You might think the news business is changing faster than ever before, but anyone who started in TV before videotape (like me) can tell you that it’s been in transition for years. John Goheen, the only three-time NPPA Photographer of…
Month: October 2007
The hardest part of the job
Reporters call it “door knocking” and most of them hate it. Joe Fryer of KARE-TV in Minneapolis, Minn., is no exception. The one part of his job that he absolutely loathes, Fryer says, is asking family members to talk after…
Webcast producing
Anyone who produces Webcasts or streams newscasts online might want to take a look at what ABC News is doing with its afternoon Webcast, called “World News.” According to an article in the New York Times: “It is intended in…
Simple graphics make complex stories clear
Simple graphics sometimes work better than highly-produced interactives when it comes to explaining a complicated process. The Wall Street Journal accompanied a story about kidney transplants with a series of four illustrations that walk users through the problems people often…
Multimedia can add diversity
“Multimedia has the power to reach a more diverse audience. Mastering these new communications tools is how African Americans can ensure they will continue to have a voice in government and advance their own personal power.” Speaking to an audience…
Becoming a “director’s producer”
The best television news producers will tell you that they always try to build an excellent relationship with their directors. Producers who realize that directors are more than “button punchers and camera callers” find their shows looking better and communicating content…
Crowdsourcing the news
The power of words
We live in a multimedia world, surrounded by images, but words still have power. That’s what I took away from a Newsweek feature about two new English versions of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” The piece quotes one of the translators,…
Not your father’s newsroom
“We’re in the most exciting, amazing time in the history of journalism,” says Chet Rhodes, Deputy Multimedia Editor/Breaking News at washingtonpost.com. Rhodes spoke October 8 before a crowd of students and faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University. He says in the…
Don’t drop local sports, change it
Market research indicates that sports is near the bottom of the list of reasons people give for watching local TV news. Some stations, most recently WTKR-TV in Norfolk, Va., have decided to drop the local sports segment to save money…