Multimedia Journalists

Goals
-Define “multimedia” and describe the multimedia tools journalists use.
-Explain how journalists use multimedia to tell stories.

Key Terms
Multimedia
multimedia journalist
print journalist
backpack journalist
digital video camera
Producer

When you watch an entertainment news show for the latest tidbit on your favorite movie star, or
read your local newspaper to find out who won the race for mayor, you are looking at the work
of journalists. The Internet and advancing technology have given rise to many more media
outlets for gathering and delivering news in many more formats. Still, it takes educated, curious
people to collect and tell the stories of the day. Multimedia Journalists Multimedia simply
means that a Web story is some combination of the written word, photographs, video clips,
audio clips, graphics and an interactive element, such as a quiz or a poll. Multimedia stories are
presented in a nonlinear way, which means that Web users decide how to navigate through
the elements. The elements are complementary, not redundant. Multimedia journalists are
news and information gatherers who are comfortable working to produce all the elements
mentioned above. A multimedia journalist is a combination of a print journalist, who writes the
text for the story; a photographer; and a videographer. Multimedia journalists may conduct
interviews, record videos or take photographs, write the story, write a script for the video, and
post it all to a website. Multimedia journalists are multitaskers, too. They may use multiple tools
— a video camera and a notebook, for example — during the same interview. Multimedia
journalists may be referred to as backpack journalists because they carry in a backpack all the
technical tools needed to produce the multiple elements of the story. They understand how the
video and other visual elements will work with text and how to integrate it, or make it work
together. They go to the scene with a backpack containing a reporter’s notebook, video camera,
still camera and light laptop computer on which they can write and transmit all the elements to
editors of the website.

Sam is a backpack journalist for a local newspaper assigned to cover a fire in the community.
He arrives at the scene of the fire with his notebook and pen, light laptop computer, still camera
and video camera. As he roams around the smoking debris, he observes and then makes
written notes of what he sees in his slim reporter’s notebook. As he conducts interviews with
the people affected by the fire, he takes notes, writing quickly so the quotations are accurate.
He asks interview subjects to spell their names, and he carefully writes the spelling into his
notes. As he gets ready to go to the newsroom, he checks the notebook one last time to be
sure he has made a record of everything he needs to write a compelling story about the event.
Sam knows the story also needs a visual element, so he takes his digital camera out of his
backpack. He surveys the damage and begins to think about capturing one or two compelling
images to help illustrate the print story. He also sees the possibility of a narrated slideshow for
the Internet and begins shooting images that he will later edit on the appropriate software
program in his computer. He will use his reporter’s notebook to get names and to put his
images in context. Next, he takes his digital video camera — one that captures images
electronically — out of his backpack. After surveying the damage through the lens, he zooms in
on vignettes that will bring out emotion in viewers — a teddy bear lying on a burned sofa, for
example. He conducts a few interviews on camera with those affected by the fire. He also
collects other bits of sound — the hiss of the water through the hoses still in use, the cries of
children who can’t get back into their homes. Before he leaves he may make a few additional
notes in his reporter’s notebook — phone numbers for the interview subjects, for example.
When he arrives back at the office he has enough information to write a story as well as to write
a script for the video, which he will edit on his computer to tell the story succinctly.

Multimedia Stories
Most website stories produced by a news organization contain all the elements that Sam the
backpack journalist used to tell the story of the fire. These elements include text, photographs,
video and audio. Websites allow for multimedia storytelling. However, not all stories on websites
are created from the beginning as multimedia stories. Sometimes the various parts of a story
that are presented as multimedia are produced separately for their own platform, such as print,
television or radio broadcast, or online. The text, for example, is prepared for a print product
and may be used unchanged on the Web. The photograph used with the text is used in the
print product, and the video is a version of what is shot and produced for a television report. Th
e elements are there, but that is not always the best presentation for a website. Th e best
multimedia stories are organized and planned by a reporter, editor or producer who knows how
to integrate all the content elements before the journalists set off to cover the story. Th e text
written for a website is likely to be shorter than for print; photographs will not be produced at
the same size for the Web as they would be in print; and video will be seen in smaller frames
on a computer than on television, so the videographer will shoot with that in mind. Sometimes
an editor, who may be called a producer if part of a website team, takes charge of a multimedia
story, particularly when it is a breaking news story. Th e editor will assign diff erent journalists to
each part of the story and assign people who use diff erent tools to tell their stories. Th e editor
may send a print reporter to gather important information from authorities and conduct some
interviews; a photographer for photos for use in print and on the Web; a videographer to survey
the scene and get interviews on camera with a short video story in mind; an artist to draw a
map or an illustrative graphic from facts reported in the field. Once the editor knows everything
is covered, the next step is to integrate the story as journalists at the scene send the pieces to
the newsroom.