Better Storieson Any Platform

Steve ButtryAlberta Weekly Newspapers Association

January 25, 2014#awnasymposium

Saluting a Canadian friend

RIP, Bryan Cantley

Read more about it• stevebuttry.wordpress.com• slideshare.net/stevebuttry• @stevebuttry• stephenbuttry@gmail.com

Plan for this workshop• Technology challenges & opportunities• Ensuring accuracy• Developing story ideas• Organizing complex stories• Helping reporters improve stories• Making every word count

Technology challenges?• Tool you’re not using effectively• Something you’ve heard is important but

haven’t tried (much) yet (either too busy or don’t understand)

• Concerned whether it’s worth the time• Concerned about revenue potential

Common challenges• Social media• Databases• Video• Community-submitted content• Community blogs• Interactive storytelling• “Protecting” print

Important accuracy advice

Path to accuracy• Asking effective questions • Taking accurate notes• Audio, video recording• Gathering documentation• Questioning information• Verifying information• Fact-checking your story

Path to accuracy• Asking effective questions • Taking accurate notes• Audio, video recording• Gathering documentation• Questioning information• Verifying information• Fact-checking your story

Whose story is it?“If your sources are wrong, you are wrong.” – Judith Miller, former New York Times reporter

Whose story is it?“If your sources are wrong, you are wrong.” – Judith Miller, former New York Times reporterBullshit. Your sources aren’t responsible for the accuracy of your stories. You are.Remember: Even honest sources usually tell you their “semi-true story.”

Accuracy questions• How do you know that (reporter asks of

source; editor asks of reporter)• How to they know that (reporter & editor

ask of paper, digital sources where you can’t ask directly)

• How else do you (they) know that?

Vetting & verifying• Track back RTs, etc.

to source • Look for clusters • Location enabled? • Evaluate the network• Evaluate the history

• Links, photos? • Take it old school• Disclose, hedge,

repeat • Be brave only in

correction

Tips from Craig Silverman, Regret the Error

Evaluating tweeps• How long have they been tweeting?• Check previous tweets, interaction• Check bio, links• Check Klout score• Google name and scam, spammer• Contact & interview

Tips from Mandy Jenkins, Zombie Journalism

Use a checklistCraig Silverman:Pilots & doctors use checklists to reduce errors. Why not journalists? (Try Craig’s or mine. Develop your own.)

Reporting checklist*Ask sources to spell name & title; then verify what you

wroteRecord interviewsAsk for (& check) source for numbersAsk “how do you know that?”Seek documentationVerify claims w/ reliable sourcesSave links & other researchAsk sources what other reports got wrong* Inspired by Craig Silverman’s accuracy checklist

Writing checklist*Note facts that need further verificationCut and paste (w/ attribution) quotes from

digital documents.

* Inspired by Craig Silverman’s accuracy checklist

Checklist after writing*Numbers & MathNames (check vs. notes & 1 other source)Titles (people, books etc.)LocationsCompare quotes to notes/recordingCheck attribution (insert link for digital source)Definitions

* Inspired by Craig Silverman’s accuracy checklist

Checklist after writing*Verify URLs (check & check whether cited content is still

there)Phone numbers (call)Spelling & grammarSpellchecker errorsHave you assumed anything? (If so, verify, hedge or

remove.) If you have any doubts, recheck w/ original source.Where your understanding is weak, read final copy (or

section) to someone who does understand.* Inspired by Craig Silverman’s accuracy checklist

One final stepCorrect any errors you found in your archives,

databases or other resources you control (but be certain you have verified the new information).

* Inspired by Craig Silverman’s accuracy checklist

Seek documentation• Ask “How do you know that?” • If answer is document, that’s what you

need• Videos, photos (security, archives, public)• Do journals, letters, diaries, emails

document actions, thinking, plans?• Government records? Databases?

A documentation tale*

* with an Alberta angle

Your story ideasWhat story would you like to do (or have a staff member do)?• Enterprise, investigative, feature• Haven’t started work on it yet OR• Struggling with it• No big scoops you can’t share here

Developing story ideas• Write at the idea stage• Make ideas timely, specific, relevant• Consider context• National comparison or local impact• Brainstorm avenues of inquiry• Brainstorm digital tools to use• Be open to the joy of discovery

Brainstorm a story idea• Choose a story one group member wants

to do• Brainstorm avenues of inquiry• Considerations: Timely, specific, relevant,

national vs. local• Brainstorm digital tools

StorytellingStart to Finish

Steve ButtryAlberta Weekly Newspapers Association

January 25, 2014#betterstories

Saluting a Canadian friend

RIP, Bryan Cantley

Read more about it• stevebuttry.wordpress.com• slideshare.net/stevebuttry• @stevebuttry• stephenbuttry@gmail.com

Plan for this workshop• Technology challenges & opportunities• Ensuring accuracy• Developing story ideas• Organizing complex stories• Helping reporters improve stories• Making every word count

Organizing complex stories• Think of story as a process, not

necessarily a product• Ask “what’s the story about?” • Write as you report• Consider structure (text, images, print &

digital)• Outline notes & materials• Write without notes

Driving questions• Who? • What?• When? • Where? • Why? • How?

Questions & story elements• Who? • What?• When? • Where? • Why? • How?

• Character• Plot, action• Setting• Setting, scene• Theme, conflict• Resolution

Other driving questions• How much?• What happened?• So what?• What’s next?

Other driving questions• How much?• What happened?• So what?• What’s next?Verification: How do you know that?

Consider digital tools• Videos• Photos (galleries &

with sound)• Data (data viz &

interactive databases)

• Timelines (Timeline JS or Dipity)

• Maps (Google, Crowdmap)

• Curation (Spundge, Storify, RebelMouse, Newspeg)

• Interactive (quiz, Prezi, Thinglink

• NewHive, Scrollkit

Inverted pyramid

Image from Wikipedia

Martini glass

• Inverted pyramid top• Olive intrigues, starts

narrative• Narrative• Strong ending

Image from drinksmixer.com, term from Don Fry

Narrative arc

Image from J-Storytelling.com

Other story structures• List• Liveblog• Tweet (or series of

tweets)• Video• Q & A• Timeline

• Audio w/ slides• Series• Serial narrative• Sidebar• Graphic• Animation• Map

It’s not your story• Reporter learns more by doing the work• Reporter has what you need to make the

story better• Editor improves story better through

good questions & challenges than in editing the reporter’s words

Learn how reporter works• Improving writer’s processes improves a

writer’s story• Share this writing advice from William

Forrester:

Help the reporter focus• What’s the story about? (6 words)• Write a headline• 3 words: subject, verb, object• Tell someone about the story• Summarize story in a tweet

SEO can help focus

• What would you type in Google if you had questions this story would answer?

• Can you write a good lead or nut graf around the search term(s)?

Challenge the story• What shouldn’t be in the story (or at

least the main story or text story)?• What digital tools can help organize &

tell this story (or part of it)?• What’s the most important W?• What’s best story element?• Should this be a narrative (doesn’t have

to be long)?

Plan to write tight

• Discuss scope, focus • Consider reader (ask)• Make stories useful• Break story up (video, sidebar, chart,

timeline, database, etc.)

Watch for the suitcase leadAfter spending Wednesday morning at a prestigious think tank discussing a report about what could happen in the aftermath of a catastrophic terrorist attack on Congress, then taking nearly two hours at the White House presenting the report to Vice President Dick Cheney, University of Miami president Donna Shalala addressed the issue capturing the attention of thousands across the nation – conference realignment in college sports. (66 words, Miami Herald)

Watch for the suitcase leadJerry Falwell, 73, a Southern Baptist preacher who as founder and president of the Moral Majority presided over a marriage of Christian beliefs and conservative political values – a bond that bore prodigious fruit for the Republican Party during the past quarter-century – died May 15 of congestive heart failure after he was found unconscious in his office at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. (65 words, Washington Post)

Challenge suitcase leadsSeveral organized crime figures have been arrested as part of a federal investigation into a series of unsolved crimes, including the 1978 Lufthansa robbery at Kennedy International Airport, according to a racketeering indictment unsealed Thursday morning. (36 words, NY Times in National Post yesterday)

Challenge suitcase leadsA private seniors’ residence that burned down in L’Isle Verte early Thursday morning – killing at least three people, with 30 other unaccounted for – was found to be in violation of fire-code regulations during a 2011 inspection, The Gazette has learned. (40 words, Postmedia News in National Post yesterday)

Challenge suitcase leadsA private seniors’ residence that burned down in L’Isle Verte early Thursday morning – killing at least three people, with 30 other unaccounted for – was found to be in violation of fire-code regulations during a 2011 inspection, The Gazette has learned. (40 words, Postmedia News in National Post yesterday)

Lighten the loadA private seniors’ residence that burned down in L’Isle Verte early Thursday morning failed a 2011 fire inspection. (18 words)

Ways to lighten the load• Make just one point• Look for words, phrases that can wait• Change comma to period• Eliminate parenthetical phrases• Explanation can wait• Subtract numbers• Can attribution wait?

Consider a g-string lead

Nothing falls quite as quickly as a loonie caught in the cross hairs. (Gordon Isfeld, Financial Post, in National Post yesterday)

Consider a g-string lead

Bruce Dale answered the phone after the third ring. (Joe O’Connor, National Post yesterday)

Consider a g-string lead

Instead of a suitcase lead …Several organized crime figures have been arrested as part of a federal investigation into a series of unsolved crimes, including the 1978 Lufthansa robbery at Kennedy International Airport, according to a racketeering indictment unsealed Thursday morning. (36 words, NY Times in National Post yesterday)

Feds have finally charged a mob figure in the 1978 heist made famous in the movie “Goodfellas.”

… consider a g-string lead

Consider a g-string lead

G-string lead can be seriousJennifer’s tiny heart gave up. But no one else would.

G-string lead can be seriousForty seconds, five lives.

Issues with g-string leads• Keywords in leads help with

SEO. Can you write g-string lead w/ keyword?

• If not, be sure web headline uses keywords (head is more important).

• G-string lead on great story can increase social sharing.

Try a simple sentence

Try a simple sentenceIn the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

A rule and a guideline:The rule: If your lead is over 30 words,

explain to your editor why it’s so good that it needs to be that long.

The guideline: If your lead won’t fit in a tweet, try rewriting.

Some long leads workWhen the crime was committed, when four girls lay blasted to death in the shattered basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church, Bobby Frank Cherry was young and strong and confident that his world, one of white robes and closed minds, would turn forever. (Rick Bragg, 44 words)

Perfect use of a long leadSelma Koch, a Manhattan store owner who earned a national reputation by helping women find the right bra size, mostly through a discerning glance and never with a tape measure, died Thursday at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Perfect use of a long leadSelma Koch, a Manhattan store owner who earned a national reputation by helping women find the right bra size, mostly through a discerning glance and never with a tape measure, died Thursday at Mount Sinai Medical Center. She was 95 and a 34B. (Douglas Martin, NY Times)

Challenge the simple lead

Challenge the simple leadFirst of all, God made everything.

Rewrite with your head• Read aloud• Know your weaknesses• Challenge verbs• Challenge imprecise words• Consider attribution• Challenge phrases

Rewrite with your head• Challenge inflated words• Challenge quotes• Watch for echo quotes• Redundant words, facts• Say what is, not what isn’t• What’s the story about?

Challenge vague phrasesIt was shortly after midnight Thursday when Francine Boucher’s husband woke her, yelling that the seniors’ residence across the street was on fire. (National Post yesterday)

Give “it” upIt is one of the weakest ways you can start a story. It has a pronoun with no antecedent. It has the weakest verb in the English language. It seems some writers can’t resist it. It’s used way too much. It is a lead that starts with “it is,” “it’s” or simply “it.”

Challenge vague phrasesIt was shortly after midnight Thursday when Francine Boucher’s husband woke her, yelling that the seniors’ residence across the street was on fire. (National Post yesterday)

Challenge vague phrasesShortly after midnight Thursday Francine Boucher’s husband woke her, yelling that the seniors’ residence across the street was on fire. (National Post yesterday)

There are better leadsThere is no weaker verb in the English language than the verb “to be” – is, was, are, etc. There’s no vaguer word than “there” when you’re not pointing. There are few weaker ways to start your story. There are few “there are” leads that don’t get tighter and stronger when you challenge them.

No arbitrary rulesIf you write a lead this good, leave the “it was” alone:

No arbitrary rulesIf you write a lead this good, leave the “it was” alone:

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

No arbitrary rulesIf you write a passage this good, leave the “there is” alone:

No arbitrary rulesDon’t rewrite by arbitrary rules. If you write a passage this good, leave the “there is” alone:

There is no joy in Mudville.

Make Every Word Count

The right word makes all the difference.