Getting into multimedia, video tips and cool apps
Mark Memmott said he became top blogger for USA TODAY and
got an assignment to Afghanistan, simply because “I was the 48-year-old guy
willing to give it a try.”
Mark and I are the same age and share the enthusiasm for
the digital future. His comments came
in the session “Adapting Now to the Digital Future” at the SPJ National
Convention this past weekend..
Other reporters asked Mark: Doesn’t carrying
around that equipment inhibit you? A
little, he said, but learning to gather video and audio also improved his
reporting skills.
“Having to do that made me much more aware of the sights and
sounds and smells,” he said. “I found it deepened my reporting and, in the end,
it was a better experience for the reader.”
Joining the panel: Jody Brannon, senior editor
of MSN.com, and Chet Rhodes, who provides video training for
WashingtonPost.com.
Jody said the keys driving to MSN’s audience are bright
headlines and tight, concise writing.
Among her advice on attracting views:
- Visuals
are key
- Headlines
are imperative: five times as many
people will read the head as read the body of the story.
- “Boring
is well … boring.”
The real fun of the new on-line reporting
community is not limiting yourself, she said. You
don’t always have to have video.
Sometimes good writing is all you need. But keep the tools available, know how to use them and, most importantly, when to use them.
“Be a producer,” she said. “Find the best way to tell a
story.”
Chet said the Washington Post has three levels of video:
reporters should know how to do at least the first two.
Tier 1: A simple
clip that tells a story or adds depth to a story. Rhodes said this is a
favorite example by reporter Kevin Sullivan.
Tier 2: An interview with B-roll to illustrate it.
Tier 3: A full
documentary style video. This is mostly
left to the videography staff.
Chet trains some 140 reporters on multimedia each month - not just in the on-line department but throughout the newsroom.
“We need to change our whole newsroom from a newspaper to a
news enterprise,” he said.
Great advice all newsrooms need to be following.
SOCIAL NETWORKING TO BECOME A BETTER JOURNALIST
Wrapping up some impressing on-line training, Amy
Gahran of
Boulder, Colo., and Barb Iverson of Chicago presented Sunday's "Web Productivity and Tech Tools Workout," which provided a real exercise in Web 2.0.
I love the online presenters, because they come with their own web and links pages:
Included is a discussion of social networking and how it
can help make us all better journalists.
And start using search feeds to help dig up info on your
daily beat.
If you’re looking
for more apps and widgets, check out Amy and Barb’s links list.
Some of them
may even help you better manage life.