Contributed by Anna Ellingburg Students often feel inundated with advice about the hundreds of skills and attributes journalists “must have” in order to be successful. But the journalists at WMC Action News 5 in Memphis have narrowed the list to five essential qualities of a solid journalist. 1. Dedication Photojournalist Bo Bradley says a real …
Continue reading ‘Top qualities of a top journalist’ »
So, it may seen a little arrogant to assume that our blog can act as a barometer of the journalism industry, but what the heck. If you look at the five most viewed posts of 2012, it seems reasonable to me to make the following assumptions: The fundamentals still matter. The No. 1 post on …
Continue reading ‘Top journalism skills in 2012’ »
So, how do you get more than 5 million people to watch your story? Take a look. 1. The content is compelling. Many people, including me, have entered into this debate and the student producer, Patrick Romero, used a simple point-counterpoint approach to shaping the story. 2. The audio is audible. If you read Advancing …
Continue reading ‘Lessons from a viral video’ »
December is nearly over and it’s time once again for Advancing the Story’s Top 10 report. The posts below are those that drew the most reader interest over the year. From writing to sourcing news to using video more effectively, that’s what seemed to resonate with all of you. We hope you’ll check out any …
Continue reading ‘Most popular journalism advice of 2011’ »
Tomorrow is the day to express your creativity, support free speech and win $5,000 in scholarship money through Twitter. December 15 is National Bill of Rights Day, which marks the 220th birthday of the First Amendment. Here’s how it works: Beginning at midnight on Dec. 15, students ages 14 to 22 can tweet their support …
Continue reading ‘Tweet for treats: Scholarship for free speech’ »
Media Shift’s Idea Lab said it well. You should be on these sites to understand how people are communicating and the vocabulary of this communication. If you ignore these sites, you will fail to understand how a growing portion of the population deals with the flow of information, and inevitably how more people will deal …
Continue reading ‘Why journalists should check out Google+’ »
Can you be a good journalist and not be plugged into social media? The Washington Post’s Local Editor Vernon Loeb says, “No.” “Social media are not really optional anymore,” says Loeb. “You can’t do your job without them. Social media are where news often breaks first. They’re a great way to cultivate sources, track events, …
Continue reading ‘Social media required for good journalism?’ »
For the past several years, there has been a lot of talk about “Web first newsrooms.” The basic premise is that a news organization’s website should no longer be an afterthought, In fact, the idea is that the Web should be the most important platform served — more important than any legacy medium, such as …
Continue reading ‘What does it mean to be “digital first?”’ »
We’re happy to announce the publication of the second edition of our textbook, Advancing the Story: Broadcast Journalism in a Multimedia World. It’s available now from CQ Press or Amazon, and we hope you’ll check it out. What’s different this time around? The new edition includes substantial revisions but retains the essential strengths of the …
Continue reading ‘New edition now available’ »
“To be great, multimedia has to make the story better than it would be in a legacy form,” Al Tompkins said. To that end, Tompkins shared his 10 Laws of Multimedia with a group of educators at the Poynter Institute. Law #1 Make it interactive It gives control to the user, and with our interest in metrics, interactivity increases stickiness …
Continue reading ‘The 10 laws of multimedia’ »