Posted on April 29th, 2009 by Deborah Potter
The news business is notorious for promoting well-qualified journalists into leadership positions with little or no preparation. Some of them do just fine but others struggle with new and different responsibilities.
It’s a big leap from producing a newscast to inspiring a staff; from running an assignment desk to changing a newsroom’s culture. It’s hard enough [...]
Filed under: 12. Getting Ready for the Real World | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 28th, 2009 by Deborah Potter
All the effort you put into writing and shooting a story may be wasted if your narration doesn’t measure up. Voice coach Ann Utterback says how you sound can make viewers decide to click away or stay tuned for the rest.
The most [...]
Filed under: 10. Delivering the News | 3 Comments »
Posted on April 27th, 2009 by Deborah Potter
Some veteran TV photojournalists have argued for years that bigger is better when it comes to video cameras. Only a heavy professional model could produce rock steady, broadcast quality images, the long-timers said. Or at least they used to.
Oscar Valenzuela of KGMB-TV in Honolulu has been in the business more than 20 years and says [...]
Filed under: 03. Multimedia Newsgathering | 8 Comments »
Posted on April 24th, 2009 by Deborah Potter
The best journalists I know are life-long learners. They’re good at their craft but they never think they know it all.
John Gross is one of them. He’s a photographer and feature reporter at KSTP-TV in Minneapolis who’s won his share of national awards. But when he speaks at workshops and conferences like the recent NPPA [...]
Filed under: 06. Visual Storytelling | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 22nd, 2009 by Deborah Potter
Almost every broadcast newsroom in the country is facing the same challenge. How can they continue to produce quality journalism on more screens with fewer people?
“It’s a struggle but we’re doing it as a team,” said Dan Salamone, news director at WOIO-TV, Cleveland, Ohio, at an RTNDA panel I moderated on Tuesday. His newsroom [...]
Filed under: 09. Producing for TV, 12. Getting Ready for the Real World | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 21st, 2009 by Deborah Potter
Most newsrooms understand that they need to include video in their online offerings. If they haven’t started doing it yet, they’re behind the curve. But what’s the best service to use for posting video if you’re not going to host it yourself?
YouTube is certainly the most popular option, with more than 5 billion online videos. [...]
Filed under: 08. Producing for the Web, 12. Getting Ready for the Real World | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 21st, 2009 by Deb Wenger
The American Society of News Editors annual survey of employment at the country’s newspapers is rich in information for journalism job seekers.
First, the news is troubling for anyone who has dreamed of spending a career working at a daily newspaper.
American daily newspapers shed 5,900 newsroom jobs last year, reducing their employment of journalists by 11.3 [...]
Filed under: 08. Producing for the Web, 12. Getting Ready for the Real World | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 19th, 2009 by Deborah Potter
Fewer people making less money are producing more television news than ever. That’s the bottom line from the latest RTNDA/Hofstra survey released on Sunday.
Jobs and salaries in local TV news dropped by more than 4 percent last year, but stations still managed to produce a record amount of news. The survey found that more than half of those [...]
Filed under: 12. Getting Ready for the Real World | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 18th, 2009 by Deborah Potter
The news about the news has been just a little depressing lately. Layoffs, cutbacks, stress and overwork are plaguing the profession we love. But all is not lost!
The good news is that journalists in general have kept their sense of humor intact. And now, thanks to the staff at the East Bay Express, the alternative [...]
Filed under: 12. Getting Ready for the Real World | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 17th, 2009 by Deb Wenger
The Kovsky Miller Media Research firm just released data on the amount of story and topic repetition in newscasts. It may or may not be a surprise to you just how much of the content is rehash.
For the years 2004-2008, the fim looked at more than ”2,500 half hours of news and 21,000 stories. Stories were designated as repeat [...]
Filed under: 09. Producing for TV | No Comments »