How can reporters get multi-media?

In today's job market, while newspapers are suffering. The biggest plus to a print resume right now is online, broadcast or multimedia experience. U of C Berkeley, Knight Digital Media Center suggests the term is all emcompassing. Yet it seems difficult at times for print reproters to think within the vast and creative world of video or audio, but I don't think its as hard as people make it out to be. Carrying a video or voice recorder maybe as simple as sketching notes down on paper. It helps back up notes and adds interesting elements to an online package like no other. Learning mutimedia reporting is really the wave of the future since, online is merging all these journalistic worlds into one. There is a good chance that being the most creative in-depth reporter would be even better if multimedia aspects were used to enhance the story-telling. It might be easier than you think.

Follow the links

Links are not only for blogs.

The key to a good online article is hyperlinks. Poynter Online writer Christopher "Chip" Scanlan says that after years of teaching online writing to various newsrooms around the country, links (the short term for hyperlinks) are the best bet for an enthused online reader. We have talked about righting deliberate headlines for the Web in our class, but not have talked about the content. Moving behind the letters on the screen, Web stories offer further dimensions of storytelling through devices like hyperlinks. The images a reader conjures up when reading a print story are visualized on the Web through hyperlinks--hence the trend toward more online publication.

A New Frontier of Danger?

In China earlier this month, Wei Wenhua, a construction company executive, as well as a blogger in his spare time, was beaten to death by a group of city inspectors as he tried to photograph them. The inspectors were beating the citizens of a village who were trying to prevent the inspectors from dumping trash by their homes. CNN stated that Wenhua saw the attacks on the villagers as he was driving by, stopped, and began taking snapshots with his mobile phone to incorporate into his blog. The 50 or so inspectors moved away from the villagers to Wenhua, and beat him to the cusp of death. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. 

The story has galvanized bloggers globally, who are speaking out in droves on the attack on Wenhua. A simple Google search of "Chinese blogger beating" shows most of the links to the topic are from  blogs. It has also brought up the topic of blog censorship, especially in China, Wenhua's homeland. 

The question this incident raises in my mind, however, is the safety of public blogging in society, as more and more "average citizens" are keeping tabs on their surroundings and looking for the latest scoop. While journalism has the potential to be dangerous, there are support systems within the profession that help take the edge off of things, like reporting teams and the 'journalism community". Blogging, however, is primarily based off of the intentions of a single individual, making their own decisions and acting on them alone. And while many blogs are produced from casual observations and developed at home, there are the adventurous few who view it as a serious job and take on outside reporting and photography and video additions. 

That is what leads me to my concerns. Will we be seeing a rash of attacks against these freelance internet journalists looking for stories in the 'wrong' places? Possibly from people who view these bloggers less as the traditional journalist and more as an invader of privacy? Or maybe will we see the blogging community develop a network or clique, much like print and broadcast journalism communities have over the years, to produce a de facto  support group? No matter what happens, I think there will be some interesting societal changes in terms of blogging as its prominence increases along with technology.

Will blogging get you a job?

Journalism students, take note: At least one editor says you need to have blogging skills to get a job. John Robinson of the News and Observer says he asks job candidates if they blog and if they read his editor's blog when considering them for jobs at his newspaper. A column in Business Week spells out 10 things journalism students need to know to get jobs. Blogging is one of them. British journalist Paul Bradshaw says students seem to be reluctant to blog unless they're required to do so for a class. Why is that? Are you reluctant to blog? Why? Do you think you it will help you get a job? Then why don't you want to do it?

Video: Another way to tell stories

In the past year, newspapers have discovered video in a big way. Clearly, many newspaper websites see video as a storytelling device and a way to reach more readers (or viewers). An article. in the American Journalism Review points out that quality is spotty, but newspapers are getting better at video. As students in a traditional reporting class, some of you groaned when you found out you would be asked to do video stories. If you have any doubts about the power of video as a way to tell stories, check out some of the papers that are doing it well. Close to home, The Detroit Free Press has become a leader in video on its website. The newspaper won its first national Emmy award for a video on Michigan soldiers in Iraq. And video storytelling is not limited to large newspapers. Look at the video stories on the .Naples Daily News website, a Florida paper that was an early adapter. The AJR article points out that veteran journalists have become video believers when they've done a story with video and sound and witnessed the reaction from readers. Some stories are simply better suited to video. Read what the Washington Post reporter says in the AJR report about the reaction to his video story on the violinist. And if that's not enough to convince you, note what the AJR article says about the growth in multimedia jobs for journalists. Bottomline: Learning video adds to your storytelling arsenal and makes you more marketable. It's a skill that you should try to master, with or without the help of a class.

Peek in a crystal ball at journalism's future

Blogger Jeff Jarvis has a provocative post on the future of journalism. Rather than suggesting doom and gloom, he sees journalists capitalizing on the broader reach they can have - and already are having - with today's technology. Although the need for printing presses may go away, the need for strong reporting won't. The Newspaper Association of America has an entire blog devoted to the future of newspapers. Check out Mark Glaser's glimpse into the newsroom of the future as well. And then to see how reporting is already changing read Robert Niles report on a teen's suicide. Although a traditional newspaper tried to withhold information, readers demanded more - and got it.

As students, you will be part of journalism's future. What do you think? Are you excited by the possibilities? Or are you - like too many in my generation - nostalgic for journalism of the past

It's all in the headline

In class last week, we talked about writing for the web and how it differs from writing for print. We also touched on the importance of headlines on web stories. Readers often skim stories on the web and a headline literally has only a second to grab a site visitor's attention, according to Steve Outing, a journalist and online media pioneer. Howard Finberg, of the Poynter Institute, wrote an interesting column a few years back on boring web headlines. The conclusion: If you want people to read what you write - online or in print - you need to have an interesting headline that includes keywords and cleverly captures the story. As evidence, check out the most emailed story on today's New York Times web page. It's a column by Maureen Dowd. I'm guessing the headline - Should Hillary Pretend to be a Flight Attendant? - has something to do with why it's the most emailed story today.
Do you agree? Do you decide what you'll read based on the headline? Did the Hillary headline pull you in?