If you’re new to video, you’re probably spending lots of time just trying to master the camera, remembering how to shoot sequences and following the rule of thirds. Now, here’s one more thing to remember – finding an angle is important in both writing and shooting. Too many journalists shoot everything at eye level and that can make a [...]
Filed under: 06. Multimedia Storytelling | 2 Comments »
What are news directors really looking for when they go through demo reels? Jacqueline Ingles, a multi-platform reporter for KXAN in Austin, Texas, sat in on a recent screening session and emerged a little shell-shocked. I always thought it was a myth that news directors only watched demo reels for an average of 10 seconds. I [...]
Filed under: 12. Getting Ready for the Real World | No Comments »
After two grim years, the state of local television news is much improved, thank you. That’s the bottom line of the chapter I wrote for this year’s State of the News Media report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism, released today. The good news is most obvious on the revenue side but there are [...]
Filed under: 12. Getting Ready for the Real World | No Comments »
You’ve written a story for the Web or a post for a blog and you need to add an image or a related video. If you didn’t take a photo or shoot footage yourself, what are your options? The Internet is a treasure trove of multimedia but it’s important to make sure that what you [...]
Filed under: 08. Producing for the Web | No Comments »
Journalists are notorious for hating anything to do with math. If we’d been any good with numbers, I often joke, we might have chosen a different career. But it’s essential for today’s journalists to get comfortable working with data, and the good news is that more and more of them are. What’s changed? For one [...]
Filed under: 06. Multimedia Storytelling | No Comments »
So, you can’t find or don’t want a traditional journalism job? Maybe you’ve kicked around the idea of getting into freelancing as a sideline? If so, writer and editor Dana Neuts has some suggestions. Neuts has been freelancing full time in the Seattle area for the last seven years. She’s also the head of the Society [...]
Filed under: 12. Getting Ready for the Real World | 3 Comments »
The problem with many news stories is that they’re not really stories at all. They’re a jumble of facts, often in no apparent logical order. What stories need, as we note in the book, is a focus and structure: beginning, middle and end. That sounds simple enough, but when you’ve gathered a ton of material [...]
Filed under: 05. Writing the Story, 06. Multimedia Storytelling | 2 Comments »
