You’ve heard the advice before: Be conversational, sound like a human being, don’t just read–communicate! But where do you start? For Carrie Johnson, NPR’s Justice Department correspondent, it all starts with the script. She had a career in print before…
Taping microphones to light stands. Producing newscasts from home. Doing live shots on an iPad. Local TV journalists across the country are improvising and McGyvering to get the news out to their communities as they cope with the effects of…
Sounding natural is hard work. “You’re never just reading words, you’re communicating a message,” says George Bodarky of WFUV public radio in New York City. The key is to sound like yourself, not a robotic announcer-person like the fictional Ted…
Where did it go? I keep hearing people on the air saying “impor’ant” and “Brih’an” and I can’t help but wonder what happened to the T. Was it not considered important enough to say Britain? I thought I might be…
Think you don’t have a voice for podcasting? That’s what Amber Hunt, a reporter at the Cincinnati Enquirer, had been told. When she recorded Accused, an investigation into an unsolved murder, she struggled to get used to the microphone and had…
When I worked at CBS I was often asked where in the Midwest I was from. I’ve never lived a day of my life in the Midwest. No one in my immediate family was from the Midwest. But apparently, I…
Joe Little is an MMJ by choice and loves working alone. He shoots, edits, and does his own live shots from the field for KGTV in San Diego, California. He even produces his own graphics. “There is nothing a traditional…
What are the keys to creating a successful podcast? That depends on how you define success. Podcasts are niche products, by definition. “When you choose a topic, you are limiting the size of your audience,” says Michael O’Connell, host of…
It’s no secret that Facebook is a major driver of traffic to local TV news websites, but there is less certainty that social media has an impact on newscast ratings. Marketshare’s Paul Greeley explored the issue recently since it’s the…
If you don’t have time for social media, you don’t have time for your customers. So says Chip Mahaney, a recruiter for E.W. Scripps, who offers suggestions for journalists trying to expand their social footprints. “Be social, not awkward. It’s not…
