PRINTAUDIOVIDEO

March 18, 2009

The News Story

Announcements

Extended office hours next Tuesday10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please come see me about your individual stories or group issues

Extra credit lecture: Soledad O’Brien Blogging and politics Thursday at 8 p.m.

in the Michigan LeaguePapers are due a week after the event takes

place.

How do you find sources?

Hi Everyone -- I'm trying to put together a column this week on things you can do for friends or former

colleagues who have lost some or all of their income. Short of handing over a pile of cash, which many people would feel uncomfortable receiving or giving, what else can you do to help?

I've come up with a few ideas, like inviting the person and/or his/her family over for a lavish home-cooked meal or providing a service that they might otherwise have to pay for (helping to write a resume or paint a room or take care of their kids for a night). But I'm betting that there are more out there, and that lots of people who are still employed would like to find creative ways of helping friends who aren't.

While I'm hoping to come up with ideas that wouldn't seem out of place in a personal finance column, please don't edit yourself. What have you done for people you know in this situation? And I'd be grateful if you could forward this to others you know who have lost their jobs or seen their take-home pay fall to see what sort of helpful things people have done for them.

Thanks, as always, for helping me... Yours,Ron Lieber"Your Money" columnistThe New York Times

What do you want your story to do?

It doesn’t matter what the medium—you should ask yourself this question.

Journalism isn’t (or shouldn’t be) defined by technology—it is defined by the function that news plays in people’s lives.

The primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing. But it can also entertain, teach, amuse, enrage…

Heat or light—Mike WallaceVoice to the voiceless and questioning power in all

forms

How Ford Lost Focus?

Ford Motor Co.’s environmental progress under the leadership of self-proclaimed environmentalist ceo/chairman Bill Ford

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2008/11/how-ford-lost-focus

Where does the idea come from? From an editor—in this case an editor at Mother Jones From your own ideas—covering a beat for years or from

someone telling you a story at a party or a query to friends i.e. Ron Lieber’s email.

From news events—in this case the continuing decline of Ford’s market share and what looks like a lack of commitment to the environment because of the kind of vehicles Ford produces

Read and research

Know what others have written—create a clip file of stories on the subject; can help lead to other sources that you may have forgot

Find research and surveys, begin dissecting the information. This will help you as attempt to create the connection between the personal and universal

Where will you look for this information?

From idea to interview list

Discuss the story with your editor (or professor)Come up with a good “pitch” for your interview

subjects—why should they talk to you?Think about who you want to interview—and why.Make an interview list (you have done this already

on your blogs). If you haven’t looked at it since then, go back and take a look…

Have you done interviews? How many more do you need? What are some of your obstacles, successes?

Ford Interviews

The big get—that was never got: Bill Ford Jr. Another big get—that was never got: Jacques

NasserStart digging into source files—who was

there at the time; who has left who will talk; navigating the issues of “on the record” and “off the record.”

Outside, third-party sources: environmental groups, auto industry consultants.

The interview

Always go into an interview with a list of questions—and no I can’t tell you how many questions are enough questions. Refer back to Richard’s questions to me posted on the course website. This is particularly important for audio and visual

storytelling. You may need a specific quote—a piece of information that you want someone to tell you to drive the story along.

You may have only 15 minutes for an interview—hit the ground running with the most important questions

Save a Cinderella questions for last—what will keep your interviewee in the room talking—even if they need to dash out

The interview continued

• Ask the interviewee if they know anyone else you can talk to.

• Make certain you can either call or email them with follow-up questions.

• Be professional. Be on time. DO NOT change your appointment the day of the appointment.

• Do reflect who you are interviewing. You wouldn’t interview a ceo wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

Interview: print

Handwritten notes are notoriously difficult to read after the first day. Go home and immediately write them up on the computer

Check out a recorder from ISS or the Duderstadt Center.

Ask more questions and ask for more information than you think you need.

Always keep an open mind—never assume that you know the whole story until after you have done all your interviews

Interview: audio

Take handwritten notes as a back up and to help you keep track of where on the tape the great quotes can be found

Use a video camera instead of a voice recorder. The video camera records great sound that can be easily downloaded into most podcasting or video editing programs

Check sound levels, get background noise. Don’t think only of voice, but what are other sounds that will make the story come alive

Interview: video

Be prepared with your questions—who is your interviewer going to be?

Will you have an anchor as well as someone doing interviews from off camera?

Who will be your video person? Sound person? Your producer?

Again someone should be taking notes so that you can remember what interviewee said one great quote or there are facts and information that you will need to verify.

Statistics and Surveys

Why is this important?News stories tell a larger story than the

people you are interviewing—it is taking the specific and personal and making it universal.

You use statistics and other information to support or—in the case of the Ford story—question what your sources are telling you.

What statistics will you look for in your stories?

Getting down to writing—the Print Version

Six months of interviews Hours and hours of digital voice recordings Stacks of documents

…a blank page staring you in the face…

OUTLINE ….OUTLINE….OUTLINE

Getting down to writing—the Print Version

What is the most important information you want to tell your readers? Or as Advancing the Story calls it “finding your focus.” Who best of your sources will tell that information?

Pick out quotes that you like—this is even more most important for audio and video. A quote should tell us something that no one else could say.

Ford focus

The company had failed to follow Bill Ford’s plan to become the environmental car company.

The failure was due to lack of leadership, inertia inside of Ford, and what could be considered a too-profitable business in trucks

Following Bill Ford’s plan 10 years ago could have potentially put Ford in a much better position to compete in today’s economy

Getting down to writing—The Print Version

Pick your best anecdote—the story that really defines the story.

Ford: Highlight the fact that 8 years ago, Ford was on track to increase the fuel economy of its SUVs.

Connecting that story to the bigger idea of your article.

Ford: The “but” source—Jim Schroer’s quote saying that it was never going to happen.

Notice the transparency—or full disclosure. If you interview friends tell me your connection!

Getting down to writing—The Print Version

Move to the “universal” graph—why should your readers keep reading? Why is this important to them? What makes this story universal? This can be a summary of most important points—written or delivered in a compelling form.

Ford: not moving forward with the environmental plans meant that when gas prices hit $4 it had to scramble to reorganize its business—why is this important? Shareholders have lost money, people have lost their jobs, a major American company may go away forever, and global climate change is still an issue

Buttress your argument with a source—strong quote from a strong source

Getting down to writing—The Print Version

Then follow your outline— It can be as simple as breaking the story into three

distinct ideas and then writing about each of them In the case of the Ford story, it was easiest to do the

story chronologically—take the reader back to the beginning and show the mistakes that were made.

Always support your hypothesis with sources and statistics. Don’t make claims yourself.

The Kicker

Saving the best for lastSo no more “inverted pyramid style.”Keep something good for last

Ford: The Alan Mulally “get”

Story structures

Inverted pyramid. Most important information at the top Describe details and important developments Then include less important information

Considered outdated, although it has its place in both online and offline news

Story structures

Hourglass Most important developments or ideas Shifts after a universal graph to a compelling account

of one person’s experience Ends with a conclusion

Story structures

Diamond Anecdotal lede to introduce a main character Issue that is illustrated by the person’s experience—

the universal from the personal What’s next?

Story structures

Christmas tree Anecdotal lede

Turning point Universal graph

Turning point

Conclusion

Generally used for longer form narrative to keep the reader engaged, but may work if used properly in 1,000 word piece

Video and Audio Storyboarding

Use template to create your video story to make editing process a lot smoother and more enjoyable

Use template to show where you are missing information, need to shoot more video or fill in with still photos and voice-overs.

Consider that the Christmas Tree story structure may work for video as well…

Read Chapter 6 thoroughly…

Video and Audio Storyboarding

Open with a strong video—but don’t use all your good video upfront. Save great video for your final shot—storyboard it!

Choose sound bites that drive the narrative forward. Use strong, insightful bites that cannot be paraphrased. Storyboard it!

Paraphrase information that is important for people to know—and use a voice over to relate that information—possibly with a graph or b-roll. Storyboard it!

Homework exercise

Read: The Biker Next Door What is the focus? Anecdotes? Do they drive the story’s arc? Do they

interest you? How is the personal made universal? Is it fair and balanced? What makes it so? What’s the story structure?

Homework exercise

Read “Seattle Paper Shifts Entirely to the Web” Consider using it as a template for writing a rough

draft of a story. Look at how they make the personal (the closure of

the P-I) universal (biggest paper going online) Look at quotes. “The bloodline will live on.” Look at how quotes are attributed. Follow this model

for your stories. Mark the universal graph, good quotes. What’s the story structure?

Homework exercise

Life of Reilly Would your story fit this kind of narrative structure? The universal isn’t proclaimed…but is it there? What makes this story work? Or not work for you? Storyboard this article as if it were going to be a video

story.

Monday/Wednesday Video and Story Work

Who goes to editing on Monday?Who comes to this classroom on Monday?Who goes to editing on Wednesday?Who comes to this classroom on Monday?

Do you have video to work with?If not, shoot video this week.Ask questions, be engaged, respect the staff at

ISS. Keep an open mind—this is a taste of multimedia.