A local newspaper publisher has called on its own TV experts to train reporters in the art of video making.

Allan Watts and Dan Wickham, from Channel Television, put reporters from papers owned by parent company Iliffe News and Media through their paces.

Video journalism content is now being uploaded across its 20 newspaper websites.

More than 40 photographers and journalists from across the group have been taken through initial basic training so they can film, edit and upload brief video news.

Iliffe claims the launch of the video initiative has coincided with an upsurge in audience numbers.

The Cambridge Evening News site alone registered a 20pc lift in month-on-month unique visitor numbers during June, the company said.

Iliffe News and Media chief executive David Fordham said: "It has been extremely useful to draw on the expertise of our in-house professional broadcast journalists to train our newspaper staff in the art of video journalism.

"We are in a unique position given our ownership of ITV's Channel Television.

"The results have been clear to see with some of the early work being produced by our editorial staff being of an exceptionally high standard."

Following completion of basic training, staff at the Cambridge Evening News managed to produce and upload more than 60 video clips to its www.cambridge-news.co.uk site in the first month alone.

These included a rush of clips linked to the breaking news story of the discovery of a body dumped in a lay-by.

Iliffe owns 35 local newspapers including the Burton Mail and Staffordshire Newsletter.

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