Powerful Journalism

By Jessica Noguera

When you flip through local news stations…

o What kind of news stories do you see?

o From station to station, are the stories the same

or different?

o What stories catch your attention and why?

CBS NBCABC FOX

Planned Events and Response to News

o Press conferences, spot news, breaking news

o Straight-forward story

o Who, what, where and when are answered.

Enterprise Stories

o Beyond the press conference and spot news

o Dig deeper and aims for the heart

o The “why” and “who cares” aspects are answered.

Watch the following video

from a professional news anchor who discusses how he

enterprises news stories.

Think about how you can do this in the classroom.

Think about…o What aspects interest you?

o How is it different from a typical story that

covers this topic?

o What makes the story enterprise journalism?

Watch the following video news story

and think about how it differs from a

typical crime story.

Watch the following video news story

and think about why it

impacts the audience.

Seek ideas of others

Have a little black book

Find new voices and faces

Be willing to interview anyone

Avoid the pack

Send thank you notes

Examine the story behind the story

“More voices add richness, diversity and

perspective to your ideas.” -Al Tompkins, Aim

for the Heart

Who can you speak with to learn what’s going

on in a community?

o School teachers

o Junk yard owners

o Real-estate developers

o Grocery store manager

o Religious figures

Build and maintain a

big, diverse list of sources

that you can contact 24/7.

Collect business cards and

sort through them

regularly.

If you are going to interview someone you

always see on TV, think again!

Find someone who is rarely, if ever, on TV.

Some viewers may be crazy, angry

or annoying, but you never know

what could come of their story.

My personal newsroom experience

“Bridezilla vs.

The Wedding Photographer”

Cover a story differently than other stations.

Get the information and blaze your own trail.

Them Them

ThemThem

ThemThem

You

Personalized thank you notes go a long way.

Lets an interview subject know you care and respect them as a real person.

Byron Pitts, CBS’s 60 Minutes

Author Al Tompkins says Pitts

sends thank you notes

immediately after an interview

and often receives new

stories because of them.

Look at the story through a different

lens – the lens of the viewer.

Go beyond the event to discover

what’s really happening.

Ask why!

Think back to the Fallen Soldier

story – that’s a story behind the

story.

In our school, who do we usually talk to

and go to for interviews? Make a list.

Go talk to someone NOT on that list and

find out what’s going on in our student

community.

Images and Audio

Byron Pitts

Photo by Roanoke College on Flickr May 23, 2011

Camera Lens

Photo by rg1024 on Open Clip Art Nov 19, 2008

Cartoon Head16

Photo by doodleguy on Open Clip Art April 19, 2011

News Theme

Song by Mike Stellas on Jamendo on March 26, 2010

Old Book

Photo by Molumen on Open Clip Art Oct 6, 2006

Thinkingboy Outline

Photo by Ryan Lerch on Open Clip Art Oct 15, 2006

TV Set

Photo by Machovka on Open Clip Art Dec 29, 2006

Videos and Information

Connecting for Crime [Web file]. Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55TmFz8PlFA

Multimedia Minutes: How to Enterprise Stories -- Tips from Anchor-MMJ Marc

Schollett [Video file]. Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8pMZyWhCDg

On the Road: Planting Flags for Fallen Soldiers [Web file]. Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO0WB-RnEus

Tompkins, A. (2012). Aim for the Heart: Write, Shoot, Report, and Produce for TV

and Multimedia. Washington, DC: CQ Press.