Sorry

Sorry for the extra long hiatus…will be back soon, I hope.

Time For A Movie

My boss jokes that his fiancé hates going to parties hosted by reporters because inevitably there will be a conversation about the woes of the industry. At a party last week, I think maybe an hour or two passed before the topic arose. The main subject was the Tallahassee Democrat, a Gannett property that has slashed its staff leaving behind few reporters and little newsroom morale. But we also talked about the push for video on news Web sites and whether readers are actually viewing the video. The Democrat reporters involved in this conversation said not a high percentage of videos were being viewed by a lot of people.

So, is the amount of work worth it? I say yes, but with a caveat. There doesn’t need to be video with every story. Many news organizations seem to put up video just so they can say they have video, which is pointless.

MAKE IT GOOD VIDEO THAT PACKS A PUNCH!

As a Penn State grad, I have unwavering allegiance to the Daily Collegian, which is doing a great job with video. (Sadly that started after I graduated). The Collegian does not do video with a lot of stories though, only big ones. For example, after the Nittany Lions thrashed Ohio State earlier this year, Penn Staters poured into the streets of downtown State College to celebrate. The result: a mini riot. Not exactly the finest moment for Penn State, but a great moment for the Collegian, whose quick thinking staff caught most of it on video and posted it online. Is it the same quality that highly trained videographers could put out? No, of course not. But the video captured that riot scene better than words could.

And on top of that, the video was seen by 70,000 people in the first two days it was posted, said Collegian Editor In Chief Terry Casey. Even my sister, who attends a private college in Pittsburgh, saw the video after hearing about the riots. A friend of hers had been in State College for the weekend and mentioned the riot to her, so my sister logged on to the Collegian and there was the video.

Of course, this isn’t a piece of cake. You need a camera (ideally your news organization will be providing one). I bought one at Target for about $100 last year so I could teach myself. Your computer probably came with some sort of video editing software, so start learning on that. My sister the film major notes that Avid and Final Cut Pro are the editing software giants, but playing around on your computer will definitely give you a leg up.

Also, check out the blog MultimediaShooter for some advice from a pro. This blog does a great job at recommending products and showcasing great multimedia projects from journalists around the country.

FREE Photoshop-Like Tool

I’m watching the Rose Bowl/mourning the fact that PSU is getting blown out and figured I might as well do some writing while I’m sitting here. It will distract me from the disaster I’m watching on TV. If you are a PSU grad, student or fan, you feel my pain right now.

Anyway, I was checking out the Online News Association’s “Technology and Tools’ group discussion and perused the list of tools from Danny Sanchez at the Orlando Sentinel. It’s a pretty extensive list, but the one I decided to look at was Picnik, a photoshop like application. The big benefit here is that it is free! (A premium package is available for about $25) But it also seems fairly simple if you play with it.

To play with it, I just decided to make one photo black and white. You can also draw on your photos, make collages and all sorts of other fun things. Here are my photos.

Kathleen in color

Social Media

What’s your favorite social media application? Do you tweet with regularity? Are you an obsessive Facebook updater?

But I wonder, how big is the impact? My company uses Facebook and Twitter, which has attracted some notice. We gained a few subscribers from blast messages on the sites about a free trial of the News Service.  On a personal note, I usually post on Twitter when I have updated my blog and it seems to bring some readers into the site.

I tend to think, why shouldn’t I, or others, be using social media. If it brings you even a few more readers, that’s definitely a plus. I’ve also come up with more than a few stories from Facebook or Twitter. 

But how do you maximize the use of these sites? Is posting headlines or updates enough? Should you be direct messaging or replying ot other users? Should you be on as many sites as possbile or target the ones that specifically work for you or your company?

Here are my thoughts…

* Not every social networking site is going to work for you. For example, my company is subscription based. So, I’m not going to post on some content sharing sites and give away the product. We do need to make money. Don’t forget that journalism is a business, no matter how noble you think it is.  And unless you work at a huge news organization where there is a person whose entire job is to handle social networking, you don’t have time to sit at the computer all day browsing those sites. Stories need to be written.  So, find what works for you/your organization, and make the most of it.

* Making your presence known on Facebook might let sources fe3el like they know you better. While I still feel a bit weird using Facebook to contact sources, I’m amazed how quickly sources will occasionally message you back on Facebook instead of calling you. I don’t know why, but it happens. If you have a quick question and not a plethora of information, it could be the way to go.  It goes against the traditional grain of working the phone, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

* Do blast message members of your company Facebook group, but not too often. Think about how many times you delete those messages. But, if you want to alert them to something special, this could be very effective.

Remember, all of this is free and doesn’t take up a lot of your time. Do you have any ideas or better ways to utilize social networking sites for your news org?

Some Writing Tips From Newbies and Veterans

I usually like to stick to the free multimedia tools, but I’ve found that in recent days I’ve been thinking more about writing. It’s essential to great journalism. Good writing draws readers in and keeps them captive until the end of your story.

I love that I get paid to write every day, but I know that as a young writer, I am still finding my voice and working to improve my craft. For my own improvement and for this blog, I took a random survey of young writers and a few veterans, to get their thoughts. I try to learn something from every person I work with; you can never stop learning. So here’s a sample of thoughts from some of my friends and mentors.

Feel free to add your thoughts!

THE NEWBIES

Matt Chayes, crime reporter, Newsday

I try to read crime stories from competitors to see how they handled the same facts (what they topped it with, what they kicked it with, how they described what I saw, etc.) and try to incorporate that into my writing/reporting style.

But also, I like to read stories published in other non-American English-speaking nations to see if, say, the Brits or the Aussie’s way of doing “the funeral story” or obits or scene setters or reac are better/different from ours,

Stephanie Woodrow, writer, The Advisory Board

“Read 50 ways to write by Roy Peter Clark – It’ll change your life and writing forever.”

Ariel Van Cleave, reporter, WBAA

I approach writing the same way I approached music… practice. Sure, I listen to a TON of NPR reporters throughout the day, and yes, that will of course affect me and my writing, but I practice. I used to take stories written in newspapers and write them in broadcast style. Something else I do is if I’m telling someone a story, I sometimes switch into reporter mode and practice my delivery. That’s not something print folks need to worry about… how you actually say what you’ve written… but it’s a beast of an issue for us radio/TV folk.

The old standby is Hemingway. He wrote in a very straight-forward style that broadcasters can learn from. But Chuck Palahniuk has been an influence on me, too, I think. He writes in a very abrupt sort of way. Sometimes it’s very staccato, but flows really nicely… more like he’s narrating a story rather than writing. Also, I like a lot of Indian authors because of the flow of their text. Jhumpa Lahiri wrote The Namesake and it’s a beautiful piece of work. I sometimes can’t stand reading a book or article or whatever if it’s not conversational. It’s bizarre.”

Kartikay Mehrotra, reporter, Rockford Register Star

I’ve been working on getting frequently used phrases out of my writing. Often times, because of deadline pressures, I skate-by on whatever phrasing I type onto a page first. But when I do have time to really tighten and re-word, my goal has been to break up those syntactical clichés, i.e. skate-by.

Ken Lowe, reporter, Decatur Herald and Review

The biggest challenge has been whipping my leads into shape so that there might be somebody, somewhere, who even wants to read anything I write about.  Part of that is trying to find a creative way to say the same thing over and over, particularly when you’re dealing with the city council here, who have been trying to build a new police station since I don’t know when.

THE VETERANS

Gene Foreman, former managing editor, Philadelphia Inquirer

Find some good writers and read their work regularly. This is easier in the Web era than it was before. For example, I would pick out a dozen writers and read everything they write – not to copy their style, but to raise your appreciation of writing skill. An example is Anne Hull, a dogged reporter and a beautiful writer. The New Yorker and Vanity Fair have excellent writers, and you could tap them online if you don’t want to spend the money on the magazines. Poynter produces a book each year on the best newspaper writing, so that too is a good source.

As for practicing, you may have already developed the habit of editing your own copy to tighten and smooth it. Go back a day or a week later and review something you’ve written; with a fresh look, you can improve it even more. Also, and this is something I’ve mentioned before, report deeply. Gather much more information than you need, then select the best details. Don’t leave holes in your stories.

Gene Gibbons, executive editor, Stateline.org

Study poetry, seek good editing, and write outside of work.

John Micek, statehouse bureau chief, The Morning Call

Two books played an absolutely critical role in my development as a young journalist: “Holidays in Hell,” by P.J. O’Rourke and “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas,” by Hunter S. Thompson. Both are all about taking chances with language and finding your own voice as a writer. One of the pitfalls of our industry is our fear of sometimes letting writers have their own voice.  The two books are my reminder to always take chances.

Second, I think I benefited by working in college radio and interning in television news as a college student. As a result, I now read every story out loud as a I write it. If your tongue trips over the phrases, then the chances are pretty good that the reader will trip over them as well. Remember, before there was writing, there was oral tradition. If you can’t tell a story out loud, then you probably can’t write it down either.

Jackie Jones, reporter/editor, Jones Coaching LLC

After you finish writing your first draft, get up and walk away for 15-30 minutes, if you can. Watch some TV, have a snack, take a short walk, anything that doesn’t involve reading or writing. Come back and reread your story, out loud. Does it flow smoothly or are you tripping over your tongue? If it’s the latter, that’s usually a sign that there is a mistake somewhere in the sentence. Does the story make sense? Is the narrative easy to follow? If it makes sense and the grammar, spelling and punctuation are in good shape, send it on. If not, work on the corrections and read the ENTIRE story again. If possible, let a friend or colleague read it to see if it makes sense to him, too. Once you’re convinced it’s as good as you can make it, send it to your editor.

FREE Photo Gallery Tool

As I was sitting in my big comfy chair, reading the Sunday paper, browsing online news sites and drinking hot cocoa, I came across a post on an ONA group about a new photo tool from Microsoft called Photosynth.

The free Microsoft application creates a photo gallery based on overlapping images, so you see the subject of the photos at all different angles. One of my favorites is a synth by National Geographic on the Taj Mahal. It’s really quite extraordinary to see the site from so many different angles.

The trick to this application seems to be taking as many photos as possible. The photos I have saved on my computer are pretty random and usually stem from parties or get togethers. So, I couldn’t create an effective one with my random photos. However, for a photojournalist who likely takes numerous pictures of the same thing from different angles, this is the perfect tool for them to create a cool visualization.

I upload some of my random photos to understand the process, and it’s a snap.  There’s also an instructional video to help you out. So start shooting!

Here are a few other really nice synths for you to look at.

– A Cathedral

–  Prague Old Town Square

– Times Square

A Novice Multimedia Guide

Gotta give a shout out to 10,000 Words, which put together this fabulous guide to new media terms. Want to know what an API is or vlog? You can find out on their list here.

More later today. Just saw this and wanted to pass it on.

Big Projects and E-Learning at NewsU

I hate e-learning. I hated the one online class I took in college and I hated using the writing center’s e-learning system to help writers fix a comma, strengthen a thesis or improve a paper’s structure. But welcome to the adult world where e-learning fits so much better into the daily grind than going to a seminar. (I’d still rather learn in person, but that’s just me).

If you’re a journalist and don’t know about newsu.org, you should check it out. Run in conjunction with Poynter, the site offers webinars –many of which are FREE — to journalists on a variety of topics. Are you an education reporter? The Hechinger Institute offers a course on trends in education (In interest of full disclosure, I haven’t taken that one yet). The one that caught my eye today was online project development. I’m about to embark on a project at work that is undoubtedly going to take a lot of my time. But I think it is worth the time and effort and want the final project to be as close to flawless as it can be.

NewsU offers two courses from the Online News Association on how to plan and execute online projects. Beef up on how to plan for the web from the very early stages to actually putting the final product together. It even touches on how to market your product. The second course takes journalists through three projects by major news organizations and how they produced effective copy, photos and video to reach their readers. The first course got me thinking about what I need to do tomorrow when I go into work as far as sketching the project out with multimedia. The second one gave me a great idea for something the News Service (my place of employment) could do as a whole. If you get one story or content idea out of these webinars, aren’t they worth it? Plus, you have nothing to really lose because most of them are FREE.

So be a nerd, and go take a course on whichever journalism topic strikes your fancy!

Free stuff

I forgot to mention that the links for the tutorial and demo were all free. So, go crazy!

Soundslides

Today’s topic: Soundslides. I went back to a previous blog post where I swore to teach myself some cool new things and realizing my failure, set to rectify the situation. I was also moved by the list of things to teach the next crop of journalists and figured I should get to it. So, I picked soundslides, not totally knowing what I was getting into. I managed to create one pretty quickly by using a demo from soundslides.com and looking at a tutorial from Popphoto.com

The first thing I needed to do was pick some photos. Since I was at home working, I selected a crop of photos from graduate school. To up the level of nerdiness, I used a 7:30 newscast from WUIS as the background sound, which featured fellow PAR 2008 grad Jenna Dooley.

Now, I didn’t go crazy and this obviously wasn’t meant for news consumption. But, it was a good way to start and get comfortable with the concept.  After I finished the soundslides, I was oh-so-proud of myself, despite the fact that the finished product really wasn’t that fabulous. Feeling nostalgic after looking at all of the pictures, I immediately fired off an email to my grad school chums and tried to send the html file and it won’t open for them. I’m thinking there is something I need to do to the file, but I just don’t know what that is. Note to self: Ask IT guy at work.

Anyway, I wanted to include a link of a truly great project that the Star Tribune did this past August for the one-year anniversary of the bridge collapse. If you haven’t seen it already, you should really check it out.