Strong writing, defending quality: key advice from weekend workshops
Besides the legendary reunion of Woodward and Bernstein ,
the SPJ Convention had a wealth of multimedia and tech workshops. It may take me a few days to catch up with
all of it, but I plan to share as much information as possible.
To me, the real emphasis throughout the weekend in D.C. was
that you couldn’t beat a strong writing background. This is encouraging to those of us who’ve built our careers on
words, pounding keyboards and scribbling in notebooks, entering an era where
visual storytelling is dominant.
“Let this equipment, the pens we us to write on paper and
the pens we use to capture video and audio, let those things help us to tell
the story,” said John Strauss, senior reporter and editor for IndyStar.com, in
his session on backpack journalism.
The talk was the same whether it was coming from Strauss,
preaching to gospel of multimedia in a workshop, or talking with award-winning
investigative television reporter Hagit Limor (WCPO-TV, Cincinnati) and news
director Vince Duffy (Michigan Public
Radio) setting around a table in the hotel lounge late at night. Limor and
Duffy’s advice to a young broadcast journalist was the same: it’s all about the writing.
If we remember that we’re still telling stories, no matter
what form we use, it’s the start to breaking through our imagined barriers
about new technology and what will be required of us as our industry changes.
“Keep it simple; let people tell their stories,” Strauss
said.
Of course, I liked Strauss because we’re of similar minds
that we shouldn’t let equipment, or lack thereof, get in the way of telling a
good story. Strauss works his stories
with a point-and-shoot camera, the Canon Powershot S-5 (under $300)
For more, read Strauss’ notes, links and examples from his workshop.
Now I can hear some teeth gnashing from those on the visual
and photo side, concerned that quality is being ignored in all of this talk
about sending reporters out into the field with point-and-shoot cameras.
Rest assured.
“Defend quality,” Strauss said. Tell editors you need the time to learn the tools and how to do
it right. Maybe start on features or
evergreen stories that don’t pressure for deadlines and move to hard news and
daily rigors only when you’re ready.
Also the SPJ Convention offered not just one, but two workshops throughout the weekend on teaching those who weren’t reared on
photography the basics of that point-and-shoot camera.
New York Times photographer David Handschuh ran “Photo 101
for Reporters, Editors (and other non-photo people) on Thursday. Chip Somodeville, staff photographer for
Getty Images led Saturday’s “From Word-herders to Shutter-bugs: Photography for
Writers.”
“Your two most important tools,” Somodeville said, “are you
left foot and your right foot.”
Use them, he said, to move around, get the right angles, the
right light and the right framework for your photos.