What’s in a reporter’s notebook? (1)
1/23/12 •
by John Larson, correspondent, PBS Note taking for me has always been defined by deadline — the tighter it is, the more my notes tend to reflect immediate needs: the in/out cues of the best potential quotes, the most important facts/statistics that I’ll need RIGHT NOW. I needed to make sure I’d have the quotes [...]
Recent Posts
TV news needs verbs (4)
1/17/12 •
Some things rarely change. TV news writing is one of them, unfortunately. More than a decade ago, I noticed something about both network and local newscasts that drove me nuts and wrote a column about it. This morning, I got a message from Rick Tillery, an anchor in Medford, Oregon. “It appears this needs to [...]
Tips on taking good notes (1)
1/11/12 •
“Leave the notebook at home.” That’s what one journalism site recommended when reviewing Evernote, a digital service that stores notes, pictures and Web clips online so users can access them anywhere from any device. It’s a cool tool but it hasn’t replaced my reporter’s notebook and I don’t think it ever will. A pad and pen [...]
Making a numbers story visual (0)
1/06/12 •
Television’s need for pictures can be a two-edged sword. Great pictures can make a story memorable, because viewers remember what they see longer than what they hear. But a lack of pictures can turn an important story into a throw-away anchor reader, giving it less time on air and leaving little impact. So TV’s bias [...]
How to interview almost anyone (1)
1/04/12 •
Interviews are an essential building block for just about every news story, so it’s obviously important to know how to conduct a good one. Most interviewing advice comes in the form of tips and hints, like these dos and don’ts from Canadian journalist John Sawatsky and the suggestions we’ve previously posted here. But sometimes it’s helpful [...]
Network newscasts more different than ever (0)
1/04/12 •
For years, critics have complained that the nightly national TV newscasts are all basically the same, leading with the same stories, covering the same developments, often in exactly the same order. And the networks have been criticized for ignoring international news unless the U.S. was directly involved. There used to be some truth to all [...]
Top 10 NewsLab posts of 2011 (0)
1/02/12 •
Beginning a new year by looking backward is a time-honored tradition among procrastinators and (true confession here) I can procrastinate with the best of them when I’m not on deadline. So herewith, a look back at the posts that got the most traffic at NewsLab in 2011, in case you missed any or would like [...]
Top 10 in journalism for 2011 (1)
12/29/11 •
Who’s counting? Everybody, it seems, at this time of year. Everywhere you look, there’s a top 10 list for the year’s best and worst, so why should journalism be different? And why reinvent the wheel? Instead of creating our own 2011 rundown, we’ve put together a meta-list with a few additions and comments. This was [...]
Working on holidays doesn’t have to be a pain (0)
12/16/11 •
We’ve all been there–hard at work while everyone else, it seems, has the day off. Or the week off. For journalists, being on the job instead of with family at holiday time goes with the territory. And it doesn’t have to be all bad. Making the best of things takes preparation, says Matthew Nordin of WMBF [...]
Photojournalists arrested for doing their jobs (2)
12/12/11 •
Covering fires is a routine part of a television news photographer’s job. Clint Fillinger has been doing it for more than 40 years in Milwaukee, so he knows the drill: Stay behind the yellow police tape and roll on everything. But this fall, while doing exactly that, Fillinger went from shooting the news to making it [...]
Self-talk for photojournalists (1)
12/09/11 •
by Mark Anderson, former NPPA photojournalist of the year Some of you may know that my dad recently passed. He was my hero and defined the words gentleman and optimist. When he was stationed over in France for the war, he and his Army buddies loved to read Shakespeare. Growing up in Iowa he quoted [...]
Everyone is a news photographer (6)
12/02/11 •
If you cover breaking news in just about any local market, you’ve probably had to come to terms with a new reality. Someone else is going to get pictures before you do. Their video may not be as good as yours, but they’ve probably captured something you’ve missed. So now what? “After 45 years of [...]
Tips for dealing with confidential sources (0)
11/28/11 •
How far will you go to protect the identity of sources who give you information on the condition that you not reveal their names? If you haven’t thought about it, you should. Every reporter eventually runs into a story so important that it’s worth getting the information on a confidential basis. But you’d better understand [...]
Once a storyteller, always a storyteller (1)
11/23/11 •
What do you get when you put two terrific storytellers in charge of a PR shoot? A great story, that’s what, and some useful lessons on how to capture stunning video with compact, light-weight equipment. “The Sewing Machine” is a video produced by former NBC reporter John Larson and one-time NPPA photojournalist of the year Lisa [...]
Sounding conversational (0)
11/21/11 •
I’ve always been a huge Robert Krulwich fan. His stories on NPR and ABC News break through the standard news blather thanks in part to his memorable delivery. Unlike so many reporters who tend to “announce” their scripts, Krulwich just talks, or at least that’s how it appears to the listener. But don’t be fooled. [...]
Tips from a prize-winning solo video journalist (3)
11/17/11 •
Working alone in the field can be a challenge, but it’s a challenge that Michelle Michael has mastered. Since 2003, she’s been shooting, writing and editing her own stories for the US Armed Forces Network. This year, she won the NPPA Solo Video Journalist of the Year award. What’s her advice to other one-man-bands? “If [...]
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What’s in a reporter’s notebook?1/11/12 •
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