With television rights to the London 2012 Olympics,including video highlights for news outlets severely restricted by the IOC and by NBC Sports in the U.S., one news organization has found a crafty way to report on the action by using stick puppets.

The Wall Street Journal has taken to covering the Games with puppet video segments created by editorial staffers and an outside set designer.  The series is called Homemade Highlights.

In some instances the Journal has beaten NBC Sports with the puppet-action before the network airs the actual events via taped delay, says Nikki Waller, Management & Careers Editor, who has spearheaded the project.

Waller shares with us the backstory of the project and hints at a future use of the medium at the paper in covering stories which could include the Libor scandel and the presidential election.

The most popular of the series on YouTube is this one about the badminton scandal.

Andy Plesser

Gabby