For many years now, on-air journalists have been urged to do active stand-ups. In the best examples, the reporter serves as a kind of tour guide for the audience. Here’s the advice we’ve offered in Advancing the Story on how…
Tag: Stand-ups
Tips from a prize-winning solo video journalist
Working alone in the field can be a challenge, but it’s a challenge that Michelle Michael has mastered. Since 2003, she’s been shooting, writing and editing her own stories for the US Armed Forces Network. This year, she won the…
Tips for better stand-ups
Love them or hate them, TV reporters have to do stand-ups.A stand-up can help to establish a reporter’s credibility and build a relationship with viewers, giving them a face to put with the voice. The trouble is, too many stand-ups…
Three keys to better TV delivery
Demo reel disasters
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…
Taming the multi-platform beast
The transition from general assignment reporter to multi-platform journalist isn’t always easy, but people who’ve made the switch often say they’d never go back. For Josh Hinkle of KXAN-TV in Austin, Texas, working as a one-man band makes it easier…
Shooting your own stand ups
What not to do in a standup
Here’s a question I get all the time: What kind of standups and live shots should a reporter include in a resume tape montage? The simple answer is to feature only your very best stuff, with the goal of showing…
Surviving a live shot disaster
It’s a given. If you’re going live on television, sooner or later something wacky will happen and it will be caught on camera. Back in the old days, you could expect to be teased by your newsroom colleagues and perhaps…
Why stand-ups matter
Stand-ups should never be an afterthought, says award-winning photojournalist Darren Durlach of WBFF-TV in Baltimore. He makes a point of talking with reporters on the way to the story to plan the day’s stand-up. Many photojournalists dislike shooting stand-ups, but…