."
Watson agrees and believes that the regional press is particularly well placed to make innovative inroads. Big groups including Johnston Press, Newsquest and Northcliffe have been getting busy with training and investment in equipment.
"What's important is not to go aping what news broadcasters do in their programming," Watson says. "The real multimedia dream is to integrate all of those content assets in a meaningful way."
Marc Webber, the Sun's deputy online editor, also sees the "televisionization" of the Web as a trap to avoid.
"I get approached by a lot of TV production companies wanting to develop formats for the Sun online. But I don't believe that format works on Web video in the same way," he says.
If this multimedia dream is to be realized, it means building far more complex onscreen players and designing more interactive Flash elements into Web pages.
"As far as newspapers are concerned it's a brand new technology, and everyone is getting more and more sophisticated at it almost by the day," Watson says.
A look at some of the video content that is being produced by US newspapers -- which tend to be more advanced in the new storytelling techniques than their UK counterparts -- gives an indication of the developments to come. The Washington Post's Travis Fox is widely acknowledged to be the biggest star, having won countless awards -- including an Emmy, which had a Web video category for the first time this year -- for his rich video-based reports from conflict zones including Darfur and Iraq. Another new Web celebrity is veteran print man David Carr of the New York Times -- also known as the Carpetbagger -- whose quirky video reports have gained him a loyal following.
So who might be the new newspaper Web stars in Britain? A few early contenders are already emerging. Sun journalist Lup Fan Yao did his own bushtucker trial on camera for the site, from which emerged a series called Challenge Lup, in which he has attempted various other gruesome tasks suggested by readers. Over at the Telegraph, fashion editor Hilary Alexander is so excited by the new toy that she has been known to open her reports "Welcome to Hilary TV."
And the Sun's Webber has encouraging news for inky-fingered hacks who may fear the brave new world is beyond them. Veteran snapper Arthur Edwards has been one of the most enthusiastic proponents of moving pictures, he says, producing great video packages of the royal family on tour in addition to stills for the paper.
Edwards and his fellow "videographers" may not have to wait all that long before they only need one device. Some US newspapers, including the Detroit Free Press and Dallas Morning News, have already begun shooting solely on high definition video from which they can grab still images good enough to use in print.
"For print reporters, get aggressive. Learn the technology. Become literate in video," says Rosenblum. "This is not about becoming filmmakers. This is not about becoming TV reporters. This is about blending video into your reporting. It's a very rich new world."
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