Getting that on-air TV job

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tanya_carter3First and foremost, it’s not about you.

Tanya Carter is assistant news director at WABG-TV in Greenville, Miss.  She’s also one of the primary news anchors, so she’s seen both sides of the job hunt.  She’s says that just having a good camera presence is not enough to get you hired.

“So, you have the look, that’s good,” said Carter.  “Now what else do you have?”

Carter was part of a panel of news managers who shared their thoughts on what someone looking for on-air work in TV or radio should bring to the table.  Their list included the practical and the intangible.

  • Bring solid writing skills and video work that’s filled with natural sound.
  • Don’t submit a “glamor shot” with your resume and don’t wear flip-flops to the interview.  (In other words, look professional.)
  • Have a valid drivers license — they won’t hire you without one.
  • Show heart and passion and come in with ideas — story ideas, ideas on how the newscasts could be better or the social media could be improved.
  • Bring a desire to work hard and be sure to research the company and the market before you apply for the job.

Ben Hart is the news director at WAPT in Jackson, Miss.  He echoes the idea that coming well prepared to a job interview is essential.

“Know everything about the station,” Hart said. “Know what just happened in the news, especially the local news.”

Hart says that you have have something that makes you stand out from the hundreds of other applicants.  And, unfortunately, WCBI News Director Robert Davidson says you shouldn’t come to the job interview with dollars signs in your eyes.

“Learn how to cook Ramen noodles.”

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Better smartphone photos

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Sometimes somebody just says it so well, that you feel like sharing it, right?  So, check out this summary of a post on Mashable, that explores the best features of the photo app, Camera+.  Or better yet, watch the 2:00 tutorial by clicking on the image below.

Screen Shot 2013-02-26 at 9.27.14 AM

The “Clarity” filter on the app is a personal favorite, and at a cost of 99 cents, it seems a small price to pay for better pics.  Sorry, though, still no version of the app for Android users.

 Allissa Richardson, from Bowie State University, does a lot of teaching about mobile newsgathering and she offers Snapseed as an alternative for Android phones.

Snapseed

According to Richardson, the students gave the app the highest of all possible praise, “They liked it better than Instagram.”  Snapseed is free for both Android and iOS.  Happy snapping!

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Branding when you’re a brand new journalist

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Even if you’re not so new to journalism, you may be just starting to realize that creating a personal brand is part of the profession now.  Speaking at Journalism Interactive in Florida, Lynn Walsh of SPJ’s GenJ has some ideas on how to get yourself and your work noticed.

The first step, Walsh says is creating accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and Tumblr, a well as getting on Google+ and staking your claim on a website with your name for the URL.

“Try to use a consistent name across sites,” said Walsh, “or make them as similar as possible.  If you have a very common name and it’s already taken, you might try adding a middle initial.”

Walsh says some people use their names with another identifier, like their school’s initials or a number that means something to them.  But, says Walsh, be sure you pick something you are going to like for a very long time because you don’t want to build a following and then lose it when you want to change your social media identity.

Be sure to keep your profile picture changes to a minimum as well, says Walsh, and keep them the same across all your social media sites.

“You want people to immediately recognize your face and your name,” Walsh said.

Google+Once you have those things in place, Walsh says you want to work on building your social media audience.  For example, if you publish content regularly online, link that content to your Google+ account through Google Authorship.  This will help push your online presence higher in Google search results.

When you tweet or post on Facebook about people, companies, organizations or any entity with a social media presence, be sure to tag them.

“You want people to know when you’re writing about them so they’ll begin following you,” Walsh said.  “I’m amazed at how many experienced journalists I know who don’t do this.”

Of course all this takes time, so Walsh has some thoughts about how you might focus your effort.

“If you’re into features or fashion or cooking, for example, you probably want to work especially hard on Instagram or Pinterest,” said Walsh. “If you’re more into sharing thoughts on journalism or articles, Twitter is No. 1.”

She also suggests that you take one day a month and do the following:

  • Find relevant Facebook pages and “like” them.
  • Make Twitter lists of people/topics you want to follow.
  • Add poeple to your Circles on Google+.
  • See what hashtags are popular and where appropriate, use them.

And, Walsh says, it’s important to stay on top of new social tools like Vine, an app she’s checking out that lets you easily share video to Twitter and Facebook, six seconds at a time.

“What I’ll use it for, I’m not sure,” Walsh said. “but I feel like if my little brother is doing it, I need to check it out.”

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Snow Fall and the future of multimedia storytelling

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Expansive, interactive, engaging–the New York Times multimedia feature Snow Fall is all of that and more. The six-part online feature took more than six months to produce. Lead reporter John Branch worked with video journalist Catherine Spangler and a team of multimedia producers and graphic designers to develop one of the most talked-about online stories ever. More than 3 million people read and watched it in the first few weeks after it was published. If you haven’t taken a look at it, you should.

The people behind Snow Fall have talked a lot about how it came together, “not just text plus visual elements that are bells and whistles, but a more cohesive framework,” said graphics director Steve Duenes. The result is a story in which animations, slide shows and videos are embedded in the narrative and help to move it forward.

“The team often asked whether a video or piece of audio was adding value to the project, and we edited elements out that felt duplicative,” Spangler said. “With a project of this scale and length, it can be easy to include mass amounts of data, information, visuals and audio because they exist and can compliment the story in different ways. It’s also easy to lose perspective on the big picture. One thing I think the team accomplished with this project is showing judiciousness in which elements best told the story at key moments in the text.”

Some have suggested that Snow Fall epitomizes the future of journalism, but the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson begs to differ, and I happen to agree with him. “There is no feasible way to make six-month sixteen-person multimedia projects the day-to-day future of journalism, nor is there a need to,” Thompson says.

What Snow Fall has in abundance, in addition to visuals and animations, is text. Lots and lots of text. And I’m not convinced that so much text is suited to telling stories that a younger audience, in particular, will want to consume.

As Amy Webb, who heads the consulting firm WebbMedia Group, told a recent Online News Association meeting, video is becoming a bigger driver of content on many news sites.

Webb discussed what she called the resounding success of HuffPost Live, and mentioned that the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and MSN are planning to allocate significant resources to their video production teams…Why? According to Webb, it’s a fear among news executives that “nobody under 30 reads anything anymore.”

The secret to successful content in the future, said Columbia University’s Sree Sreenivasan, will be a balance between text and video. On that score, Snow Fall falls short. But it’s still great journalism, and it’s heartening to think there will always be a place for that kind of work, even if everybody can’t do it every day, nor should they.

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Top qualities of a top journalist

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Screen Shot 2013-01-26 at 10.00.59 AMContributed 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 journalist has to be a dedicated one. He says you have to be willing to work the longer shifts and do the grunt work, really roll with the punches, to be successful in this business.

2. Persistence

Reporter Justin Hanson says there are going to be times when you have to be persistent to get the interview that will make your story come to life. Stick with it and you will be surprised what you can do.

3. Creativity

Associate Producer Denisha Thomas says creativity drives the newsroom. You have to really use the right side of your brain and figure out what matters to your public and deliver it in a creative way.

4. Desire

Anchor/ Reporter Lindsey Brown says you have to have the desire to make a difference through what you write and what you report. You have to push through the long hours and realize that your hard work will pay off.

5. News Consumption

Assistant News Director Regina Thomas says keep writing and read a lot! Consume news from different outlets, both local and national, to compare and learn why and how they report the way they do.

It isn’t the most obvious skills and attributes — editing, writing, interviewing — that each of these successful journalists lists as most important. Instead, they say, their list includes the things that matter most when you are pushed for deadline, hunting down the interview or covering breaking news.

Anna Ellingburg is a senior at the University of Mississippi with an emphasis in broadcast journalism. She recently completed an internship at WMC.

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How to build sources as a journalist

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Contributed by Lauren McLaughlin

A car wreck on I-55, an armed robbery and a significant court case — how can one person cover them all? Lekitha Terrell, an assignment editor at WJTV in Jackson, Miss., has been in the journalism industry for eight years. She says that without sources to help you find accurate information, those stories won’t make the air.

So, how can new journalists build their sources? Terrell says persistence is key.

“On a daily basis you have to contact the same people. I know it may seem like you’re getting on their nerves but it really does pay off,” says Terrell.

It doesn’t take long to make your name recognizable, if you are willing to work at it, according to Terrell.

School officials, police departments, sheriff dispatchers or court workers are all potential sources for a journalist. Once a journalist proves to be trustworthy, the information will come more frequently says Terrell.

MelanieMelanie Christopher has been an anchor or reporter in the Jackson market for more than 25 years. She says that journalists must be two people when it comes to sources.

“You have to be compassionate, but at the same time you’re there to do your job,” says Christopher.

She says a journalist has to be friendly enough to get on a personal level with a source so he can feel comfortable and information will flow more freely. At the same time, the journalist must maintain a professional relationship. Christopher says that all too often she will witness a new reporter trying to badger a source for information. She says this can be effective for that one story, but more than likely, that source will not come to that reporter again.

Christopher also says reporters should keep their ears open because anyone can be a source. What she calls a “hearsay” tip can occasionally lead to a “scoop.”

Many new reporters will enter the job market in May and some may worry that their youth will work against them when it comes to building sources. Christopher says it shouldn’t be a problem.

“It’s all about how bad you want it. Your age won’t matter. A county official can tell if you have come to get the story and will treat you as professional as you act.”

Lauren McLaughlin is a senior in broadcast journalism at the University of Mississippi. She just completed an internship at WJTV.

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Five pieces of the storytelling puzzle

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According to videographer Nathan Thompson, there are five essential elements to every good story. The former National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Photographer of the Year thinks of them as puzzle pieces that the storyteller has to fit together.

1. The story open. Thompson says you need to grab the audiences’s attention, introduce them to characters and establish the setting or the mood. For this reason, Thompson says  he likes to rely on natural sound as a story opener.  ”It engrosses people in the environment,” said Thompson. “Think of natural sound as the film score for your story.”

2. Story intrigue.  Thompson says storytellers need to shoot the unexpected, capture details and look for themes.  He says he seldom uses his best video at the very start of a story.  ”Don’t give everything away right off the bat, each story needs to be a journey,” Thompson said.

3. Story development.  According to Thompson, you can’t settle for any old b-roll if you’re going to shoot a great story.  He says you have to take the time to get your story characters interacting with others and their environment — don’t just settle for head shots.  ”Log everything,” said Thompson. “The more familiar you are with the content, the better your story will be.”

4.  Story climax.  When you’re out shooting a story you have to “stay perceptive” says Thompson.  Great storytellers anticipate moments as Thompson did in a story about a man who lost his home in a fire.

S2_04_NathanB_ILostEverything

5. The story close. Just as important as that attention grabbing open is the story’s close, according to Thompson. Consider ending with negative action — movement away from the camera — or try the echo approach where your opening visual is echoed with a similar shot at the end.

And the most important piece?

“Find a way to care about the people in your story. If you don’t care, how the hell do you expect the audience to care?”

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Telling great video stories, fast

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The first word in telling video stories efficiently is “focus,” according to videographer Lisa Berglund.  The former  National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Photographer of the Year says your story assignment is a location, it’s up to you to find the actual story.

“It’s not just shoot it,” said Berglund.  ”Before you pick up your camera, be sure you understand the assignment and where it fits in to the big picture.”

Berglund says she mentally storyboards what she will shoot for each story — thinking through the shots she will take and how she will sequence them.  For less experienced photojournalists, Berglund suggests creating a shot list — simply writing down all the video elements you might want to gather and then actually checking them off as you get them. Berglund says you’ll get better at it by forcing yourself to critique your own work.

“Take the first paragraph of a story you’ve done that you don’t think you shot well.  Draw out a storyboard of how you wish you would have shot it,” said Berglund.

For a piece she produced on the impact of a wildfire, Berglund says she found a great character, and as she listened to what he said, she came up with the shots she needed to visualize the story.

“Im always moving myself toward the power of the story — the most important character, the most interesting visuals.”

But Berglund is frank about how powerful visual stories get produced.

“Until the camera becomes an extension of your your eye, where you don’t have to think about the technical stuff, you can’t focus purely on storytelling.”

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Simple, interactive graphic on gun control

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ProPublica has put up a new graphic that shows at a glance where members of Congress stand on gun rights and gun control. Using the now-standard red and blue tints to indicate party affiliation, Republican or Democrat, the graphic shows the NRA’s ratings for both Senate and House members, NRA contributions to each member, and how they voted on the previous assault weapons ban. It’s timely, useful and clear as a bell.  The source of the data for each tab is also clearly noted. Nicely done.

ProPublica-guns

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Tips for multimedia journalists on writing fast

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Video journalist Anne Herbst firmly believes in preparation. She does research on stories before leaving the newsroom. She shows up to assignments early so she can meet people and figure out in advance who might be a strong character. And she writes fast–an essential skill when you’re working by yourself and you have to do it all.

Herbst is a former TV news photojournalist for KUSA-TV in Denver who now works for the Denver Post, where she shoots, writes and sometimes voices her own stories. She’s able to write fast, she says, because she logs every bit of her video. But that’s not her only trick for writing in a hurry. She also uses her smart phone to help her write on the go.

Herbst started writing stories while she was still in local TV because she saw where things were going in the news business. She encourages photojournalists to write VO/SOTs and urges reporters to take out a camera and learn to use it. “You want to be able to do everything,” Herbst says. “I learned it before I had to.”

Something else Herbst has learned: how to do interviews when working alone. “Have a person lean on something so they’re not moving around a lot and you can step away from the camera.” She also frames interviews differently so she can cut back and forth between them. “You don’t have to add [cutaway] shots, and it takes a whole chunk of edit time out.”

You can see both techniques at work in this story:

Herbst isn’t just skilled at telling stories, she’s a master at finding them, too. As a self-described “people person,” she’s always asking what’s going on. “On a VO/SOT, hand our your card,” she advises. “You don’t have to shoot a great story on the VO/SOT but you might get another story.” Herbst also finds stories on bulletin boards in coffee shops, in small newspapers, and during conversations in bars with random people. It’s simple, she says: “Be nice, be a human being, be interested.”

One more piece of advice from Herbst about working alone: Take care of yourself.  When you’re alone, you don’t have anyone to talk to, or vent at or to give you a hug at the end of a tough day. Covering the Aurora theater shooting, Herbst was exposed to massive amounts of pain and grieving. “I had no idea how that would affect me,” she says. Her suggestion: “Talk to people who have been through same thing. Do something for yourself even though people say you don’t have time. Keep yourself sane.”

Originally published at NewsLab

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