Multimedia Editor Samantha Youngman and I had a conversation yesterday about the conflicting emotions newspeople experience when a big story comes along that's also a tragedy.
Sam's dad was a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, and his newsroom, like all newsrooms, got excited when a big, tragic story was breaking. I had a similar experience in a Twin Cities TV newsroom in 1986 when the space shuttle exploded, killing everyone aboard.
Gathering facts and racing a deadline to report them gets the adrenalin pumping and makes the journalists covering the story almost euphoric over the opportunity to do what they do best: report the news.
It does feels ghoulish (at least to me) to get excited over human tragedies such as the Challenger explosion or the Brett Olson disappearance. But I think being a journalist in the middle of a tragic story doing a professional job of telling that story is a reason to celebrate what we do.
Here's why.
The thorough and professional job of reporting the Olson story that Orion reporters and editors did meant that rumors were kept under control, the authorities were able to get help with the search and the community learned the facts of the tragedy from reliable sources.
Maybe more important, The Orion's efforts and the efforts of other journalists brought the campus and city communities together to support the Olsons and one another.
I think journalism is at its best when it can create and foster community, even when the circumstances are awful. You should be proud (if not happy) that you could be part of it.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Fine-tuning The Orion website
It's nice to see The Orion website get better little by little as the weeks pass. Having both the news and sports Twitter feeds on the right column of the home page now guarantees that readers see fresh content every time they visit. Bringing the camera closer to the talent dramatically improved the webcast, as did getting rid of the big-type anchor identifiers and putting Quinn in the newsroom instead of against a stagnant photo background. Adding Instagram posts to the home page was a nice way to get photos into the breaking-news mix in that right column. Keep it up!
Here are a few more suggestions:
• When you have a huge story (like this weekend's recovery of Brett Olson's body), don't be afraid to blow up the standard format of the home page to play it better. The menus will always be on the page to help visitors find the rest of your content, so feel free to make a one-subject splash when you have big news.
• I know I'm already a broken record about getting and using more video, but I thought the police news conferences over the weekend would have been natural additions to the package of Olson stories and would have allowed you to add sound/video to the webcast.
• Great idea to break schedule and have a special webscast on Saturday to update the story. Another special 'cast on Sunday, when Brett's body was found, would have been a good idea, too.
Here are a few more suggestions:
• When you have a huge story (like this weekend's recovery of Brett Olson's body), don't be afraid to blow up the standard format of the home page to play it better. The menus will always be on the page to help visitors find the rest of your content, so feel free to make a one-subject splash when you have big news.
• I know I'm already a broken record about getting and using more video, but I thought the police news conferences over the weekend would have been natural additions to the package of Olson stories and would have allowed you to add sound/video to the webcast.
• Great idea to break schedule and have a special webscast on Saturday to update the story. Another special 'cast on Sunday, when Brett's body was found, would have been a good idea, too.
| • Start thinking about how you can get more video, even basic voice-over shots, for the newscast. Pictures that move are much more effective on TV than still pictures. Example: The story about Greek rush could have been illustrated with video of the sororities and fraternities tabling if someone had run outside and shot 15 seconds of cover video. That will help you... • ...stop using the Ken Burns effect on the webcast to simulate motion. • Is it possible to end each webcast with a two- or three-item calendar of what's happening that day on campus? And by the way, is someone updating the calendar? • It's important to get old news out of the way when news is breaking. The home page still has stories about the search from last week on it, even though Brett was found on Sunday. That situation emphasizes the need to present a fresh home page every day. • (Related) It's time for the ed board to sit down and talk about how much content belongs on the home page and what should be out there. Concentrate on what's posted on the opening home screen -- the area equivalent to a TV screen. It's just as important as the real estate above the fold on The Orion's front page. |
 |
Monday, September 10, 2012
Gold stars for the reporting this weekend!
I could not have been prouder of The Orion this weekend as the paper's reporters, editors and photographers covered the Brett Olson story. The coverage was sensitive, accurate and immediate, adding up to a professional effort on a sad, sad story for the Olsons and members of the Chico community who became part of their extended family during the search.
It also was a perfect example of how important having a digital-first mindset can be on a breaking story. Even without your extraordinary efforts on the website, Twitter and Facebook, almost everyone on campus will have known about the tragic ending to this story by the time the newspaper comes out Wednesday. So producing the breaking visual, textual and social-media reports this weekend was absolutely essential for The Orion to serve its readers.
Lots of people deserve credit for an extraordinary effort:
• Jenna Valdespino and Ben Mullin for directing and coordinating the coverage
• Lauren Beaven for editing copy and Lauren and Kacey Gardner for putting information up on theorion.com as it was ready.
• Reporters Quinn Western, Pedro Quintana, Ben Mullin and Katrina Cameron
• Photographers Frank Rebelo and Liam Turner
• Samantha Youngman and staff for putting up a special webcast on Saturday.
Very nice work on a very tough story.
It also was a perfect example of how important having a digital-first mindset can be on a breaking story. Even without your extraordinary efforts on the website, Twitter and Facebook, almost everyone on campus will have known about the tragic ending to this story by the time the newspaper comes out Wednesday. So producing the breaking visual, textual and social-media reports this weekend was absolutely essential for The Orion to serve its readers.
Lots of people deserve credit for an extraordinary effort:
• Jenna Valdespino and Ben Mullin for directing and coordinating the coverage
• Lauren Beaven for editing copy and Lauren and Kacey Gardner for putting information up on theorion.com as it was ready.
• Reporters Quinn Western, Pedro Quintana, Ben Mullin and Katrina Cameron
• Photographers Frank Rebelo and Liam Turner
• Samantha Youngman and staff for putting up a special webcast on Saturday.
Very nice work on a very tough story.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Adding video to your journalism toolkit
I was obviously pretty disappointed (but not surprised) Wednesday when I asked during critique for a show of hands of people who had shot video for theorion.com in the previous week. Not a single hand went up, which was consistent with the amount of video (outside of the daily webscast) that had been posted to the website (none).
Shooting, editing and producing video stories for the web isn't the same as goofing around with the video tool on an iPhone, but there are lots of free resources available that can get reporters up and storytelling with video. Here are a few I like:
Make Internet TV - A Knight Foundation-funded website that gives clear, easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for shooting, editing and publishing video on the Internet. It's also platform-neutral, so if you work on a Windows or Linux system, you can still use this guide. Here's one of the people who put it together:
10 Steps for Shooting Better Video With Your iPhone - The very definition of quick and easy, this is a set of tips with brief, understandable explanations and a big photo of each technique to make things clear. Written by R.J. Bookwalter for Mac Life.
Tips for Shooting Video Interviews - This list seems pretty commonsensical, but it will help anyone avoid some of the most common mistakes people make when interviewing with a camera. The comments that follow are very helpful, too.
Mindy McAdams' iMovie Tutorial - A journalism professor's step-by-step guide to editing video on the easiest video editing software available. This is a downloadable PDF with a link at the end to more advanced iMovie tips. Part of the Journalists' Toolkit website that has lots of other resources for reporters and editors.
Ten Ways to Improve Your Multimedia Production Right Now - A webpage on the MediaStorm website with advanced tips for digital media production, including examples of what's being described. A great page to look at after mastering the basics.
Shooting, editing and producing video stories for the web isn't the same as goofing around with the video tool on an iPhone, but there are lots of free resources available that can get reporters up and storytelling with video. Here are a few I like:
Make Internet TV - A Knight Foundation-funded website that gives clear, easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for shooting, editing and publishing video on the Internet. It's also platform-neutral, so if you work on a Windows or Linux system, you can still use this guide. Here's one of the people who put it together:
10 Steps for Shooting Better Video With Your iPhone - The very definition of quick and easy, this is a set of tips with brief, understandable explanations and a big photo of each technique to make things clear. Written by R.J. Bookwalter for Mac Life.
Tips for Shooting Video Interviews - This list seems pretty commonsensical, but it will help anyone avoid some of the most common mistakes people make when interviewing with a camera. The comments that follow are very helpful, too.
Mindy McAdams' iMovie Tutorial - A journalism professor's step-by-step guide to editing video on the easiest video editing software available. This is a downloadable PDF with a link at the end to more advanced iMovie tips. Part of the Journalists' Toolkit website that has lots of other resources for reporters and editors.
Ten Ways to Improve Your Multimedia Production Right Now - A webpage on the MediaStorm website with advanced tips for digital media production, including examples of what's being described. A great page to look at after mastering the basics.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Where does news come from?
At critique yesterday, I encouraged everyone to be on the lookout for stories that surprise and delight Orion readers, but where do those stories actually come from? The answer is: lots of places.
Other media
Ben Mullin, who wrote the story on 2A about the Bear, found that story in the Chico Enterprise-Record. He didn't pick it up wholesale, of course, but it gave him the idea to call people who knew what was going on with the bar and Chico State and wrote his own story.
Reading other newspapers, watching TV news, listening to radio news (especially public radio), keeping track of local Twitter accounts and Facebook pages, and reading people who blog about the campus and community are all good ways to find stories. Sometimes what you see or read will lead you to re-report a story, but often news from elsewhere will stimulate you to think about localizing or adapting the story to fit your readership.
Tips
Ben didn't know where the E-R got its story originally, but he guessed it was probably from a call someone made to the newspaper. He's probably right. Sometimes people have an ax to grind, sometimes they think corruption or wrongdoing needs to be exposed and sometimes they would just like to see something in their newspaper. Having the newsroom phone number in the paper and email addresses at the end of stories is a good way to encourage tipsters. So is putting a message on theorion.com home page inviting people to submit news items.
Keeping your eyes open
I make a joke with friends about the skills I've developed as "a trained observer," but that really is what journalists are. If you notice that video rental stores suddenly have "for rent" signs in their windows, that trash seems to be accumulating behind downtown businesses or an unusual number of dogs seem to be on the loose in your neighborhood, you could be writing stories about a switch to digital movie delivery, a contract dispute between the city and trash haulers, and the sudden firing of the local dog catcher. Curiosity is probably the most important skill a journalist can develop.
News releases
Too much of the news we read is actually delivered to news organizations by public information and public relations people, but it would be difficult to publish a paper or air a news broadcast without these handouts. When someone calls a news conference, it's probably a good idea to be there. And California's public records laws make it difficult to get details from police unless the department issues a press release. Still, few real surprises come from people who manage the news for a living. And remember that all stories from news releases need follow up reporting to find out what the PR people aren't telling you.
Building relationships
The best stories I've covered have come from what used to be called shoe-leather reporting, running a subject-area beat every day. When I covered cops and courts, I personally stopped at the police station, sheriff's office, highway patrol office and county and federal clerk of courts offices every day. After awhile, those people got to know me, learned to trust me and started mentioning things to me that weren't in the files or official reports. It takes time on a beat to earn that trust, but it can pay big dividends in the long run.
If you aren't running a beat of some kind for The Orion, it's time to sit down with your editor and figure out a beat coverage plan. I think that's really the best way to find stories worth telling.
Other media
Ben Mullin, who wrote the story on 2A about the Bear, found that story in the Chico Enterprise-Record. He didn't pick it up wholesale, of course, but it gave him the idea to call people who knew what was going on with the bar and Chico State and wrote his own story.
Reading other newspapers, watching TV news, listening to radio news (especially public radio), keeping track of local Twitter accounts and Facebook pages, and reading people who blog about the campus and community are all good ways to find stories. Sometimes what you see or read will lead you to re-report a story, but often news from elsewhere will stimulate you to think about localizing or adapting the story to fit your readership.
Tips
Ben didn't know where the E-R got its story originally, but he guessed it was probably from a call someone made to the newspaper. He's probably right. Sometimes people have an ax to grind, sometimes they think corruption or wrongdoing needs to be exposed and sometimes they would just like to see something in their newspaper. Having the newsroom phone number in the paper and email addresses at the end of stories is a good way to encourage tipsters. So is putting a message on theorion.com home page inviting people to submit news items.
Keeping your eyes open
I make a joke with friends about the skills I've developed as "a trained observer," but that really is what journalists are. If you notice that video rental stores suddenly have "for rent" signs in their windows, that trash seems to be accumulating behind downtown businesses or an unusual number of dogs seem to be on the loose in your neighborhood, you could be writing stories about a switch to digital movie delivery, a contract dispute between the city and trash haulers, and the sudden firing of the local dog catcher. Curiosity is probably the most important skill a journalist can develop.
News releases
Too much of the news we read is actually delivered to news organizations by public information and public relations people, but it would be difficult to publish a paper or air a news broadcast without these handouts. When someone calls a news conference, it's probably a good idea to be there. And California's public records laws make it difficult to get details from police unless the department issues a press release. Still, few real surprises come from people who manage the news for a living. And remember that all stories from news releases need follow up reporting to find out what the PR people aren't telling you.
Building relationships
The best stories I've covered have come from what used to be called shoe-leather reporting, running a subject-area beat every day. When I covered cops and courts, I personally stopped at the police station, sheriff's office, highway patrol office and county and federal clerk of courts offices every day. After awhile, those people got to know me, learned to trust me and started mentioning things to me that weren't in the files or official reports. It takes time on a beat to earn that trust, but it can pay big dividends in the long run.
If you aren't running a beat of some kind for The Orion, it's time to sit down with your editor and figure out a beat coverage plan. I think that's really the best way to find stories worth telling.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
What's a runsheet?
One great way to make sure everyone is on the same page in a newsroom staffed with dozens of people is with a runsheet.
A million years ago, when I was a section editor at the Minnesota Daily, the runsheet was a six-foot page of newsprint tacked up in the middle of the newsroom. It listed every story assigned to every reporter, and everyone was welcome to scribble suggestions for coverage, photos and even editorial topics next to the entries.
Our runsheet at the St. Paul Pioneer Press when I edited there was six or seven single-spaced legal-sized sheets with the stories planned for that day, the line-up for that Sunday's paper and stories planned for the future. Every editor carried it into the 3 o'clock news meeting, where editors pitched their stories for 1A.
Both had the advantage of keeping everyone on the staff informed about what the paper was about to commit to print. Because they were shared documents, anyone on the staff could go to a reporter or editor with suggestions for making our coverage better. Related stories, sidebars and other extras were often the result.
Fast forward to the digital age and GoogleDocs. These days, a newsroom runsheet can be a totally interactive Google document and even include links to related stories, similar stories published elsewhere and anything else on the web (or another GoogleDoc) that would help the reporting.
The ideal person to manage The Orion runsheet is the managing editor, who is already playing air traffic controller in the newsroom by assigning stories each morning for that day's coverage. But the interactivity of GoogleDocs allows anyone on the staff to add story suggestions, making the runsheet a living document. This makes it possible for the online editors to see what's upcoming so they can plan website presentation, the designers can start thinking about elements for a package and everyone can offer suggestions to make the paper, the website and The Orion's social-media effort more compelling and more complete.
The other great thing about using a GoogleDoc is that a new one doesn't have to be typed up, printed and physically shared every day. Once a Google runsheet is created, old stories can be deleted and new ones added, all on a document that was shared once at the beginning of the semester.
A million years ago, when I was a section editor at the Minnesota Daily, the runsheet was a six-foot page of newsprint tacked up in the middle of the newsroom. It listed every story assigned to every reporter, and everyone was welcome to scribble suggestions for coverage, photos and even editorial topics next to the entries.
Our runsheet at the St. Paul Pioneer Press when I edited there was six or seven single-spaced legal-sized sheets with the stories planned for that day, the line-up for that Sunday's paper and stories planned for the future. Every editor carried it into the 3 o'clock news meeting, where editors pitched their stories for 1A.
Both had the advantage of keeping everyone on the staff informed about what the paper was about to commit to print. Because they were shared documents, anyone on the staff could go to a reporter or editor with suggestions for making our coverage better. Related stories, sidebars and other extras were often the result.
Fast forward to the digital age and GoogleDocs. These days, a newsroom runsheet can be a totally interactive Google document and even include links to related stories, similar stories published elsewhere and anything else on the web (or another GoogleDoc) that would help the reporting.
The ideal person to manage The Orion runsheet is the managing editor, who is already playing air traffic controller in the newsroom by assigning stories each morning for that day's coverage. But the interactivity of GoogleDocs allows anyone on the staff to add story suggestions, making the runsheet a living document. This makes it possible for the online editors to see what's upcoming so they can plan website presentation, the designers can start thinking about elements for a package and everyone can offer suggestions to make the paper, the website and The Orion's social-media effort more compelling and more complete.
The other great thing about using a GoogleDoc is that a new one doesn't have to be typed up, printed and physically shared every day. Once a Google runsheet is created, old stories can be deleted and new ones added, all on a document that was shared once at the beginning of the semester.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Baby steps
It's nice to see the website taking incremental steps toward being a consistent daily news platform for The Orion.
Over the weekend, tweets from the Labor Day traffic stops and a story and photos from the Sacramento River float were up on the site pretty much as they happened. The daily newscast reappeared after being absent Friday with better editing and more visuals to help tell the weekend's stories. Quinn and Pedro both did solid, sober, professional work reading their copy for the camera.
These improvements are bringing the website closer to what it needs to be: the equivalent of a daily newspaper or news broadcast for Chico State students. I think it's important to keep those models in mind as you produce the site, rather than the weekly shovel the website was last year. Samantha and I talked last Wednesday about the importance of making the home page, especially, look brand new every morning and more often if there's breaking news. Monday's home page was a good start.
Here are a few more suggestions for small improvements:
- I noticed a few photos from last week were still in the rotator module at the top of the home page when I opened the page early this morning. That changed after 11 a.m., which was nice to see. It's better to have one new photo in that top-of-page position than three photos in rotation if two of them are old. (Would you EVER see day-old or week-old video on a local TV news show?).
- The video newscast had "courtesy of" photos from the Sacramento River for the float story. Are the staff photographers not sharing their work with the newscast? That should change right away.
- I had trouble finding a slideshow of photos from the river. Did one not get put together?
- An event like the float is the ideal video story because it has both sights and sounds. If a photographer is there to shoot pictures, he or she could certainly come back with 30 seconds of video for the newscast. The reporter could have, too.
- The float was also an ideal opportunity to get students to talk on camera about their experience. You KNOW hits on the site will jump when the people interviewed tell their friends they're on "TV."
- Where's the sports? Tweets, photos, videos, interviews, scores, stats, reactions from the soccer games would have been great additions WHEN THE GAME WAS HAPPENING and shortly afterward for the webpage, and part of the webscast on Mondays. Time to get the sports department off the bench!
Late add: My apologies to the sports department. The writers ARE tweeting during games and posting game results as they happen. But I and anyone else navigating to The Orion home page wouldn't know that because all the content is back on the sports section home and the tweets aren't captured on the website. Any way to get those stories up front?
Over the weekend, tweets from the Labor Day traffic stops and a story and photos from the Sacramento River float were up on the site pretty much as they happened. The daily newscast reappeared after being absent Friday with better editing and more visuals to help tell the weekend's stories. Quinn and Pedro both did solid, sober, professional work reading their copy for the camera.
These improvements are bringing the website closer to what it needs to be: the equivalent of a daily newspaper or news broadcast for Chico State students. I think it's important to keep those models in mind as you produce the site, rather than the weekly shovel the website was last year. Samantha and I talked last Wednesday about the importance of making the home page, especially, look brand new every morning and more often if there's breaking news. Monday's home page was a good start.
Here are a few more suggestions for small improvements:
- I noticed a few photos from last week were still in the rotator module at the top of the home page when I opened the page early this morning. That changed after 11 a.m., which was nice to see. It's better to have one new photo in that top-of-page position than three photos in rotation if two of them are old. (Would you EVER see day-old or week-old video on a local TV news show?).
- The video newscast had "courtesy of" photos from the Sacramento River for the float story. Are the staff photographers not sharing their work with the newscast? That should change right away.
- I had trouble finding a slideshow of photos from the river. Did one not get put together?
- An event like the float is the ideal video story because it has both sights and sounds. If a photographer is there to shoot pictures, he or she could certainly come back with 30 seconds of video for the newscast. The reporter could have, too.
- The float was also an ideal opportunity to get students to talk on camera about their experience. You KNOW hits on the site will jump when the people interviewed tell their friends they're on "TV."
- Where's the sports? Tweets, photos, videos, interviews, scores, stats, reactions from the soccer games would have been great additions WHEN THE GAME WAS HAPPENING and shortly afterward for the webpage, and part of the webscast on Mondays. Time to get the sports department off the bench!
Late add: My apologies to the sports department. The writers ARE tweeting during games and posting game results as they happen. But I and anyone else navigating to The Orion home page wouldn't know that because all the content is back on the sports section home and the tweets aren't captured on the website. Any way to get those stories up front?
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