Bob Kaplitz is a consultant for Audience Research & Development. In a recent post, he produced an excellent 10 minute presentation on effective Web writing. He describes a new “prime time” for online news use. For example, use of computers,…
If you’re about to graduate, it may already be too late! OK, that’s an exaggeration, but reporter Allison Croghan says getting a job in TV news is easier when you start earlier than you may think. “I wish I would…
What could be more basic than a profile story, right? Yet, Sara Jackson a reporter and editor for UPI says they’re harder to write well than you may think. “Even with profiles, it’s important to have a news hook —…
“It’s not about the beer,” says Boyd Huppert, describing an assignment to profile a successful local brewery. Instead, Huppert’s story focused on the family behind the business — tapping into a universal theme. “My goal is to go out and…
Jason Lamb is a Murrow Award-winning TV news writer from Anchorage, AK. Earlier this week, he shared how meticulous logging of video is one of the building blocks of effective storytelling. Lamb says another key component is taking time to…
The Murrow Award for writing “demonstrates excellence in writing that conveys the feeling and significance of events to the listener or viewer.” That’s the goal of great storytelling, isn’t it? To help make the news matter. Last year’s national winner…
Jonathan Glenn says you just have to love telling stories to be a good writer, but Glenn, who works on the Fox Report, also has some concrete suggestions for telling good TV stories. “After you’ve gathered all the information you…
When you start out writing for broadcast, it can be hard to know when you’ve nailed it. Rick Russell is news director at WJTV in Jackson, Miss.; he says the best way to assess the quality of your story is…
I love using all the elements of multimedia storytelling–compelling video, sparkling sound and great graphics–but words still matter. A lot. A great script can make a story memorable, even if the video isn’t much better than wallpaper. A poorly-written script…
The problem with many news stories is that they’re not really stories at all. They’re a jumble of facts, often in no apparent logical order. What stories need, as we note in the book, is a focus and structure: beginning,…
