Online Journalism Story Ideas Feb12 2008[1]
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Transcript of Online Journalism Story Ideas Feb12 2008[1]
Get Up Off Of Your Ideas
University of North TexasDepartment of JournalismOnline Journalism 3340
February 12, 2008
Today’s Lineup
Hot news Generating Story Ideas Your Blog Entries
What Makes a Good Story? Good reporters Undying curiosity Tenacity Bold Good listener Quick thinker Persuasive What Else?
Where Do You Begin?
Who is your audience?
Print/Broadcast audience differs from web audience
Local, Regional, National … Global
‘Insatiable desire for information’
What can I add to create a rich, informative online experience?
“...we needed ….to make a special editorial emphasis that goes beyond what the print journal does or what the newswires do. It is a different audience. It is a complementary audience, but it is not the same as print, and we try to meet those information needs.”
- Rich Jaroslovsky, Man. Ed.,
WSJ.com
Where Do You Begin?Traditional Sources Sources/individuals Newspapers
Local and community Television News Wire Services Observation
Covering a meeting, events Press conferences Documents
Police reports, court filings, press releases
Where Do You Begin?Today: It’s a Two-Way Street
Feedback pages Readers suggestions to
editors, specific reporters
Message boards (NOLA.com)
Readers post comments everyone can read
Chat Rooms A dialogue among readers
Online polls (cnn.com, foxnews.com, Boston Globe)
Instant non-scientific reaction to stories, subjects
E-mail Reporters/Editors contact info published
Where Do You Begin? New Reservoirs of Ideas
Groups (Yahoo!,
Google, others)
Formerly ‘Usenet’ – broad range of subjects
Blogs (USAToday, NYPost,
Millions of them
Search engines Find sources, studies, special interests
MySpace, Facebook, YouTube!
Personal webpages … from human interest to the absurd
Tech Sites CNet, Mobile News, TechWeb
Trash Into Treasure
It’s boring Who cares? It’s obscure It’s pointless It’s ridiculous It’s a cliche
Interviewee boring
The story has already been done
Nobody wants to read this
Nobody will understand it
CrowdSourcing – “We Media” Coined by Jeff Howe, 2006, Wired News article In his words: “crowdsourcing represents the act of a
company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call.
“This can take the form of peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers.”
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
Crowdsourcing cont. Ability to gather vast amount of
information from a large group “Harnessing the power of community on
a continuing basis to improve the information base”
Beyond a grassroots concept, but as much a journalism tool as a corporate tool
Wikipedia, iStockPhoto, YouTube.com
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
CrowdSourcing
Why? Gathering information quickly from
multiple Engaging method to involve
readers/viewers/customers Educating a community of users who
have access to a greater variety information to make more informed decisionsSource: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting
Methods”
Crowdsourcing cont. It’s for real
Gannett Corporation – “Information Centers”
Prioritize local news over national news; Publish more user-generated content;
become 24-7 news operations, in which the newspapers do less and the websites do much more;
Use crowdsourcing methods to put readers to work as watchdogs, whistle-blowers and researchers in large, investigative features.
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
Real Examples Cincinnati Enquirer – Voter Issues – Nov
2006 A Gannett newspapers Newspaper invited readers to submit
information about voter irregularities Newspaper posted them on a Google Map
BlackAmericaWeb.com – 2008 Election Partnership with NAACP National Voter Fund Voters call in to report problems Interactive map showing call volumes Tom Joyner Morning Show driving listeners to
submit comments to the website or a phone line
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
Real Examples The Spokesman-Review
Create reader networks E-mail databases sorted by beat:
Education, Police, Specific cities Correspond with sources Seek/verify information Gather reader opinion
Why? Ken Sands – created the ‘networks’ Interaction occurs before publication – during
information gathering process Proactively contacting people you get a wider
reaction than waiting for them to call you
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
Story Mapping
Source: http://poynter.org/column.asp?id=52&aid=17432
‘Story Tree’
Source: http://poynter.org/column.asp?id=52&aid=17432
Once You Have An Idea, Now What?
Key questions to ask yourselfa) Why is this news?
i) Timeliness? Trend? Celebrity? Human Interest?
b) What’s the ‘so what’?c) Who wants to read the story?d) Why is it important?e) Can I localize it?f) Can I make it into a regional? National
story?
Now What…..
Once I have an idea, what’s next?a) Who are my sources? b) Where do I find them?c) How much research do I have to do
to better understand the background of the story, the person I’m going to interview?
i) Newspaper/magazine articles/archivesii) Documents – reports, public filingsiii) Other individuals
Now What…..
d) What questions do I need to ask?i) Assess for each source: You may need sets of
questions for each source, depending on the story
ii) Constantly remind yourself: “What’s this story about? What’s the ‘so what’”?
e) Evaluate what graphic/interactive elements you need to bring the story alive
i) Photosii) Chartsiii) Mapsiv) Audio and/or video