Nattering Nabobs

Visions 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah E. Cumbie) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:44:00 -0700

Are you submitting something to Visions this year? If so, join your competition for a Drop-Off Party at Chef Geoff's tonight, April 25 from 5:30-7:30. It's free!

The state of sports journalism

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah E. Cumbie) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:20:00 -0700

CostasNOW, HBO's show of feature sports stories by Bob Costas, is doing a live show on Tuesday, April 29. They're planning on "Taking stock of the sports media landscape, including the rise of internet bloggers and sports talk radio." Seems like an interesting way to combine changing media and sports journalism.

Great opportunity to see a network producing legend

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:12:00 -0700

I am pleased to announce that our final guest in the Executive
Suite 2008 will be the legendary Producer/Director Max Schindler of NBC News

Max directed; "Meet the Press" for 20 years receiving 2 Peabody Awards and and Emmy

"The Today Show" (Washington segments) for 22 years

produced or directed;
Coverage at all political conventions from 1964 until Bush 43

Coverage of the JFK, MLK and RFK funerals

Various Inaugurals

The coverage of Pope John Paul II's White House visit and ceremony

The 2004 Ronald Reagan funeral, for which he received an Emmy award, just to name a few!

Max will be joining us on Wednesday July 23 in Wechsler starting at 3:30 pm. Please invite your students to hear one of the living legends of live television, in person here at American University

... with Professor Walker

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:16:00 -0700

A top photojournalist took our picture during our visit to the White House press briefing room. We heard a briefing by Dana Perino.

Visit to the White House Briefing Room

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:12:00 -0700

A chance to sit in on Talk of the Nation

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:46:00 -0700

On behalf of National Public Radio, I would like to invite you and your school community to join Talk of the Nation for a live broadcast on April 16, 2008 at the Newseum.

This is a great chance to see the Newseum at its new Washington DC location and to be part of our live, studio audience.

Show topics for April 16 will be:

Hour One 2 -3 pm
Political Junkie: John W. Dean and Barry M. Goldwater, Jr.

NPR’s Political Editor Ken Rudin will get us up to speed on the latest campaign news and John W. Dean and Barry M. Goldwater, Jr., will talk about their new book, Pure Goldwater.

Hour Two 3-4 pm
The Glory Days of TV News

Roger Mudd, who was the weekend anchor of the CBS Evening News, joins his former colleague, Bob Schieffer, to talk about Mudd’s new book, The Place to Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News.

To reserve your complimentary tickets, please email me at astupi@npr.org or call 202. 513. 3959. Audience members are able to tour the Newseum after the show finishes. When reserving tickets, please indicate which show you would like to attend, 2-3, 3-4 or both. A post-show Q&A can be arranged for school groups.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Regards,
Amanda Stupi

Amanda Stupi
Talk of the Nation
National Public Radio
astupi@npr.org
202. 513. 3959.

Breaking Down the Five Boxes

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:13:00 -0700

Five Boxes Story: Deconstructing a News Feature Story

By Chip Scanlan, The Poynter Institute

Although Rick Bragg doesn’t outline his stories, I wanted to see whether echoes of the “five boxes” approach he suggests to writers struggling with organization might resound in his own work. In my textbook, Reporting and Writing: Basics for the 21^st Century, I compared the structure with, “Another Battle of New Orleans: Mardi Gras,” a story in his 1996 Pulitzer Prize and Best Newspaper Writing Award-winning package. Although my choices are certainly open to challenge, I perceived a strong connection.

The first box contains the lead, the image, the detail that draws the reader into the story. It can be a single paragraph or several. Bragg focuses on Larry Bannock and the contrast between his shabby surroundings and the glory of his role as a black Indian of Mardi Gras. The section concludes with a brief-but-vivid quote. Note how Bragg separates the quotation with a description of Bannock: a technique that provides pacing and a vivid counterpoint.

By Rick Bragg

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 18--The little shotgun house is peeling, and the Oldsmobile in front is missing a rear bumper, but Larry Bannock can glimpse glory through the eye of his needle.

For almost a year he has hunkered over his sewing table, joining beads, velvet, rhinestones, sequins, feathers and ostrich plumes into a Mardi Gras costume that is part African, part Native American.

“I’m pretty,” said Mr. Bannock, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 300 pounds. “And, baby, when I walk out that door there ain’t nothing cheap on me.”

Most days, this 46-year-old black man is a carpenter, welder and handyman, but on Mardi Gras morning he is a Big Chief, one of the celebrated--if incongruous--black Indians of Carnival. He is an important man.

Sometime around 11 a.m. on Feb. 28, Mr. Bannock will step from his house in a resplendent, flamboyant turquoise costume complete with a towering headdress, and people in the largely black and poor 16th and 17th Wards, the area known as Gert Town, will shout, cheer and follow him through the streets, dancing, drumming and singing.

“That’s my glory,” he said. Like the other Big Chiefs, he calls it his “mornin’ glory.”>

Box 2: Nut Graf

A paragraph (or paragraphs) that sums up the story and provides the reader with context and background is the second box. Bragg steps back now from the close-up scene of Bannock working in his house to place him in the larger context. The phrase “He is one of the ...” is a signal that the nut section is beginning. Here the writer provides an analysis, which he attributes to the Big Chiefs and academics. The section ends on a dramatic quote, a useful method of narrative as punctuation.

He is one of the standard-bearers of a uniquely New Orleans tradition. The Big Chiefs dance, sing and stage mock battles--wars of words and rhymes--to honor American Indians who once gave sanctuary to escaped slaves. It is an intense but elegant posturing, a street theater that some black men devote a lifetime to.

But this ceremony is also self-affirmation, the way poor blacks in New Orleans honor their own culture in a Carnival season that might otherwise pass them by, said the Big Chiefs who carry on the tradition, and the academics who study it.

These Indians march mostly in neighborhoods where the tourists do not go, ride on the hoods of dented Chevrolets instead of floats, and face off on street corners where poverty and violence grip the people most of the rest of the year. The escape is temporary, but it is escape.

“They say Rex is ruler,” said Mr. Bannock, referring to the honorary title given to the king of Carnival, often a celebrity, who will glide through crowds of tourists and local revelers astride an elaborate float. “But not in the 17th Ward. ‘Cause I’m the king here. This is our thing.

“The drums will be beating and everybody will be hollering and”--he paused to stab the needle through a mosaic of beads and canvas--”and it sounds like all my people’s walking straight through hell.”

Box 3: Retelling

This box is almost a second lead, based on a new scene, detail or strong image, which allows the writer to begin retelling the story that began in the lead and draws the reader into the bulk of the story. Length can vary. In this section Bragg’s reference to an Oldsmobile is an echo of the lead. It is a clever technique that acts as a transition from the nut section to a new one that continues with the story of Bannock and the Big Chiefs.

A man does not need an Oldsmobile, with or without a bumper, if he can walk on air. Lifted there by the spirit of his neighborhood, it is his duty to face down the other Big Chiefs, to cut them down with words instead of bullets and straight razors, the way the Indians used to settle their disagreements in Mardi Gras in the early 1900s. Mr. Bannock, shot in the thigh by a jealous old chief in 1981, appears to be the last to have been wounded in battle.

“I forgave him,” Mr. Bannock said.

The tribes have names like the Yellow Pocahontas, White Eagles, the Golden Star Hunters and the Wild Magnolias. The Big Chiefs are not born, but work their way up through the ranks. Only the best sewers and singers become Big Chiefs.

By tradition, the chiefs must sew their own costumes and must do a new costume from scratch each year. Mr. Bannock’s fingers are scarred from a lifetime of it.

His right index finger is a mass of old punctures. Some men cripple themselves, through puncture wounds or repetitive motion, and have to retire. The costumes can cost $5,000 or more, a lot of cash in Gert Town.

The rhythms of their celebration, despite their feathered headdresses, seem more West African or Haitian than Indian, and the words are from the bad streets of the Deep South. Mr. Bannock said that no matter what the ceremony’s origins, it belongs to New Orleans now. The battle chants have made their way into popular New Orleans music. The costumes hang in museums.

“Maybe it don’t make no sense, and it ain’t worth anything,” said Mr. Bannock. But one day a year he leads his neighborhood on a hard, forced march to respect, doing battle at every turn with other chiefs who are out trying to do the same.

Jimmy Ricks is a 34-year-old concrete finisher most of the year, but on Mardi Gras morning he is a Spy Boy, the man who goes out ahead of the Big Chief searching for other chiefs. He is in love with the tradition, he said, because of what it means to people here.

“It still amazes me,” he said, how on Mardi Gras mornings the people from the neighborhood drift over to Mr. Bannock’s little house on Edinburgh Street and wait for a handyman to lead them.

“To understand it, you got to let your heart wander,” said Mr. Bannock, who leads the Golden Star Hunters. “All I got to do is peek through my needle.”

I’m 52 inches across my chest

And I don’t bow to nothin’

‘Cept God and death

--from a battle chant by Larry Bannock

Box 4: BBI

Shorthand for “boring but important,” this box contains less compelling material, such as quotes from experts or data bolstering the main theme. It rounds out the story and provides balance. Here Bragg includes material from an academic expert, hoping that by this time the reader is sufficiently engaged and interested to care about the event’s history. Writers often make the mistake of including this kind of information earlier in the story before the reader is ready for it.

The more exclusive party within the party--the grand balls and societies that underlie the reeling, alcohol-soaked celebration that is Carnival--have always been By Invitation Only.

The origins of Carnival, which climaxes with Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, are found in the Christian season of celebration before Lent. In New Orleans the celebration reaches back more than 150 years, to loosely organized parades in the 1830s. One of the oldest Carnival organizations, the Mystick Krewe of Comus, staged the first organized parade. Today, Mardi Gras is not one parade but several, including that of the traditional Zulus, a black organization. But Comus, on Fat Tuesday, is still king.

The krewes were--some still are--secret societies. The wealthier whites and Creoles, many of whom are descendants of people of color who were free generations before the Civil War, had balls and parades, while poorer black men and women cooked the food and parked the cars.

Mardi Gras had no other place for them, said Dr. Frederick Stielow, director of Tulane University’s Amistad Research Center, the largest minority archive in the nation. And many of these poorer blacks still are not part of the party, he said.

“These are people who were systematically denigrated,” said Dr. Stielow, who has studied the Mardi Gras Indians for years. So they made their own party, “a separate reality,” he said, to the hard work, racism and stark poverty.

It might have been a Buffalo Bill Wild West Show that gave them the idea to dress as Indians, Dr. Stielow said, but either way the first “Indian tribes” appeared in the late 1800s. They said they wore feathers as a show of affinity from one oppressed group to another, and to thank the Louisiana Indians for sanctuary in the slave days.

By the Great Depression these tribes, or “gangs” as they are now called, used Mardi Gras as an excuse to seek revenge on enemies and fought bloody battles, said the man who might be the biggest chief of all, 72-year-old Tootie Montana. He has been one for 46 years.

Mr. Bannock said, “They used to have a saying, ‘Kiss your wife, hug your momma, sharpen your knife, and load your pistol.’”

Even after the violence faded into posturing, the New Orleans Police Department continued to break up the Indian gatherings. Mr. Bannock said New Orleans formally recognized the Indians’ right to a tiny piece of Mardi Gras just two years ago.

Shoo fly, don’t bother me

If it wasn’t for the warden and them lowdown hounds

I’d be in New Orleans ‘fore the sun go down

--Big Chief’s battle chant, written by a chief while in the state prison in Angola

They speak a language as mysterious as any white man’s krewe.

In addition to Spy Boys, there are Flag Boys--the flag bearers--and Second Line, the people, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, who follow the chiefs from confrontation to confrontation.

They march--more of a dance, really-- from Downtown, Uptown, even across the river in the poor black sections of Algiers--until the Big Chiefs meet at the corner of Claiborne and Orleans Avenues and, inside a madhouse circle of onlookers, lash each other with words. Sometimes people almost faint from the strain.

But it is mainly with the costume itself that a man does battle, said Mr. Montana. The breastplates are covered with intricate pictures of Indian scenes, painstakingly beaded by hand. The feathers are brilliant yellows, blues, reds and greens.

The winner is often “the prettiest,” Mr. Montana said, and that is usually him.

“I am the oldest, I am the best, and I am the prettiest,” he said.

A few are well-off businessmen, at least one has served time in prison, but most are people who sweat for a living, like him.

Some chiefs do not make their own costumes, but pay to have them made--what Mr. Bannock calls “drugstore Indians.” Of the 20 or so people who call themselves Big Chiefs, only a few remain true to tradition.

Box 5: Kicker

The story ends in this box. It may be a quote, an image, a comment; whatever you choose, the best endings resonate. Now Bragg comes full circle, returning to the scene in the lead. Many writers might end with the “mornin’ glory” quote, but Bragg chooses to end the story with a detail that strikes the chord of his theme: one man’s devotion to a tradition larger than himself.

Mr. Bannock sits and sweats in his house, working day and night with his needle. He has never had time for a family. He lives for Fat Tuesday.

“I need my mornin’ glory,” he said.

A few years ago he had a heart attack but did not have time to die. He had 40 yards of velvet to cut and sew.

The New York Times
February 19, 1995

No Face the Nation Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:51:00 -0700

Hello class,

I have some bad news, which is that I am canceling the Face the Nation visit for Sunday. I talked with the host, Bob Schieffer, and he said he planned to do his commentary early in the morning so even he would not be in the studio for us. All the guests were pre-taped, which means the whole show is what's called "in the can" - or not live. This was the luck of the draw, so I apologize that it didn't work out. If any of you would like a tour of the CBS studios before you leave for home at the end of the semester, we can talk about doing that.

job possibilities

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:03:00 -0700

The Online NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is looking to fill several
entry-level positions in the Washington, D.C., area. May/June
graduates are encouraged to apply, but these positions are filled on a
rotating basis throughout the year. For complete information, go to
our jobs page: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/aboutus/openings.html

Here are the job descriptions:

Desk Assistants - Online

6-month position

A desk assistant is needed to help with the daily production of the
NewsHour's Web site, The Online NewsHour. This entry-level position is
located in Arlington, Va. We are looking for a sharp individual with
editorial skills who is looking to gain experience in online news
production and online news writing.

Duties include:
- Organizing and distributing show transcripts and viewer mail
- Encoding transcripts into HTML
- Updating Web site indexes
- Digitizing audio
- Assisting the editorial and production staff with special projects

Computer skills required. Web production skills desired; however,
training will be provided.

APPLICATION DEADLINE
Rolling

CONTACT
Please fax or e-mail the your application to:
The Online NewsHour
Fax: 703.820.6266
E-mail: lclapman@newshour.org
________________________________________________________

Education Desk Assistant - Online NewsHour Extra for Students

6-month position

A desk assistant is needed to help produce the NewsHour's Web site for
students and teachers, NewsHour Extra.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra

This paid internship-type position is located in Arlington, Va. We are
looking for a sharp individual with editorial skills, who is looking
to gain experience in online journalism and is interested in working
with young people.

Duties include:
- Writing news for a 10th-grade audience
- Using Dreamweaver to produce stories for high school students and
lesson plans for teachers
- Updating story archives
- Processing photos and writing captions in Photoshop
- Help with writing and producing the "Daily Buzz"
- Assisting the editorial and production staff with special projects,
such as Newz Crew, an Online Dialogue about current events
- Web production skills desired; however, training will be provided.

APPLICATION DEADLINE
Rolling

CONTACT
Please fax or e-mail your resume to:
The Online NewsHour
Fax: 703.824.6592
E-mail: lclapman@newshour.org

EOE

I'd be happy to answer any questions about the positions.

Dave Gustafson
Associate Editor, News
Online NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
dgustafson@newshour.org
pbs.org/newshour __._,_.___

Sommer Mathis

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:51:00 -0700

Sommer Mathis is editor in chief of www.dcist.com. Her e-mai address is sommer.mathis@gmail.com.

Homework for Thursday, April 17

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:34:00 -0700

By next Thursday, I would like all of your final project blogs to have quotes from at least two sources and a rough draft lead for your story. This will help you focus your stories and allow me to give you feedback as you go. This extends the deadline a bit. We're closing in on the end of the semester!
Developments re Face the Nation for Sunday: The high-profile guests will indeed do pre-tapes BUT we may still be able to see Bob Schieffer do a short commentary and we will have more time to tour the bureau. I will e-mail everyone with more details as soon as I get them. This is common, since the show often changes at the last minute, so we'll do the best we can.

Important info on meetings with me, deadlines, etc.!

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Mon, 7 Apr 2008 13:11:00 -0700

Important info for this week:
You must schedule a time to meet with me in my office this week. If you were not able to sign up for a time slot in class, please let me know your availability. There is a penalty if you do not set up a time or if you do not show up for our meeting (without letting me know about extenuating circumstances).
Monday in class we went over our papers and writing for broadcast; please review chapters 19 and 20.
Homework due Thursday: A rewrite of your second major reporting story based on my detailed comments on your papers. You do not need to re-do interviews or cover another event but if you need information that you cannot get, you need to provide an annotated rewrite explaining what you would have done had you reached the right person or asked the right question. The rewrite will be graded. Your first draft grade will count but you will be able to drop your lowest grade.
Homework due Monday: Contact two sources for your final project and put the transcripts of the interviews on your blog. (You can record the interviews for podcasts if you have the proper equipment.)
A clarification about the final project:
The final project is technically the LAST PAGE of your blog -- which will include the news feature story that you write and the original visual material. The blog so far is a repository for your research and to meet the incremental assignments as we go.
On Thursday we will have a guest speaker -- Sommer Mathis, editor in chief of www.dcist.com. Please take a look at the site. She will talk to us about the world of online journalism and how it fits into the big picture.
ALSO, we will be sitting in on a taping of Face the Nation on Sunday. Please meet me at 2020 M St. NW at 9:30 am.
-Professor Walker

First Lady of Tanzania

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah E. Cumbie) — Mon, 7 Apr 2008 09:22:00 -0700

Please join AU's
School of Communication, School of International Service, and the College of Arts & Sciences as we welcome

Her Excellency

Mama Salma Kikwete
First Lady of Tanzania
on Tuesday, April 8, 2008
6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Mary Graydon Center Room 3

The First Lady will discuss the next generation of leadership and the importance of investing in education and health for economic empowerment in Africa. She will also discuss how vital the innovations in multimedia are to telling the important stories of development to motivate policy change and positively impact the lives of young African girls.

A five-minute clip of a documentary created by one of AU SOC’s MA students, Anthony Brenneman, for Network for the Improvement of World Health--an organizer of the First Lady's US tour--will also be screened at the event.

Contact Elizabeth Draughon at draughon@american.edu for more information.

“They are raising the ante on what it takes to become a journalist.”

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Sat, 5 Apr 2008 05:23:00 -0700

A distinguished journalism professor retires and gives his thoughts on the field:

Here is the link.

washingtonpost.com summer internships still available!

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Fri, 4 Apr 2008 10:27:00 -0700

There are lots of interesting slots ... city guides, politics, theroot.com, express ... and more.

Try this link.

If this link doesn't work, go to washingtonpost.com jobs and click on link at the bottom of the page "work for us."

Career Shoppers - an internship for you!

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Thu, 3 Apr 2008 07:12:00 -0700

WashingtonPost.com's Shopping
section
is looking for summer interns!

Interns must be current undergrad or grad students.

Find out more here:
(I mean here.)

To write on Carissa DiMargo's Wall, follow the link.

This just in!

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Wed, 2 Apr 2008 20:28:00 -0700

William Safire just confirmed on The Daily Show that he came up with the phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism" as a speech writer for Agnew.

American Forum, Monday, April 14 - extra credit if you attend!

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Wed, 2 Apr 2008 10:05:00 -0700

American University School of Communication
Presents

An American Forum

The Media and Islam

Monday, April 14, 8:00-9:00 p.m.

Ward 1
Ward Circle Building
American University

Panelists:
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed
Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies
American University

Peter Bergen
Journalist and Terrorism Analyst

Liz Cheney
Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs

Abderrahim Foukara
Bureau Chief/Managing Editor for Al Jazzera

Moderator:
Jane Hall
Associate Professor
American University School of Communication

***********************

Emily Freifeld visits class Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Tue, 1 Apr 2008 09:17:00 -0700

Emily Freifeld was in your position just a few months ago and is now a videographer and podcaster at washingtonpost.com. She and her fiance, James Kotecki, a video blogger at Politico.com, are both great examples of students who have been highly successful in digital journalism. Emily's latest podcast: www.washingtonpost.com/podcast. You can see both of them in the posted Youtube video, which documents their participation in the Walk for Autism on the National Mall last fall.

Speaking of broadcasting

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:16:00 -0700

Opportunity for broadcast experience via an e-mail to Professor Cochran:

I am writing to you as the Volunteer Program Assistant at a growing news organisation called The Real News Network. The Real News Network is a non-profit news and documentary network focused on providing independent and uncompromising journalism. Critically,we are member supported and do not accept advertising, government or corporate funding.

We have been producing daily video news content since August 2007, and have an increasing number of people accessing our news pieces on our home site (approx 7,000 per day) and our robust YouTube channel. At the turn of the new year we were the Number 1 non-profit on YouTube, and have continued to dominate this category week to week. We have an impressive list of regular contributors to our service, including Pepe Escobar (Asia Times Online), Aijaz Ahmad (Frontline, India) and Phyllis Bennis (Institute for Policy Studies, Washington DC).

Our mission for the US Presidential Elections is to take on the candidates of both parties, the Bush administration and corporate news. We will listen to the voices, opinions and wisdom of Americans across the country and answer their questions.With facts and incisive analysis we will help Americans decide whom to vote for. We will help people decide what to demand from their candidates. And we will create a dialogue between Americans and the people of the world about the critical choice Americans are about to make.

Part of bringing this mission to life, is to regularly feature the voices of people on the street right around the United States. We would love to bring together a dedicated pool of volunteer shooters, who can take a camera to the streets with set questions, and upload the video to us to edit for web publication. We also may ask the volunteer team to visit interviewees we have lined up, in their places of work, and record an interview with them. The volunteer work will be managed with the newsroom back in our main studio in Toronto. The volunteers will need to have access to a camera, sometimes at short notice, and know how to upload video to an FTP server we administer.

If you think your students would be interested in this work and you want to find out more, please email me as soon as possible. Alternatively I would be happy to speak to any of you at your earliest convenience.

We think this would be an excellent opportunity to involve students in professional news production, utilising the latest online video techniques and covering the U.S. Presidential race for a worldwide audience.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

All the best,

Nina
Phone: +1 416 916 5202 Ext: 436

--
Nina
Communications and Volunteer Program Assistant

First video ever of long-eared jerboa - he is, too, cute!

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:54:00 -0700

Tips and Tales from Top Storytellers - Poynter

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 05:46:00 -0700

Nieman Narrations: Tips and Tales from Top Storytellers
Anne Hull, Dana Priest and others provide insider accounts. Plus: Roy Clark reports on the Benton blogging curve and Mallary Tenore blogs the conference.

By Bill Kirtz (more by author)
Professor, Northeastern University

Details. Details. Details. Top writers and editors last weekend called them the engine that drives every compelling story.

Their comments came at the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism in Boston, March 14-16. Speakers offered tips on dramatizing investigations, doing narrative on deadline, identifying writing flaws and enhancing stories with multimedia.

RELATED
"From Blog to Narrative," By Roy Peter Clark

Nieman 2006, by Bill Kirtz

Conference blog posts by Poynter's Mallary Tenore:

"Narrative on Deadline," with St. Petersburg Times writer Tom French and editor Mike Wilson.

"50 Writing Tools in Three Hours," with Roy Peter Clark.

"Ten (Not So Secret) Tips for Effective Interviewing," with Jacqui Banaszynski.

"Creating An Investigative Narrative," with Anne Hull and Dana Priest.
Washington Post reporters Anne Hull and Dana Priest, who uncovered scandalous conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, said shoe leather reporting, not fine writing, drove their probe.

Hull, a five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, said, "We didn't think of narrative, voice, sequencing, empathy or storytelling" when they started. "But all these elements" found their way into their series. By immersing themselves in the squalor that wounded veterans endured, she said, they got the specifics that made the story "pop to life in the way traditional investigative reporting doesn't."

Because they "lived and breathed the story for four months," Hull said, they picked up telling details, like the mold and cockroaches limbless soldiers lived with, like the blue ribbon the wife of a brain-damaged soldier tied to his bedroom door so he'd know which room was his.

Priest, a 2006 Pulitzer winner, stressed the need to emphasize with and respect any group you're investigating. (She has said the veterans' plight brought her to tears.) Quipping that patience isn't one of her virtues, she said the Walter Reed story taught her the importance of listening. "It sounds basic, but we're in an era of talking journalists. It's crucial to remember that we're not there to do that. You can pick up so much by reading body language, voice. Just listen. It pays off."

Skim the Meringue

Jon Marcus, who led Boston Magazine to win national awards and who now teaches at Boston University and Boston College, also underscored the importance of details. He said he sees too much narrative journalism marred by "lots of pretty words that don't say anything.

"People who think of themselves as capital W 'Writers'" can produce "meringue -- sweet but empty," he said. "Great reporting is essential. If people don�t learn anything from a story, they won�t keep reading. The foundation of good narrative journalism is detail [and] description. This is required today. We're competing with 24-hour news and the Internet -- we live in a high-definition world. We need description: the color of the lipstick, the pattern of the wallpaper."

Jack Hart, another advocate of detail, said it powers great narrative. Example: a flood survivor munching six Oreo cookies and mourning the loss of foxhounds Ebbie and Priss.

Reiterating the lessons of the Readership Institute's Impact Study, Hart, who edited two Pulitzer winning series at The Oregonian, called narrative journalism the key to grabbing and retaining readers. "Newspapers need more real life stories about ordinary people."

How to get them? Hart recommends substituting narrative approaches for traditional news forms, even on deadline, on stories like the theft of a foam donut, a rescue of a woman pinned in a fiery car, the frantic search for a substitute pianist.

Before starting a narrative, he said reporters, with an editor's guidance, must create a structural road map, answering questions like: What is this story about? Do you have a sympathetic, interesting lead character? Who struggles with obstacles?

Narrative Moments

Jacqui Banaszynski, a Pulitzer Prize winning writer who holds the Knight Chair in editing at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, also underscored the importance of details that can let reporters drop narrative moments into routine stories and transform a subject into a character.

Banaszynski said she believes that criticism of writing too often focuses on symptoms, not causes. "You write too long," for example, identifies a problem, not a solution.

To find and fix flaws, she recommends separately highlighting every part of a story, such as verbs, quotes and attribution. Are there active, descriptive verbs or passive ones? Too many quotes? She said quotes only add spice if they�re the right ones. Otherwise, they slow the story. So, "edit quotes down and pick the standout."

Unless it introduces a new or a vitally important speaker, Banaszynski said attribution should go in the middle of a sentence. And watch those dependent clauses. They can be mere "throat-clearing."

"It's Just a Platform"

New York Times multimedia editor Andrew DeVigal called new media "just a platform. Story and story-telling hasn't changed." He said that because audio storytelling is the "low hanging fruit" of multimedia, many news organizations are now producing slideshows and photo galleries on a regular basis.

The easiest route is adding audio to a story tied to great narration, he said, noting that The New York Times put together an eyewitness account of Benazir Bhutto's assassination -- a photographer's voice describing his pictures -- within a few hours.

Since only 20 percent of The New Yorker's online readers subscribe, the magazine's multimedia editor, Matt Dellinger, called multimedia a great way to "extend our brand." Material is easy to find, he said, such as archival films of conductors used to enhance an article on symphony orchestras. He and other speakers noted that using subjects' own voices, like soldiers reading from their Iraq journals, is another quick way to dramatize a story. Dellinger said each non-print element "has to have its own narrative integrity. It has to add value and be complete in and ... of itself."

If multimedia is just "bells and whistles," don't use it, said Laura Ruel, assistant professor of visual communication and multimedia at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and project leader for Poynter's Eyetrack III research. Ruel said good multimedia storytelling shouldn't distract from the story. Use audio and video only when appropriate; not every story is worth telling with multimedia. And make sure users can find their way around the site.

Sexism in the media

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:36:00 -0700

This topic has come up in class. You are invited to a panel I'll be on along with SOC professors Dotty Lynch and John Watson, and some other GW professors:

GW Law School: 2000 H St. NW,
Wed., March 26, 4 p.m.
On the fifth floor in the Faculty Conference Center.

The Feminist Forum at GW Law School spring
panel on the topic of sexism in the media, particularly political/election reporting.

The Machine is Using Us

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:40:00 -0700

Web 2.0 video

Also Epic 2015

UC Berkeley multimedia presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Danna) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:00:00 -0700

Watch Richard Hernandez: Choosing the Right Tools for the Job. Take a look.