School Newspapers Online www.snosites.com

TELLINGSTORYthe

Planning online coverage

TELLING THE STORY

You want to tell a story.

TELLING THE STORY

Find an angle.

TELLING THE STORY

•Consider the all the story opportunities.

•One story has multiple angles.

Find an angle.

TELLING THE STORY

•Consider the all the story opportunities.

•One story has multiple angles.

Find an angle.

•There’s always the news angle.•who •what •where

•when •why •how

TELLING THE STORY

•Consider the human interest angle •Consider the review angle •Consider the opinion angle •Consider other angles…

Find an angle.

TELLING THE STORY

Think about format.

TELLING THE STORY

•View each story as a unique opportunity.

•Not all stories work best as multi-paragraph, inverted pyramid stories.

Think about format.

TELLING THE STORY

•A slideshow lets the photos and captions tell the tale.

•A video can tell the story — if you take your camera work beyond showing clips of (or the whole) the event.

Think about format.

TELLING THE STORY

•ThingLink creates images that have live links to more content, including videos, so you can really explain an image.

•Prezi takes viewers on a journey through the information.

Think about format.

TELLING THE STORY

•Infogr.am provides a way for you to create interactive infographics to help numbers and statistics clearer to readers.

•Writing a listicle makes a list out of an article making it easier to read and more fun to click on. “Summer Blockbusters" is just not as interesting as "7 Movies Not to Miss this Summer”

Think about format.

TELLING THE STORY

FormatAngle + = Story

TELLING THE STORY

Use both story pages and home page to tell a story.

TELLING THE STORY

Redesign the whole site for special events.

TELLING THE STORY

Redesign the site for special events.

TELLING THE STORY

Redesign the site for special events.•Sports-only live Twitter feed

•No carousel, just top story

•Note to readers •Fall sports category widget

TELLING THE STORY

Redesign the site for special events.

TELLING THE STORY

Redesign the site for special events.

TELLING THE STORY

Redesign the site for special events.•Non-graduation content relocated

•Graduation widget added

•Countdown timer

TELLING THE STORY

Redesign the site for special events.•New stories added on day of event

•Updates and live coverage

TELLING THE STORY

Be ready for a storyat any time.

TELLING THE STORY

•Be ready to cover breaking news. •Think about how you’ll do this before the news breaks.

•In the moment there may not be adequate time to think.

•Kirkwood •Shaker Heights

Cover breaking news.

TELLING THE STORY

Prepare and manageyour team.

TELLING THE STORY

Confer in advance.

1 • When story is assigned, discuss with the writer the possible coverage elements, especially photos.

• Does the writer need to take candid photos or mug shots? Video? Audio?

• Work through a checklist. Make sure photo editor is in the loop.

TELLING THE STORY

Distribute the work.

2 • Writer should be able to provide: • Story in draft mode • Hyperlinks to background or source material. • A suggested pull quote • At least one related link from the news website

• Writer can suggest a possible poll for engagement.

• Encourage writers to participate in social media promotion of their stories.

TELLING THE STORY

Web editors aren’t clerks

3 • Web editors are presentation managers who understand how a story can be told online.

• Adding story page elements is not a last-minute task left up to a Web editor.

• They must make the big-picture decisions about placement and publishing schedule, so they rely on reporters to have done the content work.

MORE THAN A STORY

Give readers context.R E M E M B E R

MORE THAN A STORY

Give readers context.R E M E M B E R

Take advantage of unique aspects of the Web.

MORE THAN A STORY

Give readers context. Take advantage of unique

aspects of the Web.

R E M E M B E R

Make the story look nice.

QUESTIONS?Go ahead. Ask!

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School Newspapers Online www.snosites.com