Multimedia Reporting: Richard Scott Dunham

Tsinghua Global Business Journalism Series
Richard Scott Dunham
Multimedia
Reporting
How Digital Tools Can Improve
Journalism Storytelling
Series Editors
Min Hang, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Richard Scott Dunham, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
This book series aims to provide up-to-date knowledge on business journalism
education and practices. It harnesses the expertise of both eminent business
journalism academics and highly skilled and experienced journalism practitioners
from China and the rest of the world to provide an in-depth look at China’s rapidly
evolving economy and the impact that China’s economic slowdown could have on
the global economy. This book series offers invaluable knowledge of the subject
matter from some of the world’s leading experts, as well as practical knowledge
of the skills needed to most effectively communicate about the Chinese economy on
various multimedia platforms.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15842

Multimedia Reporting
How Digital Tools Can Improve Journalism
Storytelling
123
Tsinghua University
Beijing, China
ISSN 2522-0942 ISSN 2522-0950 (electronic)

ISBN 978-981-13-6162-3 ISBN 978-981-13-6163-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0
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Professional Advice
“Even now, we ourselves are determining the future, not by knowing what it will
be, but by conceiving what it can be.”
—Barrows Dunham, American philosopher, author, professor and grandfather
of this textbook’s author, writing in Heroes and Heretics (1963)
Barrows Dunham (Family photo)
vii
Acknowledgements
This textbook is the result of the hard work of dozens of people from Beijing to
Washington. It was inspired by the material I covered in my lectures in the
Multimedia Reporting course in the Global Business Journalism Program at
Tsinghua University. The classroom material was a starting point, and has been
supplemented by significant additional research by the author, assisted by Zhang
Sihan, Li Chengzhang, Bertha Wang Xiaoyu, Shi Lin, Jiao Jie, Melody Yu Bokun,
Julie Gao, Zhang Tiantian, and many other students, teaching assistants, friends,
and colleagues.
This ambitious project is the result of the unshakable commitment to excellence
in business journalism education by my partner at Tsinghua University, Global
Business Journalism Program Co-Director Dr. Hang Min, the Associate Dean for
International Affairs at the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication, and
her predecessor as Associate Dean, Prof. Shi Anbin. It could not have been com-
pleted without the support of our GBJ partners, Tsinghua University, Bloomberg
News, and the International Center for Journalists.
Thanks to my colleagues at Tsinghua, including Administrative Dean Chen
Changfeng, International Administrator Rose Li Hongxia, and Academic Officer
Sarah Ma Chengcheng, and my colleagues at the International Center for
Journalists, particularly President Joyce Barnathan, Vice President of Programs
Patrick Butler, and Vice President of Development Vjollca Shtylla. I would also
like to thank GBJ Visiting Professors Jane Sasseen, Linda Austin, Doug Harbrecht,
Marilyn Geewax, Susan Chandler, Joe Weber, Leslie Wayne, Margie Freaney, and
Pamela Tobey, along with Guest Lecturers including Ching-Ching Ni, Eric Fish,
Erica Pitzi, Hailey Branson-Potts, Mark Potts, Brian Bremner, Kelli Arena, Laura
Stanton, Shakuntala Rao, Jeff South, Larry Price, Ken Herman, Sharon Jayson,
Alan Bernstein, Matt Stiles, Elise Hu, Andrew Leckey, Cinzia Dal Zotto, Robert
Picard, Tian Wei, Emily Rauhala, Nancy Snow, Richard Collins, David Lore,
Patrick Casey, James Rosen, and the late Michael Shanahan. Special thanks to my
predecessor as GBJ Co-Director, James Breiner, who helped ease me into academia
and left me with a wealth of teaching material, some of which found its way into
ix
x Acknowledgements
this book. And I could not have completed this book without my team of “citizen
editors,” all of them talented journalists: Cheryl Arvidson, Larry Foster, Tina Stage
Rafalovich, Sherie Winston, Tracee Evans, Doug Harbrecht, Maria Recio and
Caroline Ward.
Finally, my wife Pamela Tobey has not only helped with this book by con-
tributing graphics and professional advice, she has made it possible for me to
pursue the opportunity to share my 35 years of journalism experience with students
in China. I am forever grateful.
Beijing, China Richard Scott Dunham

May 2019
Introduction
As the twenty-first century dawned, the iPad did not exist. Smartphones were the
stuff of science fiction. Viral videos were related to the study of disease. Social
media was a concept foreign to the masses and known only to a few technological
geeks. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram, no WeChat, no SnapChat,
and no YouTube. Today, these ubiquitous tools of modern technology have rev-
olutionized the way all of us get information and communicate with our fellow
citizens, both personally and professionally.
In coming years, the technology of communication will continue to change.
What will not change is the omnipresent reality of change. To thrive in this con-
stantly shifting communications landscape, it is necessary to speak the language of
change.
“News organizations have to be in a constant state of reinvention,” says Joyce
Barnathan, President of the International Center for Journalists and former
Executive Editor of Business Week. “If you are not innovative, you are, frankly,
dead. You’ll be left in the dust in a minute.”
Young journalists must be multilingual to be successful in today’s rapidly
changing journalism climate. But the languages they must learn are not traditional
tongues such as English or French or Chinese. They are the languages of multi-
media journalism. In this textbook, students will learn the new languages of jour-
nalism and how to use them to create multimedia journalism stories.
The new language of online journalism includes writing for digital platforms,
writing blogs, and writing for social media. It includes a wide range of multimedia
skills including video, audio, photos, graphics, data visualization, and animation. It
includes 360-degree video, virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelli-
gence. Multimedia journalism allows a two-way communication with the audience
that was not possible in the days of twentieth-century “legacy” media.
In this textbook, students will learn how to create and maintain their own
websites. They will learn to complete advanced reporting, writing, and multimedia
projects. To become a successful journalist today, students must learn to produce all
of these multimedia elements and study how their audience interacts with their
xi
xii Introduction
reports on digital platforms and through social media. We need to be fast. We need
to be accurate. We need to be transparent. We need to be innovators.
“Now is an opportune time to develop a new generation of journalists,” says
Ging Reyes, Senior Vice President of Integrated News and Current Affairs at the
ABS-CBN News Channel in the Philippines. “There are new tools, and these tools
are developed almost every day.”
There are new tools, indeed, but exceptional multimedia journalism begins with
a strong knowledge of journalism basics. As students learn how to apply multi-
media skills to news topics in this textbook, they will improve their ability to cover
breaking news and create value-added feature stories. In many cases, the digital
platforms have raised new issues and new concerns that are particularly relevant in
journalism’s digital age, particularly in our core values of ethics, accuracy, and
fairness.
Students reading this textbook will be able to use the latest technological tools to
integrate multimedia elements into their traditional news coverage. They also will
learn how to tell stories through multimedia elements in addition to traditional
formats. Readers will learn to cover and write the news thoroughly, accurately, and
ethically—with proper sourcing. They also will learn how to generate high-quality
news stories and to complete an enterprise project from conceptualization to
publication.
Because this textbook hopes to inspire as well as to teach, each chapter con-
cludes with a useful piece of professional advice from an accomplished reporter or
an acclaimed writer interviewed by my colleagues at the International Center for
Journalists (https://www.icfj.org/). I have included dozens of case studies, examples
of multimedia “best practices” written by extraordinary journalists, my friends, and
former colleagues, who are willing to share their experiences with you. Throughout
the book, I have tried to include links to additional reading that you might find
interesting and useful. Those readings are given in bold italics. Many of the “case
studies,” “useful tips” and “best practices” are given in italics.
As you start your multimedia journey, I share with you the advice of Zoriah
Miller (Zoriah), an award-winning photojournalist whose work has been featured in
The New York Times, National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, and Rolling Stone:
“It took me a lot of trial and error and many years to learn what I have
shared with you, but I am no expert,” he said to the Global Center for Journalism
and Democracy (http://www.hfactorblog.com/2015/02/shsus-globalcenter-for-
journalism.html). “The way I do things is not the right way and definitely not the
only way. So go out there and forge your own path. Experiment with my way of
doing things to get yourself started. Take what you like and let go of what you don’t
like. In the end, your own way of doing things will be what makes your work
unique and interesting.”
Today’s journalism world is full of experimentation and uncertainty, but it is
also a world of boundless potential. “I don’t know what the future will look like.
I do believe your generation is going to figure it out,” John Liu, Greater China
Executive Editor for Bloomberg News, told students in the Global Business
Introduction xiii
Journalism master’s program at Tsinghua University. “That will usher in this great
era for journalism and media.”
This book, if it does its job, will fill you with information and inspiration to
figure out that world.
Global Business Journalism Program graduate Mariah Nourmohammadi

created an informational graphic to describe the contents of this book.
>>> Read Rick Dunham’s interview with IJNet about the future of global business
journalism in our rapidly changing journalism world: https://ijnet.org/en/blog/gbjs-rick-
dunham-offers-insight-entering-todays-business-journalism-landscape
Contents
Part I Overview
1 The Power of Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 The Dawn of the Multimedia Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Culture Clash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Digital Journalism Eclipses Traditional Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4 Traditional Media Forms Try to Adapt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 How Multimedia Improves News Storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.6 New Skills, New Competitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 Keys to Effective Journalism in the Multimedia Era . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1 Ten Keys to Effective Multimedia Journalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1.1 Key #1: Master the Essentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.1.2 Key #2: Be Multimedia Savvy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.1.3 Key #3: Focus on Your Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.1.4 Key #4: Add Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.1.5 Key #5: Write Tight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1.6 Key #6: Be Curious. Be Persistent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1.7 Key #7: Don’t Be Academic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.1.8 Key #8: Use Social Media as a Reporting Tool . . . . . 31
2.1.9 Key #9: Be Fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.1.10 Key #10: Maintain the Highest Ethical Standards . . . . 33
2.2 Five Tips to Help You Become a Better Journalist . . . . . . . . . 34
2.3 Ten Tips for Beginning Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.4 Tips on Getting the Most Out of Your College Journalism
Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 35
2.5 Leadership Tips for Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 36
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 38
xv
xvi Contents
3 Best Practices in Multimedia Journalism . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . 41

3.1 Convergence Comes to Journalism . . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . 41
3.2 The Best Multimedia Storytellers . . . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . 42
3.3 Professor Dunham’s Favorite Multimedia Stories . . . . . . . . . . 46
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . 54
Part II Multimedia Skills

4 Multimedia Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.1 Writing for the Web and Mobile Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.2 Creating Your Own Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.3 About Blogging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5 News Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.1 Introduction to News Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.2 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5.3 Honing the Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.4 Photo Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.5 Photo Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.6 Best Practices: Ten Tips to Improve Your News
Photography from a Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Winner . . . . . . . 153
5.7 Best Practices: A Multimedia Journalist Analyzes Some
Favorite Photos (From Alexis See Tho) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
6 The Photo Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.1 A Clear Theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.2 Types of Photo Galleries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.3 How to Craft an Effective Photo Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
6.4 Creating a Photo Gallery on Tumblr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
6.5 Tips for Telling Better Stories Through Photo Galleries . . . . . 174
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7 Introduction to Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.1 Why Graphics Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.2 Quick Tips to Produce Professional News Graphic . . . . . . . . . 183
7.3 Creating a Graphic in 15 (Not Always Easy) Steps . . . . . . . . . 183
7.4 Bar Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
7.5 The Symbol Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
7.6 The Line Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7.7 The Pie Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7.8 The Donut Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
7.9 The Meter Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
7.10 The Circular Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Contents xvii
7.11 Volume Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

7.12 Circles Within Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
7.13 Venn Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
7.14 Timelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
7.15 Connection Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
7.16 Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
7.17 Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
7.18 Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
7.19 Photo Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
7.20 Word Clouds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
7.21 Good Resources to Improve Your Data Visualization
Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
8 Audio Journalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
8.1 “The Invisible Medium” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
8.2 Audio Journalism Is More Relevant Than Ever . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
8.3 The Advantages of Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
8.4 Storytelling via Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
8.5 Tips for Writing an Audio Report. By Linda Lew,
Global Business Journalism Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
8.6 Producing an Audio Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
8.7 Interviewing for Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
8.8 Audio Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
9 Slideshows with Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
9.1 Why Combine Still Images and Sound? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
9.2 How to Create an Audio Slideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
9.3 Audio Slideshow Tips from Chinese Journalist Qiao
Rongxuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
10 Video Storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
10.1 The Appeal of Digital Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
10.2 Not Hollywood-Quality, but Timely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
10.3 Your Video Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
10.4 Essential Elements in Quality News Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
10.5 Popular Video News Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
10.6 Case Studies: Videos for Different New Media Platforms . . . . 269
10.7 The A-B-C of Digital Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
10.8 Shooting Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
10.9 Tips on Shooting Compelling Video from a Pulitzer-Prize
Winning Videographer. By Mark Potts, Los Angeles
Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
xviii Contents
10.10 Editing Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

10.11 Writing Tips for Video News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
10.12 Best Practices: A Case Study. Molly Harbarger
of the Oregonian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
11 Interactive Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
11.1 Taking Graphics to a New Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
11.2 Sortable Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
11.3 Interactive Charts and Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
11.4 Tab Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
11.5 Interactive Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
11.6 Interactive Timelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
11.7 Interactive Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
11.8 Image-Comparison Sliders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
11.9 Multimedia Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
11.10 Data Visualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
11.11 Embedded Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
11.12 GIFs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
11.13 Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Part III Organizing a Multimedia Project

12 Creating a Multimedia Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
12.1 Your Multimedia Tool Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
12.2 What Stories Work Best in Multimedia? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
12.3 Packaging Your Multimedia Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
12.4 Best Practices in Multimedia Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
12.5 Choosing a Topic for Your Multimedia Project . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
12.6 Packaging Your Multimedia Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
12.7 Prioritizing Each Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
12.8 Fifteen Steps to a Completed Multimedia Project . . . . . . . . . . 341
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
13 Completing a Multimedia Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
13.1 Division of Labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
13.2 The Rough Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
13.3 Finishing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Contents xix
Part IV The Future of Multimedia

14 Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Computer-Driven
Storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
14.1 Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
14.2 Artificial Intelligence and Journalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
14.3 The Birth of Virtual Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
14.4 Other Immersive Reality Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
14.5 The Growth of Virtual Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
14.6 The Limits of VR for Journalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
15 Using Social Media for Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
15.1 The Social Media Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
15.2 A New News-Delivery Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
15.3 Social Media as a Reporting Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
15.4 Using LinkedIn as a Reporting Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
15.5 The Emergence of Social Journalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
15.6 The Dark Side of Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
15.7 Confirming the Accuracy of Social Media Posts . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
16 Best Practices: Using Social Media for Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
16.1 Case Study: The Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize-Winning
Coverage of the 2015 San Bernardino Shootings . . . . . . . . . . 401
16.2 Ten Tips on Using Social Media as a Reporting Tool.
By Lily Zeng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
17 Introduction to Data Journalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
17.1 Our Big Data World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
17.2 Key Elements of Data Journalism Storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
17.3 How Data Journalism Is Different . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
17.4 The Process of Creating a Data Journalism Project . . . . . . . . . 430
17.5 Data Journalism: A Cost-Benefit Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
About the Author
Rick Dunham (Screen grab, CCTV News)
Richard Scott Dunham is a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University and is

Co-Director of the Global Business Journalism Program. He has taught courses in
multimedia business reporting, data journalism, U.S. media culture, fundamentals
of global journalism, and advanced news writing. He also offers regular news
analysis for CCTV’s China Global Television Network and China Radio
International, and writes about international economics and media developments for
Beijing Review.
Before joining the faculty at Tsinghua as a visiting professor in 2013,
Mr. Dunham was a veteran Washington journalist and Former President of the
National Press Club (http://press.org/). He covered the White House for Business
Week magazine and the Houston Chronicle, covering Presidents Bill Clinton,
George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and conducting five Oval Office interviews.
xxi
xxii About the Author
An expert on political demographics and the nexus of policy, politics, and

influence-peddling, he has written about every U.S. presidential election since 1980.
He was Washington Bureau Chief of the Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.
com/) from 2007 to 2013 and created a popular blog covering policy and politics,
“Texas on the Potomac (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Texas-on-the-Potomac/
322391986861).” He also served as Hearst Newspapers (http://www.facebook.com/
pages/Hearst-Newspapers-Washington-Bureau/143675482348022) Washington
Bureau Chief from 2009 to 2012. From 1992 to July 2007, he was a Washington
Correspondent for Business Week, covering issues as diverse as the federal budget,
international trade, and the Clinton and Bush White Houses. He also was
Washington Outlook Editor and a weekly Columnist for BusinessWeek.com. He
earlier spent seven years in the Washington Bureau of the Dallas Times Herald,
covering Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court. He also worked on the
city desk reporter in Dallas and the state capital bureau in Austin. During three
decades in Washington, he appeared on ABC, CNN, the BBC, U.S. National Public
Radio, CNBC, MSNBC, the PBS News Hour, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, C-SPAN,
Fox News Channel, and numerous radio stations and networks. From 2005 to 2009,
he wrote a “Letter from America” column for the Finnish newspaper Aamulehti
(http://www.aamulehti.fi/) explaining U.S. politics and culture to an international
audience.
Mr. Dunham has been on the cutting edge of journalism technology and training,
serving as President of the National Press Club Journalism Institute (http://press.org/
institute) from 2006 to 2013. He taught classes and hosted panel discussions at the
institute on journalism skills, web content, social media, and journalism ethics. Since
arriving in China, he has conducted multimedia and data journalism training sessions
for professional journalists, university students, and communications professionals
across Asia, America, and Europe. He has created the USA Summer Journalism
Training Program to provide intensive journalism and public policy training in
Washington to university students from around the world.
A leading advocate of diversity in American journalism, Mr. Dunham was a
mentor with the UNITY Mentor Program for young journalists of color from 1999 to
2005, working one-on-one with young journalists and teaching workshops on
journalism skills. He has lectured to classes at U.S. institutions including Texas
A&M University, American University, Boston University, the University of
Pennsylvania, the University of Alabama, Towson State University, Carleton
College and Flagler College, and Chinese institutions including Zhejiang University,
Xi’an International Studies University, Shanghai University, Wuhan University,
Zhengzhou University, Sichuan University, Jinan University, Hubei University,
Heilongjiang University, the University of International Business and Economics,
the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Northwestern
Normal University, the Communications University of China, and Hong Kong
Baptist University.
Mr. Dunham also has written for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Cleveland
Plain Dealer, and he has contributed to four books (“The Founding City,” Chilton
Books, 1976, “The Handbook of Campaign Spending,” Congressional Quarterly
About the Author xxiii
Press, 1992, “The Almanac of the Unelected,” Bernan Press, 2006, and “Alternative
Truths,” B Cubed Press, 2017). He wrote a new foreword to the 60th anniver-
sary edition of his grandfather Barrows Dunham’s classic philosophy book,
“Man against Myth (http://www.printsasia.com/book/Man-Against-Myth-Barrows-
Dunham-Randhir-Singh-8123750722-9788123750729?utm_source=googlebook&
utm_medium=opf&utm_campaign=feed),” which was republished in 2007.
From 1992 to 1999, Mr. Dunham served on the Executive Committee of
Periodical Correspondents, which oversees the press galleries on Capitol Hill for
more than 2,000 news magazine and newsletter correspondents. As Executive
Committee Chairman from 1995 to 1997, he helped to coordinate press logistics for
the national conventions and presidential inauguration.
A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Dunham holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in history
from the University of Pennsylvania. He is married to Pamela Tobey, a longtime
graphics artist and art director at the Washington Post who is now Visuals Director
of Beijing Review. They live in Beijing and Arlington, Virginia.
Part I
Overview
Chapter 1
The Power of Multimedia
1.1 The Dawn of the Multimedia Era
Before there was an “internet,” before the term “multimedia” was created or “social
media” was imagined, there were ways that news traveled instantaneously. During
the American Civil War, the telegraph brought news to readers the day it happened.
A few decades later, “wire” machines clicked and clacked global headlines in real
time.
FLASH. SHOT FIRED PRESIDENTS MOTORCADE. GET OFF THE
WIRE.
Eight words, 49 characters. An infamous day in American history. November 22,
1963. The editors of United Press International warned their staffers worldwide that
bad news was about to follow. And follow, it did:
FLASH. KENNEDY SHOT. KENNEDY SHOT. FOR CHRIST SAKE
GET OFF WIRE AND STAY OFF.
Before social media sharing and digital “push notifications,” news media used
similar communications tools to quickly share breaking news.
Mao dead peking radio reports
Five words, 38 characters. That’s how the world found out about the death of
Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1976 through an Associated Press “urgent news
bulletin.”
Today’s young generation of reporters take for granted the wide array of social
media tools available in the 21st century. In many ways, they are a marvel of
modern technology. But the substance of the message contained in today’s tweet—
or WeChat post—has changed little since Chairman Mao’s death four decades ago.
It’s still news. It’s still urgent. It’s just on a different platform. A multimedia
platform.
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 3

R. S. Dunham, Multimedia Reporting, Tsinghua Global Business Journalism Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_1
4 1 The Power of Multimedia
“Digital disruption” is a term used by academics and media executives to

describe the way changing technology has affected the way people receive news
and information—and the business model for the journalism industry. Most of the
time, the experts say it with a mix of bitterness and nostalgia for the lost days of
their youth. Whatever the emotions evoked by “digital disruption,” there is no
debating the fact that it’s here to stay.
“Big changes are coming fast in the way major news institutions present their
journalism, what that journalism includes, and how decisions are made about what
to include,” New York Times media columnist Jim Rutenberg wrote in April 2016.
“The goal: to draw big, addicted audiences.”
News organizations are far from alone. New technologies have changed the way
we communicate. They have resulted in the demise of printed newspapers and have
radically altered the way people read magazines, watch TV news, view network TV
entertainment, listen to music, watch movies, and talk on telephones. In a single
generation, we have advanced from desktop computers to laptops to iPads to smart
phones to smart watches. We read eBooks and book taxis, hotels and airplane travel
in the palm of our hands. We’ve witnessed the birth of blogs, microblogs, social
media, and apps for everything. Almost everything we do in our lives—from
receiving information to shopping to communicating with our family and friends—
has been affected.
This new world is digital. In journalism, it’s also multimedia.
So what is multimedia journalism? It’s simple. It is journalism produced on
digital sources such as the internet or mobile devices using … multiple media.
Multiple media. Multi-media. Multimedia.
That’s what multimedia journalism is.
Multimedia journalism is journalism, like old-fashioned newspapers, radio and
television … but published on new digital platforms and combined in multiple
media. It has the same rules for accuracy, fairness and ethics. The public simply
consumes it differently. And the public consumes it incessantly.
“There’s a deadline every nanosecond,” Dan Rather, the former CBS News
managing editor, said in 2016.
>>> Read Dan Rather’s take on journalism in the age of Donald Trump: http://www.
poynter.org/2016/dan-rather-on-the-role-of-journalists-after-the-election-of-a-generation/
438770/
It was not always that way.

Your author was a Business Week correspondent in Washington, D.C., at the
dawning of the Digital Age in the early 1990s. Many veteran journalists were
skeptical that the new era of computers could displace traditional sources of news
and information. The computers were too expensive, too big, and they were not
portable. (This is before the invention of the laptop.) It was a very slow and
cumbersome process to connect your computer to the internet via a dial-up modem,
a funny-looking device you attached to your telephone. The cost of a data
1.1 The Dawn of the Multimedia Era 5
connection was prohibitively expensive, making the early internet a province of the
wealthy. Large swaths of the world had no way to connect to the internet.
Cyber-skeptics looked at the early world of the internet and scoffed. The KRON
television science correspondent in San Francisco in 1981 interviewed editors at the
San Francisco Examiner, who were experimenting with this new “tele-paper” thing.
A tech-savvy reader (with a home computer) downloaded an electronic version of
their newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner, with a very slow modem connected
to a computer server in Columbus, Ohio. The only thing a reader could see online
from the digital newspaper was text—no photographs or graphics. The reader was
enthusiastic, and predicted that this new technology would change the news busi-
ness, but the reporter remained skeptical of “newspapers by computer.” The report
ends with a shot of a newspaper vendor. “For the moment at least, this fellow isn’t
worried about being out a job,” the correspondent says. The TV anchor then
concludes, with evident disdain, “Well, it takes over two hours to receive the entire
text of the newspaper over the phone, and with an hourly use charge of five dollars,
the new tele-paper won’t be much competition for the 20-cent street edition.”
>>> Watch the 1981 San Francisco television report on the futuristic concept of reading
a newspaper on a computer screen: http://www.wimp.com/news-report-from-1981-about-
the-internet/
There was a certain economic logic to that skepticism. But the skeptics, par-
ticularly inside the news industry, were missing the point. The nascent digital
revolution was the future. It was not only the future of news and information, but
the future of entertainment and commerce, as well. Data speeds wouldn’t always be
so slow or access prohibitively expensive. Unless you were a hopeless pessimist, it
was easy to imagine a future where we would see news reports live on our com-
puters, not after a lengthy download.
Business Week was one of the first content providers of the internet pioneer
America Online (AOL). This book’s author was the host of some of the first live
chats on the web in the mid-1990s. People anywhere in the world could call in and
chat live with the prominent elected officials and expert analysts we hosted in our
chats. From the entire world, he started one first chat with 29 participants, a number
that eventually built to the handsome number of 70. From such humble beginnings
came the multimedia revolution.
1.2 Culture Clash
In those early days of the newly emerging “new media,” there was a lot of academic
debate over the issue of how to define “multimedia.” In the 1990s, “multimedia”
was considered a computer disk that you could code, and later it meant an external
video or game that played on a computer. In the early 2000s, the concept of
“omnimedia”—different media accessed by users on the web—took hold, dis-

placing the early concepts of multimedia.
At a 2004 International Symposium on Online Journalism in Austin, Texas, a
University of Texas scholar named Amy Zerba questioned the very raison d’être of
the concept of multimedia as journalism. “I’m interested in this kind of storytelling,
but there has been no clear definition of what it actually is,” Zerba said, according to
an article posted by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas in April 2004.
“What does it mean, what does it look like, what is its purpose?”
Meredith Stencil, who wrote that article for the Knight Center, described the
confusion at the symposium: “Because of its many components, the attempt to
define the journalistic term ‘multimedia’ presents a challenge to scholars,” she
wrote.
It was not only a subject that divided academics. There also was a deep culture
clash between the predominantly young journalists who embraced the new com-
munication methods and old-timers who resisted something they saw as a fad or a
dangerous trend that threatened journalism quality.
Many print reporters saw themselves as a breed apart. The print world was home
to “word people.” They wrote for a living. To almost all print journalists, television
and radio were different media forms. “I don’t do TV,” one Business Week reporter
told your author after being asked to appear on an American national television
network to discuss an economics issue.
If television was seen as a different journalism form, the internet was a com-
pletely foreign concept. When print publications created online sites in the
mid-1990s, few of the existing reporters contributed original content. “I won’t write
for the website unless you pay me extra,” one reporter curtly informed Business
Week’s Washington bureau chief. You were either a print reporter or an online
reporter, most journalists believed. You couldn’t—or shouldn’t—do both.
Today, the single-platform journalists are losing out. “One editor of a major
national publication, who himself is well over 40, confided to me that he’s reluctant
to hire older journalists, that ‘they’re stuck in the mentality of doing one story a
week’ and not willing to use social media,” Dale Maharidge wrote in The Nation in
March 2016.
>>> Read Dale Maharidge’s profile of journalists trying to adapt to the new realities of
the digital world: http://www.thenation.com/article/these-journalists-dedicated-their-lives-
to-telling-other-peoples-stories/
The reality is more textured than these broad-brush portraits. Today, there is not
much room for print-only or broadcast-only journalism. We live in a multimedia
world, and journalism is a mash-up of news mediums (or media). Almost every
print or broadcast journalist also files for the internet.
Readers demand it. The bosses demand it. Competition requires it.
1.3 Digital Journalism Eclipses Traditional Forms 7
1.3 Digital Journalism Eclipses Traditional Forms
Digital media—via computers and, much more commonly, tablets or smart phones
—has become an essential part of the news world. Multimedia is here to stay, in
traditional news outlets and among the new “pure-player” digital competitors that
are popping up everywhere.
The rise of digital news has been rapid and relentless. During the 1996 United
States presidential election, only 2% of Americans said they were getting news
from online sources, compared to about 60% from television and 50% from
newspapers. But 2016 Pew Research Center analysis showed television and digital
news sources as the most widely used—both at 78 and 65% during the U.S.
presidential campaign—while newspapers had fallen to 36%, down by nearly half
from its peak.
“Multimedia is the future,” Mike Chinoy, a senior fellow at the University of
Southern California’s U.S.-China Institute told journalism students at Tsinghua
School of Journalism and Communication in October 2014. “It is the way the news
business is going. Multimedia is a new way to tell stories. It’s not a newspaper. It’s
not a TV network. It’s not radio. It’s not a magazine. It’s not a rigidly structured
format.”
Across the world, citizens are increasingly relying on digital sources rather than
traditional media such as television, which has experienced a slow, steady decline,
and newspapers and radio, which have seen a more rapid loss of audience to smart
phones, tablets and computers. Among the countries facing the steepest declines in
newspaper circulation are Denmark (41.9%), Russia (38.7%), Great Britain
(26.6%), South Africa (21.1%), the United States (14.9%) and Germany (10.2%),
according to a World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers survey of
the years 2008–2012. The only regions registering circulation increases were Asia
and Latin America.
The digital revolution is not a global monolith, and some countries have seen
more displacement of traditional media than others. Television remains the domi-
nant news source in Germany, for example. But across the world, digital platforms
have eclipsed traditional news sources. The means of accessing digital news varies.
In Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, news consumers prefer to look directly
at news websites, according to the 2018 Digital News Report of the Reuters
Institute at Oxford University in the U.K. (The rates range from 52% in Denmark to
65% in Finland.) Social media is the leading access point in Chile, Bulgaria,
Malaysia and Argentina (37–43%), while aggregators are the top choice for news in
East Asia (Japan, 36%, South Korea 30%). News consumers in Belgium prefer
email notifications, while Mexican citizens lead the world in mobile alerts.
>>> Read Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2018 http://media.digitalnewsreport.org/
wp-content/uploads/2018/06/digital-news-report-2018.pdf?x89475
There is also wide variation in the ability of traditional media brands to dominate
digital news. In the U.K., for example, citizens prefer to get their digital news
through traditional brands such as the BBC or the Guardian by more than 3-to-1 to
digital-only products or news aggregators, according to the Reuters Institute. On the
other hand, Japanese news consumers prefer New Media sources by about 2-to-1.
In the United States, traditional brands such as CNN, the New York Times and the
Washington Post hold a narrow advantage over the digital startups.
While many traditional news brands struggle, the world’s most popular social
networks have leveraged their reach to become the top social media sources for
news. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are the most frequently used social media
news sources globally, followed by Google+, WhatsApp and LinkedIn. Nearly
two-thirds of Facebook users get news on the platform, while about half of Google
and Twitter users search for news on those sites. In contrast, only about one-third of
YourTube and WhatsApp customers find news there.
The shifts in news consumption are even more pronounced if you look at the age
of news consumers. There is a massive generation gap, with young people far more
likely to seek information on digital platforms, and with older people more reliant
on traditional media. In China, people under the age of 40 are more likely to get
information from social media platforms than traditional news outlets. When news
breaks, more than two-thirds of Chinese netizens opt for social media over tradi-
tional outlets. And fewer than 5% of Chinese citizens under the age of 30 read news
in print form, with roughly equal numbers opting for the websites of traditional
news outlets and “digital natives” in social media, blogs and microblogs for their
news.
In the United States, the generation gap is even more pronounced. Among
Americans under the age of 25, more get news via Twitter than print newspapers,
according to a Pew Research Center survey. But among Americans aged 65 and
above, nearly half still read a newspaper each day, while less than 1% use Twitter
for news.
>>> Read 2016 State of the News Media, Pew Research Center http://www.journalism.
org/2016/06/15/state-of-the-news-media-2016/
More global citizens are getting more news and information than ever before.
They are just getting it in different forms.
Over the past decade, smartphones and tablets have gone from new inventions to
leading players in multimedia journalism across the world, eclipsing the laptop
computer. In Denmark, smartphone use for news has nearly doubled from about
30% to nearly 60% since 2012, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of
Journalism at the University of Oxford in the U.K. Use of tablet devices such as the
iPad for news has more than tripled since 2012 in large European markets such as
Great Britain, France and Germany. Washington Post Managing Editor Emilio
Garcia-Ruiz reported in 2016 that 70% of his news organization’s digital audience
accessed Post content through mobile devices, primarily smartphones.
>>> Read James Breiner’s report on how mobile phones and social platforms are
changing the Washington Post: https://ijnet.org/en/blog/washington-post-digital-chief-
encourages-news-outlets-embrace-social-mobile-news
1.3 Digital Journalism Eclipses Traditional Forms 9
The bottom line is convenience; people want news when they want it, on
whatever device they have handy at that moment. And they often rely on three or
more devices to get information at different times of the day (and night).
The change has been rapid. In China the percentage of mobile customers using
smartphones has soared from nearly zero in 2010 to about 65% five years later,
according to GSMA Intelligence data cited by the South China Morning Post.
Professor Lin Yufeng of the University of Macao estimated that news consumers
globally spend 147 minutes per month on mobile devices, 113 minutes per month
on television, 108 on their laptops and 50 on text products. “The mobile phone has
become the first media choice for us,” he explained in 2016. “If the traditional
media does not focus on digital [news] and social media, it will become outdated.”
Although more people than ever before are getting information on digital plat-
forms, they are not choosing traditional news outlets. According to Media Life
Magazine, the average reach of a newspaper’s website has increased from just 9.8%
of the American population in 2007 to 10% in 2015—barely changing during a
period of rapid growth in digital news.
“It’s totally unsurprising that print readership has been shrinking, but it is
extremely surprising that in-market online readership hasn’t been growing,” Hsiang
Iris Chyi, associate professor at the School of Journalism of the University of Texas
at Austin, said in Media Life Magazine.
>>> Read the complete article from Media Life Magazine: http://www.medialifemaga-
zine.com/think-papers-websites-are-gaining-think-again/
Traditional print media outlets are facing a serious dilemma. Not only is their
audience shrinking, advertising revenue—historically the dominant source of rev-
enue to support the media business model—has collapsed. While newspapers have
increased their revenue from their digital ventures, they have failed to compensate
for the huge drop in advertising. Print advertising in the U.S. has dropped by more
than 50% in the past 15 years, according to the Pew Research Center. According to
2016 State of the News Media report, one-fourth of advertising revenue now comes
from digital. But digital advertising revenue is declining, too—down 2% in 2015.
Non-digital advertising revenue fell even more, dropping 10% in 2015.
Although some of the drop can be attributed to the fallout from the U.S. financial
industry crisis in 2008 and 2009, most of the decline is caused by shrinking
audiences that are not returning and advertisers’ decisions to spend their precious
marketing budgets on other media platforms. Money that once went to newspapers
and television networks now goes to search engines such as Google and social
media powerhouses such as Facebook.
The multimedia world has created multiple dilemmas for the news business.
Online journalism is not as profitable as traditional print or broadcast journalism.
Advertising rates are just a fraction of the amount paid a few years ago for
newspaper or television advertisements. At the same time, it is more costly to
produce news for traditional media outlets that send reporters to news hot spots
around the world, take time for in-depth reporting projects and hire more expensive
and experienced journalists.
News organizations are trying to shift to a subscription-based business model,

but they are finding massive resistance from online news consumers to paying big
bucks for news content. According to the Reuters Institute, 75% of people in the
UK and 67% of Americans would not pay for news, whatever the cost. Those
willing to pay are not willing to pay much: an average of $8.50 (U.S. Dollars) in the
U.S. and £4.5 (GBP) in the UK.
While some traditional news outlets try to survive by producing in-depth cov-
erage, readers are demanding information instantaneously, forcing “legacy media”
to hire additional staff to meet the simultaneous requirements for both rapid pub-
lication and long-form journalism.
“There’s no standing still in the swiftly evolving digital age,” says Rem Rieder, a
journalism analyst and columnist at USA Today. “News has to a great extent
become a commodity in today’s media landscape. You’ve got to do something
special to stand out, to get news consumers to award their valuable time to you
instead of your numerous rivals.”
Amid the tumult, business journalism has been a financial bright spot for the
beleaguered industry. “The number of people willing to pay for content on politics
or culture or food is dwindling,” Tom Orlik, Chief Asia Economist for Bloomberg
News told the Global Business Journalism Program at Tsinghua University in 2016.
“The one part of the journalism market that is relatively thriving in business
journalism. They are prepared to pay a premium for information and insight which
affects the value of their investments.” As a result of these trends, today is “an
exciting time to be going into something like financial journalism.”
1.4 Traditional Media Forms Try to Adapt
Faced with a shrinking audience and financial woes, traditional outlets for years
were in a state of denial, protecting their bottom line by cutting costs to cover their
continuing revenue losses. Traditional media companies were hoping for something
—anything—to fix their broken business model. Guess what? They have not yet
discovered it. “We didn’t find the golden mold,” Cui Baoguo, a Tsinghua
University journalism professor, says. “We will integrate [into digital platforms]—
or disappear.”
To survive, traditional media outlets are increasingly turning to multimedia
journalism as the best way they can compete with the new journalism brands and
new technology platforms. “The key to survival is reinventing what we do,” says
Jeff Jarvis, a U.S. journalism educator and blogger at BuzzMachine.com.
In some ways, the news business has been constantly reinventing itself. In the
classic 1941 movie Citizen Kane, the central character receives pushback for the
changes he makes as a new newspaper publisher. “I don’t know how to run a
newspaper, Mr. Thatcher,” he tells a skeptical colleague. “I just try everything I can
think of.”
1.4 Traditional Media Forms Try to Adapt 11
Three-quarters of a century later, journalism is being reinvented every day, from

Beijing to Buffalo. New media players that did not exist 10 or 20 years ago have
become major players. In China, those include valuable brands such as Tencent,
Baidu and Alibaba. In the U.S., the leading digital players, by market share, are the
search engine Yahoo, local newspapers, the conservative Fox cable news network,
the liberal online publication The Huffington Post, local television news stations,
Microsoft’s MSN home page, the nonpartisan cable television network CNN and
Google News.
That’s an almost inconceivable shift in a media landscape that was dominated a
generation ago by a few national television networks, influential and highly prof-
itable regional newspapers and elite newspapers such as the New York Times and
Wall Street Journal. And while many journalism analysts are gloomy about the
industry’s future, disruption does not necessary mean doom. “The game isn’t over
yet—it’s just getting started,” American journalism educator and blogger Mark
Briggs wrote in his book Journalism Next. “And, since tomorrow’s journalists
inherently ‘get’ the internet because you grew up with it, you have the opportunity
to shape the future of journalism online like no generation has before.”
Your author lived the life of disruption over a 35-year journalism career, often
with a sense of daring and purpose, occasionally with anxiety or dread as bosses
struggled to figure out where the traditional journalism world was heading. His
experimental roles included becoming one of the first online columnists, author of a
weekly column called “Washington Watch” that was published every Monday
morning. Business Week Online, the formal title for the magazine’s new “dot-com”
site, realized that it had more readers every Monday morning than any other time of
the week, but no original content because none of the staff was then working on the
weekend. So Washington Watch, a weekly column on the intersection of policy and
politics in the U.S., was published every Monday morning. Back then in 1999, there
were no comments, no graphics, no interactivity, just text and photos. It was the
future, although few journalists understood it at the time.
Indeed, many of the journalism roles your author filled did not exist when he
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978 and moved to Dallas, Texas.
Those traditional news roles included:
• Reporter
• Editor
• White House correspondent
• Bureau chief
• Television analyst
• Radio analyst
But the list of “new media” jobs that did not exist in 1978 is far longer:
• Online chat host
• Online columnist
• Blogger
• Website manager
• Satellite radio show host

• Multimedia trainer
• Data journalist
• Social media specialist
• Analytics expert
Your world as a journalist in the coming decades is likely to be the same. You
need to be prepared to assume many of the journalism roles that exist today—and to
excel at as many of them as possible. But you also need to be prepared to change
roles as technology and audience tastes change. It is the reality of life in an age of
disruption.
“The culture of innovation is not a luxury,” says Richard Gingras, former CEO
of Salon.com and head of news products at Google. “It can’t be intermittent. It must
be part of an organization’s DNA.”
That’s the message Amazon founder Jeff Bezos brought to the Washington Post
when he bought the venerable yet financially struggling newspaper in 2013. Bezos
instilled an entrepreneurial spirit, new media consciousness and brand-building
savvy that helped to restore morale … and readership. The New York Times, a
money-losing venture despite its global prestige, hired full time social media editors
and reorganized its editorial structure to adapt to the 24-hour digital world.
Still, a dispiriting number of news organizations—many of them owned by large
media corporations—have not gotten Gingras’ message. “Too many organizations
have gone on line and chased the easy traffic,” said a post on the Polis blog of the
London School of Economics and Political Science. “Some of them will succeed
but not everyone can cover show business, celebrity and sport.
“Too little has been invested in real networked journalism. The old media
owners have been too keen to protect their profit margins instead of investing in
connecting with new communities and providing the citizen with a product that is
of real value to them.
“There has been some outstanding innovation and hard work in the face of the
challenge of media change—but collectively there has been a failure of imagination
and a reluctance to understand the full extent of what is happening.”
>>> Read the entire Polis post: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2009/04/03/supermedia-in-ita-
lia-perugia-festival-of-journalism/
The business model is one challenge facing news executives caught in their old
mindset. But most of the challenges they face are journalistic. In today’s multimedia
world, there are a series of imperatives that are different than the journalism of the
past. Immediacy is essential. If your website or mobile app lacks breaking news or
fresh information/insights, people leave it and switch to a competitor.
Unlike the past, when editors decided what news should be consumed, today’s
users dictate where, when and on what platform they consume news and infor-
mation. News organizations publish news now, on the internet and mobile devices,
not in their next edition.
1.4 Traditional Media Forms Try to Adapt 13
“We consume what we want to, not what any gatekeeper wants us to consume,”
Felicia Sonmez, a Washington Post reporter, told a forum at the Penn Wharton
Center in Beijing in 2016.
“News now” is a lesson that news organizations learned painfully. In the dawn
of the internet Era in 1995, Business Week’s editors did not want to publish
“scoops” on its website for fear that they would “cannibalize” the weekly printed
product and reduce its value to our readers. Newsweek magazine paid a journalistic
price for that in 1997 when it tried to keep secret a story about President Bill
Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky until its next weekly
print issue. But a new web-only competitor posted a story citing rumors that
Newsweek was working on such a story, effectively scooping the traditional news
outlet on its own story. That does not happen anymore. “Digital first” is the mantra
of many a media consultant today.
“We give people what they want, when they want it and in the form they want
it,” Will Lewis of The Daily Telegraph of London in the U.K., said early in the
digital age.
But too much pandering to audiences has resulted in a lowest-common-
denominator rush to the bottom where quality has been sacrificed at many publi-
cations in a desperate search for “clicks” and “shares.” “It’s more important than
ever to produce high-quality, fact-based stories,” says Michael J. Jordan, an
American journalism educator who has reported in 30 countries from the Americas
to Africa and Asia.
For traditional journalism to succeed, news organizations must figure out ways
to build their audience with quality stories that expand their communities of readers.
“We can use the openness of our communities together with the other tools that
digital gives us to help us reform our journalism and forge a stronger connection
with audiences that will enable us to thrive in the digital future,” says Nic Dawes,
chief editorial and content officer at the Hindustan Times in India. “We have a few
years to do that, and if we don’t, traditional media houses will be swallowed up by
new ones who are happy to use digital tools to reach this change.”
>>> Read the entire International Center for Journalists Q&A with Nic Dawes: http://
www.icfj.org/blogs/qa-nic-dawes-helping-india’s-hindustan-times-adapt-digital-age
1.5 How Multimedia Improves News Storytelling
Multimedia platforms help you to explain your story and can add depth and insight
to your storytelling. There are more than a dozen forms of multimedia journalism
used today, with more being invented every year. Here are some of the most useful
to people entering the profession:
• Breaking news, columns, commentary, feature stories

• Blogs
• Photography
• Slideshows and photo galleries
• Slideshows with sound
• GIFs
• Audio and audio podcasts
• Videos and video podcasts
• Informational graphics
• Interactive graphics, including data visualization
• Animated graphics
• Virtual reality storytelling
• Artificial intelligence
It is not enough to combine two forms of media and call it a multimedia project.
“The goal is to move beyond simply throwing together text and video, and
understanding how everything works together,” says Paige Williams, a staff writer
at The New Yorker and an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism.
“It allows a reporter to draw on the strength of each medium to tell a more com-
pelling story,” notes Kyle James on onmedia.com.
We will examine each of these multimedia forms in upcoming chapters and
provide you with tips that will help you find the multimedia tool that can best help
you tell your story. But here is a quick preview of some of the benefits of different
multimedia platforms:
• Multimedia helps you explain your story
• Multimedia can add depth and insight to your storytelling
• Multimedia can tell your story better than simply using text
• Multiple media elements add a human voice, face
• Multimedia lets reader interact with the story
• Multiple media vary your presentation
• Photo galleries can supplement or substitute for print stories
• Slideshows with sound combine visual, audio storytelling
• Podcasts explore subjects in detail
• Videos show, rather than tell
• Interactive maps give location, detail
• Animated or interactive graphics explain complicated concepts in detail
• Data visualization allows your audience to interact with information and find
their own stories in your data
• Multimedia enhances your credibility by supplying supporting documents and
material.
“If you don’t experiment, you can wave your future goodbye,” Knight
Foundation CEO Alberto Ibarguen’s told journalists at the National Press
Foundation annual awards dinner in Washington in February 2015.
1.5 How Multimedia Improves News Storytelling 15
A lot of news organizations are experimenting with multimedia elements

because readers like it. But most of all, they are experimenting with multimedia
because it can help you tell stories better. “Multimedia storytelling is versatile,”
write Eric Zimerman and Calvin Koon-Stack of Hattaway Communications in the
United States. “Multimedia stories can take many forms, and you can adapt the
model endlessly to find what form works best for your story and your
organization…
“Multimedia stories are also interactive in a way that single-medium stories
aren’t. By incorporating various types of media, you are creating a story that your
readers can explore…When done well, multimedia stories are able to leverage those
strengths to convey emotion and build empathy in ways that single-medium stories
cannot.”
Still, for all the versatility of multimedia projects, the essence and core of
journalism remain the same. The constant is storytelling.
The viral website BuzzFeed has gained followers and, yes, “buzz” by telling
stories through photo galleries. While often frivolous, BuzzFeed’s photo galleries
also can have serious messages. Take, for example, the post on the frosty rela-
tionship between U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir
Putin. BuzzFeed told the story in 10 photographs and just four words: “So very,
very sad.” As the English cliché goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” And
the photographs of the two visibly uncomfortable men told the story.
>>> See BuzzFeed’s entire Putin-Obama photo gallery: https://www.buzzfeed.com/
andrewkaczynski/10-photos-of-obama-and-vladimir-putin-looking-sad?utm_term=.
ek6DMznAY#.iyByb4OMG
Storytelling, through whatever medium you prefer, has become an indispensible

requirement for today’s digital news brands. No matter how skilled you are as a
multimedia reporter, you cannot thrive without advanced storytelling skills. “You
have to be as good a storyteller as you are an investigator and journalist,” says Eric
Fish, an American journalist and author of “The Want Generation,” a book about
China’s Millennials.
1.6 New Skills, New Competitors
Storytelling is essential. But to produce journalism in the multimedia age, today’s

young journalists need to tell stories in ways other than text. It is vital for journalists
to think visually. You cannot rely solely on words to tell your stories. It’s important
to match the right content with the right multimedia form. You must write and think
quickly.
“If you want to be relevant in a media field in particular, you have to constantly
re-educate yourself,” Dan Pacheco, chair in journalism innovation at the Newhouse
School at Syracuse University, said in a podcast with journalism.co.uk posted in

January 2015.
You don’t have to be an expert at everything, but you must have a breadth of
knowledge of multimedia tools, and deep expertise in at least one. “You have to
learn to do it all,” says Maria Ressa, a former CNN international correspondent who
later founded Rappler.com in the Philippines. “You do it all on digital. You have to
be really good at one thing.”
Multimedia journalists are on deadline 24/7, so there is no time when you can be
completely “off the grid” if you have a beat to cover. Because you are expected to
produce news rapidly at all hours of the day and night, it is harder than ever to get
everything right. And sometimes, there is no editor to act as your safety net as you
file breaking news to social media or directly to a digital platform. Still, 24/7
deadlines do not excuse even the smallest of errors. Just because you can fix a
digital mistake does not mean you are allowed to make small mistakes in your haste
to publish.
To thrive in this new media world requires constantly adding value to the
information you share with your audience. How do you do this? A few suggestions:
• Explain what just happened
• Analyze why things happened or what will happen next
• Put your findings into context
• Synthesize information and data
• Bring depth to your reporting
• Add value to the public understanding of a topic
“The really basic skills of knowing how to read and analyze information, call
someone and ask a question, make sense of information you’ve gathered from
documents, and digest it into something that people want to read—that doesn’t
change,” says Libby Nelson, education reporter at Vox.com. The imperative for
journalism is to maintain that creative core while radically changing the modes of
storytelling. “The future of journalism can and will be better than its past,” says
Google’s Gingras. “[But] we need to rethink every facet of what we do.”
One of those innovators is Ken Herman, a veteran columnist at the Austin
American-Statesman. Herman, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1977 for his coverage
of the death of a U.S. Marine Corps recruit during “boot camp” training, was one of
the first print reporters to supplement his stories with multimedia elements such as
video and audio. He said that some of his early efforts at video journalism were
“pretty bad.” His advice: “Make mistakes. I certainly did. But you’ll learn how to
do it and you’ll get better.”
Journalists will need all the help they can to reach those lofty predictions in
today’s wide-open media world. Some of the competitors are familiar: the digital
platforms of traditional news outlets such as the Associated Press or Xinhua or
Reuters, newspapers such as the Financial Times, the New York Times or People’s
Daily, or global television networks like CCTV, CNN or the BBC.
1.6 New Skills, New Competitors 17
But most of the competitors are not traditional journalism organizations. There
are microblogs such as Weibo or Twitter, social media sites such as Facebook or
Renren, and information giants like Google and Yahoo and Baidu. Globally, there
are online-only news and information sites such as Politico in the United States,
InfoAmazonia and Poderpedia in South America and CodeAfrica. There are par-
tisan websites such as the liberal Huffington Post or Daily Kos and the conservative
Daily Caller and National Review Online. There are nonprofit entities such as
ProPublica, the Pulitzer Center and the McGraw Center at the City University of
New York dedicated to in-depth journalism. There are BuzzFeed, Vox and other
“viral news” websites that seek to package information in a way that prompts
readers to share it with friends.
More and more of the multimedia world is occupied by niche sites that try not to
be everything to everybody. Regional online-only news sites such as the Texas
Tribune and MinnPost blog have displaced traditional print newspapers as leading
news sources in the markets they serve. Niche blogs such as TechCrunch (tech-
nology), TreeHugger (environment), VentureBeat (venture capital), and ArtsJournal
(arts) created trusted brands that served narrow but news-hungry digital commu-
nities. “It’s never been easier to find information on any subject you want,” says
Bloomberg’s John Liu. “I can find the group of people who are out there and love
goldfish and I want to read what you have to say.”
The digital world also has spawned some innovative business models. Some use
“crowdsourcing,” relying on readers to provide key content on the site. These
include Quora and Bleacher Report. Value-added aggregators such as The Skim
and Real Clear Politics combine a carefully selected list of the day’s most inter-
esting stories with some high-quality original content. “Journalism’s biggest
competitors are things that don’t even look like journalism,” notes journalism
blogger Mathew Ingram.
Non-journalism competitors may pose a more serious risk to traditional jour-
nalism because they are very often operated by well-funded business or government
sources. Among them:
• Corporate sites that create blogs, videos, photo galleries and other original
content designed to inform the public while improving their brand image and
often selling a product.
• Government sites such as WhiteHouse.gov, which provides extensive coverage
of presidential activities, none of it negative, or NIH.gov, which offers extensive
public service information on health and medicine.
• Academic and private-sector experts who offer information, analysis and com-
mentary on specific topics such as China, economics or international trade.
• Information sites from commercial entities: IMDB (movies), Curbed (real
estate), StubHub (sports and entertainment tickets), Playbill (theater) and Mayo
Clinic Online (medicine).
• Even hobbyists have created digital sites where they seek information and
engage in chats on topics ranging from knitting to rifles to Star Trek.
“If you’re a media company, your competition isn’t the product or service that is
better than you—and it’s certainly not the one that you think is doing journalism—
it’s the one that is good enough for your readers or users,” media analyst Matthew
Ingram wrote on Gigaom.com. “In other words, if it provides a service or infor-
mation that is useful or valuable to them, that is all that matters, not whether it fits
the objective definition of something called ‘journalism.’”
As Eric Schmidt, co-founder and former chief executive of Google, warned
during a 2014 speech in Berlin, “change comes from where you least expect it.”
Even the most innovative news organization has plenty of reason to be wary.
While traditional outlets can seek to excel in their core mission or in-depth
reporting, they are seeing many of their community-building and
community-leadership functions challenged by the new competitors. And many of
the competitors do not share traditional journalism’s ethical or reporting standards.
Many have political agendas that lead them to produce propaganda or outright
falsehoods. After a vicious falsehood damaged the reputation then-Prime Minister
David Cameron of the United Kingdom in 2015, journalist Katharine Viner won-
dered: “Does the truth matter anymore?”
>>> Read Katharine Viner’s full story in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/
media/2016/jul/12/how-technology-disrupted-the-truth?CMP=share_btn_fb
In this kind of climate, outlets that protect traditional journalism values—

accuracy, timeliness, original reporting—have an inherent advantage. “In this era of
change, we are looking for people whose insights, whose interviews, we trust,” says
Chen Jian, executive director of One TV Media Global Ltd. in Hong Kong. Adds
Chen Zhaohua, vice president and chief editor of Sohu, “We need some profes-
sional media to provide the truth.”
The mission of a news outlet is to gain the public’s trust. Yet it is not easy for a
news organization—traditional or digital-native—to maintain widespread public
confidence in a world of doubters, disinformation purveyors and partisans peddling
conflicting information. “Credibility cannot be built overnight,” Chen Jian warns.
We do not yet know whether traditional or new media platforms will emerge as
the most successful—in terms of credibility or profitability. But we do know the
direction in which we’re headed. Chen Jianbo, general manager of ThaiCN.com,
told a global media summit in Macao in 2016 that the ultimate winners will be
outlets that learn “how to combine the value of traditional media with the tech-
nology of the new media.”
1.6 New Skills, New Competitors 19
Professional Advice
With all this new technology, anything is possible. There is no model for what we are doing
now. Tomorrow, you will be defining the tools and the means we use to tell the story in the
future. There are so many ways you can reimagine what it is like to be a journalist.
—Ching-Ching Ni, editor-in-chief, New York Times Chinese language edition (GBJ photo)
Bibliographical Note
This textbook has been a collaborative process spanning five years. Many of the
sources quoted in the book were guest speakers or visiting professors in the Global
Business Journalism Program at Tsinghua University. Some of the sources joined
the author as panelists or fellow speakers at academic conferences. Others agreed to
interviews or exchanged views by email or social media. A few citations are taken
from lectures delivered by previous Global Business Journalism Program visiting
professors, specifically former co-director James Breiner. The author is grateful to
all of these individuals for their participation and contributions to this book.
The following bibliography focuses on printed and online material cited by the
author in his text. In our increasingly digital world, many of the sources are from
websites and not printed material. Every attempt has been made to clearly state the
original source of the material. Special thanks to Bertha Wang Xiaoyu for her work
on this bibliography.
Bibliography
(2016, April 18). News report from 1981 about the internet. wimp.com. http://m.wimp.com/news-
report-from-1981-about-the-internet/.
Albeanu, C. (2015, January 26). How journalism innovation can start in the classroom.
journalism.co.uk. https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/how-digital-journalism-innovation-can-
start-in-the-classroom/s2/a563905.
Anonymous. (2015, November 23). Q&A with Nic Dawes: Helping India’s Hindustan Times
adapt to the digital age. icfj.org. https://www.icfj.org/blogs/qa-nic-dawes-helping-india’s-
hindustan-times-adapt-digital-age.
Beckett, C. (2009, April 3). SuperMedia in Italia: Perugia festival of journalism. blogs.lse.ac.uk.
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2009/04/03/supermedia-in-italia-perugia-festival-of-journalism/.
Breiner, J. (2016, March 14). Washington post digital chief encourages news outlets to embrace
social, mobile news. ijnet.org. https://ijnet.org/en/blog/washington-post-encourages-news-out-
lets-embrace-social-mobile-news.
Briggs, M. (2015, July 15). Journalism next: A practical guide to digital report and publishing
(p. 7). SAGE Publications.
Editors of Media Life. (2016, April 7). Think papers’ websites are gaining? Think again.
medialifemagazine.com. http://medialifemagazine.com/think-papers-websites-are-gaining-
think-again/.
Gottfried, J., Barthel, M., & Shearer, E. (2016, February 4). The 2016 presidential campaign—A
news event that’s hard to miss. journalism.org. http://www.journalism.org/2016/02/04/the-
2016-presidential-campaign-a-news-event-that’s-hard-to-miss/.
Ingram, M. (2014, October 10). Journalism’s biggest competitors are things that don’t even look
like journalism. gigaom.com. https://gigiaom.com/2014/10/10/journalism-biggest-competitors-
are-things-that=don’t-even-look-like-journalism/.
James, K. (2014, October 6). How to plan your multimedia story. onmedia.dw.com. https://
onmedia.dw.com/english/?p=21151.
Jarvis, J. (2009, January 12). Who suffers first in the death of the press. buzzmachine.com. https://
buzzmachine.com/2009/01/12/who-suffers-first-in-the-death-of-the-press/.
Kaczynski, A. (2013, June 18). 10 photos of Obama and Vladimir Putin looking sad. BuzzFeed,
Inc. https://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/10-photos-of-obama-and-vladimir-putin-
looking-sad?utm_term=.bnPw5qWJLW#.fj3YLG7Ql7.
Kilman, L. (2013, June 2). World press trends: Increasing audience engagement is future for news
media. wan-ifra.org. http://www.wan-ifra.org/press-release/2013/06/02/world-press-trends-
increasing-audience-engagement-is-future-for-news-media.
Maharidge, D. (2016, March 21). These journalists dedicated their lives to telling other peoples
stories. What happens when no one wants to print their words anymore? thenation.com. http://
www.thenation.com/article/these-journalists-dedicated-their-lives-to-telling-other-peoples-stor-
ies/.
Masnick, M. (2013, August 26). Kevin Spacey: Give users control, what they want, when they
want it, at a fair price, and stop worrying about privacy. techdirt.com. https://www.techdirt.
com/articles/20130824/22031324306/kevin-spacey-give-users-control-what-they-want-it-fair-
price-stop-worrying-about-privacy.shtml.
Mitchell, A., & Holcomb, E. (2016, June 15). State of the news media 2016. journalism.org.
https://www.journalism.org/2016/06/15/state-of-the-news-media-2016/.
Newman, N., Fletcher, R., & Levy, D. A. L. (2016). Reuters institute digital news report 2016.
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/
Digital-News-Report-2016.pdf.
Rather, D. (2016, November 11). Dan Rather on the role of journalists after the election of a
generation. poynter.org. https://www.poynter.org/2016/dan-rather-on-the-role-of-journalists-
after-the-election-of-a generation/438770/.
Bibliography 21
Rieder, R. (2014, October 13). Rieder: What’s next for politico under glasser? usatoday.com.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/reider/2014/10/13/susan-glasser-takes-
charge-at-politico/17189045/.
Rutenberg, J. (2016, April 17). For news outlets squeezed from the middle, it’s bend or
bust. nytimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/business/media/for-news-outlets-
squeezed-from-the-middle-its-bend-or-bust.html.
Schmidt, E. (2014, October 13). Google’s Eric Schmidt: “Really, our biggest search competitor is
Amazon”. searchengineland.com. https://searchengineland.com/googles-eric-schmidts-berlin-
speech-biggest-search-competitor-amazon-205761.
Stencil, M. (2004, April 17). Defining multimedia journalism. isoj.org. https://isoj.org/defining-
multimedia-journalism/.
Viner, K. (2016, July 12). How technology disrupted the truth. theguardian.com. https://www.
theguardian.com/media/2016/jul/12/hoe-technology-disrupted-the-truth.
Williams, P. (2014, February 25). Multimedia narrative and how to interview, structure, choose
your medium, edit for sound, identify the story arc and more. niemanstoryboard.org. http://
niemanstoryoard.org/stories/multimedia-narrative-and-how-to-interview-structure-choose-
your-medium-edit-for-sound-identify-the-story-arc-and-more/.
Young, B. (2016, March 15). Anatomy of a scene: Citizen Kane. A Medium Corporation. https://
medium.com/@swankmotron/anatomy-of-a-scene-citizen-kane-4fa1c8520be8.
Zimmermann, E. (2016, March 31). How to incorporate multimedia into your storytelling.
hatchforgood.org. https://www.hatchforgood.org/explore/172/how-to-incorporate-multimedia-
into-your-storytelling.
Chapter 2
Keys to Effective Journalism
in the Multimedia Era
2.1 Ten Keys to Effective Multimedia Journalism
Multimedia journalism is about more than multimedia. It is not enough to learn how
to create interactive graphics, slide shows, timelines, data visualizations and
embedded documents. You need to learn how to perfect your journalism skills so
you can maximize your effectiveness as a multimedia practitioner.
“There’s no standing still in the swiftly evolving digital age,” says Rem Rieder,
media editor and columnist for USA Today and former editor of American
Journalism Review “News has to a great extent became a commodity in today’s
media landscape. You’ve got to do something special to stand out, to get news
consumers to award their valuable time to you instead of your numerous rivals.”
In this tumultuous period in global newsrooms, it is important to build audiences
not by playing to populist anger and faux infotainment, but to serve our commu-
nities with good journalism that is relevant to them.
“The path to sustainability and salvation for journalism lies in media abandoning
volume (cats and Kardashians as bait for page views) in favor of value (that is,
relevance and impact in people’s lives),” Jeff Jarvis, a professor at the City
University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, wrote in the New York
Observer. “To do that, we journalists must understand how to build relationships
with the communities we serve.”
“Journalism begins with understanding the needs of the public we serve.”
>>> Read Jeff Jarvis’ Dec. 12, 2015 article in the New York Observer: http://observer.
com/2015/12/how-cunys-first-class-of-social-journalists-is-reinventing-reporting/
The path forward: substantive reporting told on multimedia platforms. “I’m

especially drawn to the need for journalism that is transparent, honest, aggressive
and deep, using all the new tools and with a great sense of openness on how to
present the work to an ever-more-digital audience,” says Margaret Sullivan, media
columnist for the Washington Post. “Given the challenges, what’s needed most are

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_2
24 2 Keys to Effective Journalism in the Multimedia Era
journalists — of every age — who are willing to help figure out the future with
passion, smarts and integrity.”
We start this chapter with 10 keys to successfully serving the public in the
multimedia age.
2.1.1 Key #1: Master the Essentials
The great painter Pablo Picasso famously said that he first learned how to draw the
human body and then he learned how to deconstruct it. The same applies to your
ability to succeed as a multimedia journalist. Before you can learn how to master
multimedia tools, you have to learn how to put together the basics of a good story.
Good storytelling is the basis for all good journalism. You must master that skill.
Other fundamental skills include learning disciplined story structure, accuracy and
timeliness. Remember that journalism today also requires analytical skills. The 24/7
news and information world has made news a commodity available to everyone
immediately at no cost. You must find ways to make your journalism valuable.
Concentrate on the “why” of the news. Provide analysis and context. Help the
audience understand the significance of the latest development.
One vital part of writing a tightly crafted, high-impact story is to plan in
advance. Here is some advice from legendary American writing coach Donald
Murray. In seven words, he shares his keys to good journalism writing:
• Conceive
• Collect
• Focus
• Select
• Order
• Draft
• Revise
Your ability to tell a story clearly and concisely is central to effective journalism.
“You can have the best material in the world, but if you can’t explain it clearly,
nobody is going to read it,” says Jane Sasseen, executive director of the McGraw
Center for Business Journalism at the City University of New York.
To tell your story, you must master basic story structure so that it comes nat-
urally each time you write a story. The basic structure requires six questions. In
English, they are called “the five Ws and one H.”
• WHO made news?
• WHAT happened?
• WHERE did the news happen?
• WHEN did it happen?
• WHY did the news happen?
• HOW did the situation unfold?
2.1 Ten Keys to Effective Multimedia Journalism 25
Another essential of writing “hard news” or breaking news is “the inverted

pyramid.” It is a basic concept of international journalism that governs the orga-
nization of your story.
The inverted pyramid (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
The inverted pyramid theory teaches us that the most important facts should be
in the first few paragraphs of the story, or, in the case of video or audio journalism,
in the first 15–20 seconds of a report. That includes all or most of the 5Ws and 1H.
This is called “the lead,” which is a summary of key information. It is a way to hook
the reader, listener or viewer and make them want to learn more.
Follow that with the most important or best quotations in your story and the most
significant supporting information, often a quick summary of why the story is
important to the audience. That is sometimes called “the nut graf” or “nut ‘graph”
(short for “paragraph”), which gives your audience a summary “in a nutshell” of
what they will learn if they read (or watch) your entire report. As Dale Rice, a
veteran reporter and journalism professor at Texas A&M University, says, the nut
‘graph gives you “context plus reason to read on.”
Reuters’ online “Handbook of Journalism” puts it this way: “To write the nut
‘graph, answer the following questions: Assume the reader is new to the story, what
is the context? Is this the first time? Is this a trend change? Is this a change in rank
for the players as a result of the election, revolution, merger, takeover, earnings
report, bankruptcy? What is at risk politically, economically, financially?”
As you work your way down the inverted pyramid, you include additional
information with less urgent news value, more elaboration of detail, supporting
statistics or other data, quotes from knowledgeable sources, participants or wit-
nesses, context, background information and other voices that might present
alternate points of view. The least important information should come at the end of
the story.
The relevance of the inverted pyramid theory in the Digital Age is that your
news audience might stop reading (or watching) your report at some point, and you
want them to learn the essence of your story before they might tune out.
“Your job is to pick one or two things and say, ‘This is the story,’” says Lee
Miller, a Bloomberg News editor-at-large and visiting professor at Tsinghua School
of Journalism and Communication. “Your job is to decide and tell your audience.
You have to have courage. You cannot be afraid of your own judgment.”
But even before you write, you need to do one more thing: basic reporting.
“Journalism lesson #1: Go to scenes” of news events, suggests longtime Houston
Chronicle reporter Mike Glenn. “Knock on doors. (Not everything can be done by
phone or search engine.) Ask lots of questions. If you do, you’ll probably have a
good idea of how to start and end your story.”
2.1.2 Key #2: Be Multimedia Savvy
No young journalist in today’s digital world can expect to succeed without

understanding how to harness the power of multimedia to tell stories more effec-
tively. That means mastering the technical skills we will be discussing in this
textbook, from text tools (such as writing for the web, blogging, using social media
and search engine optimization) to visual tools such as graphics, photography,
audio, video, animation and web design. “Yes, this is journalism,” says J.V. Rufino,
director of mobile for the Inquirer Group in the Philippines. “You’re going to have
to learn something new every day.”
“You have to be curious and flexible,” adds Kelli Arena, a longtime reporter for
CNN and global journalism trainer. Technologies, she notes, “will change in a year
or two.” But, she believes, “if you are curious and have a thirst for knowledge, if
you’re excited about new technology and change, you will be successful.”
With all of the available tools, it is important for journalists not only to
understand how you use them technically, but also to understand how each mul-
timedia format can best be used for storytelling. “Each medium is very, very
special, and you have to understand the best of each medium, rather than taking the
old content and plunking it on the web,” Joyce Barnathan, president of the
International Center for Journalists, told Global Business Journalism Program
students in December 2016. “People have to think about using the new platforms to
the best advantage of that platform and use each medium to maximum effect.”
2.1.3 Key #3: Focus on Your Audience
In the 20th century, reporters and editors decided what was important to the news
audience. We used our experience and expertise to arbitrarily decide what infor-
mation to share with the rest of the world. But the Digital Age has changed the
equation. Today, news consumers decide what news and information they want to
consume. As a result, the “elite model” of news judgment has been eclipsed by a
“populist model.” The audience decides what information they want to consume.
That means we need to focus much more attention on the news consumer. “Think
of who is your audience,” says Gao Xiaolong, a Chinese filmmaker who tried to
reshape Beijing’s global image before the 2008 Summer Olympics.
As a Business Week correspondent for 15 years, your author created a rule to
focus his attention on his readers. His goal for each story: Give the audience some
piece of information that they had not seen anywhere else—or give them a bit of
insight that they had not contemplated before. This gave each story some intel-
lectual value for readers beyond pleasant writing and professional storytelling.
As you search for story ideas or new angles on developing stories, think cre-
atively. Don’t just sit in front of your computer searching the internet. “I always tell
my students to look for stories in the least apparent characters or situations,” says
Deepti Ganapathy, a veteran Indian journalist and assistant professor at NMIMS
Bangalore’s School of Business Management. “A story is not going to fall into your
lap, and it often takes a lot of research, interviews and fact-finding for a story to
emerge. Unfortunately, journalists today are comfortable sitting at their computers,
reaching out to sources through social media and not venturing out into the field.
I would urge them to step out into the dust and grime at least once a week and see
for themselves how things appear once the dust has settled down.”
As you produce your own news reports, think about your audience. We owe it to
her or him to explain the significance of the stories we are creating. Why should the
news consumer care about my story? Ask yourselves these questions: Why am I
covering this story? What can I tell my audience that they have not heard before?
How can my approach be different than others who are covering the same story?
“We need to focus on why the news is important and help our readers understand
why it is significant,” says Susan Chandler, a former journalism professor at
Northwestern University and longtime business reporter for the Chicago Tribune
and Sun-Times.
We also owe it to the readers to make our writing stimulating. Many important
stories can be “numbers heavy” and full of complex economic or scientific con-
cepts. We, as journalists, should make it our mission to make each story engaging,
to show the faces behind the numbers, to explain the significance of the story to the
readers, in a smart, understandable, even entertaining, way. “A key value of
journalism is to make important things (like health care) interesting for the public,”
writes longtime American editor and journalism trainer Roy Peter Clark.
>>> Read Roy Peter Clark’s “15 tips for a saner news experience”: http://www.poynter.
org/2017/15-tips-for-a-saner-news-experience/446556/
Once you are clear about your story concept, think about your presentation of the
facts. Write clearly. Your job is to explain information clearly and concisely and
accurately. Let your audience know who is likely to be hurt (or helped) by the news
development in your story. To increase the power of your words, use an active
voice in your sentence construction. Write that “The Central Bank released a study
today,” not “A study was released by the Central Bank.”
Define important terms. It will help readers understand details they may not be
familiar with. Avoid “jargon,” the kind of technical language that is only under-
stood by bureaucrats and insiders. You are trying to reach a wide audience, and
jargon can confuse and alienate the people you are trying to reach. Minimize the use
of acronyms, the collection of capital letters that are often used to describe gov-
ernment agencies, party committees and private organizations. It is better to spell
out the name of an agency or committee than to randomly use insider acronyms like
UNHCR, CCPCC, TPP, DPRK or USAID. If you fail to explain these bureaucratic
terms, many readers will not know what you are talking about.
2.1.4 Key #4: Add Value
Information is everywhere. Your job is to deliver facts and explain why and how
they are important. “The value of journalism isn’t simply to relay facts but to put
those facts in context,” Michael Golden, vice chairman of the New York Times
Company, said at an International Center for Journalists panel in San Francisco in
March 2017.
You will add more value if you give people a nugget of wisdom or insight that
they have not seen or heard anywhere else. “You’re not competing on the basis of
whether you have unique news,” writes journalism blogger Steve Yelvington.
“You’re competing with the entire world on the basis of the value that consumers
get out of your product.”
Here are a few ways you can add value in your news coverage:
• Move a story forward with new details or analysis
• Identify interesting or important trends
• Think about stories that can be told with data
• Use multimedia storytelling to present facts in a more compelling way
• Look for interactive tools to engage or immerse readers
An example of value-added coverage is Agence France Press’s wrap-up of the
2016 U.S. presidential race. French photo correspondents who participated in the
2016 election wrote articles summarizing their experiences—one covering
Republican Donald Trump, the other covering Democrat Hillary Clinton. Both
articles were posted right after the election results and told us stories from behind
the scenes from the perspectives of visual storytellers. The articles were rich in
detail and use a conversational tone to tell personal stories about two candidates,
giving the audience a candid look at the unseen face of each presidential hopeful. “I
think they are intriguing and informative, since they keep up with multimedia
trends and satisfy people’s curiosity about Hillary and Trump,” remarked Tsinghua
University teaching assistant Xu Yanan. “By the way, they also have great photos.”
>>> View the multimedia story about Hillary Clinton: https://correspondent.afp.com/
saving-shot
>>> View the report on Donald Trump: https://correspondent.afp.com/chasing-trump
There are many multimedia tools available today, and journalism organizations
sometimes get carried away with their technological capabilities. But technology
alone does not add value. Reporting does. “Indispensability and original reporting
are the engines that will fuel growth,” says American journalist Susan Glasser,
former Washington Post political editor and executive editor of Politico. “It’s
important to emphasize original reporting and insight and analysis no one else is
doing.”
2.1.5 Key #5: Write Tight
Roy Peter Clark says it best: Your writing is more powerful when it is precise. Be
concise. Short sentences have more power. Shorter words have more power.
Shorter paragraphs, used sparingly, have great power. To quote the century-old
advice of Strunk and White in the famous journalism book The Elements of Style,
“omit needless words.”
Words, carefully chosen, matter. As playwright Tom Stoppard once wrote: “I
don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the
right ones in the right order, you might nudge the world a little or make a poem that
children will speak for you when you’re dead.”
2.1.6 Key #6: Be Curious. Be Persistent
When your author was a young boy, he would drive his mother crazy by asking her
one question repeatedly: “Why?”
Perhaps that was a very early inkling of a future journalist. In the news business,
curiosity is a key character trait and “why?” becomes the key question to ask.
(Although sometimes the question is “why not?”)
Be curious. Become an expert on the subject of your story, on your beat, on

emerging journalism technology. Become an expert on publicly available data-
bases. Learn to scrape, clean and visualize data. Be curious.
A good journalist is always on duty, always observant. You must learn to
question authority. Do not take anything for granted and do not accept “no” as a
final answer. Follow up, as needed. “Be persistent,” Nicole Froio, a freelance
reporter and editor based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, told IJNet.org in 2014. “That’s
the mark of a good reporter.”
2.1.7 Key #7: Don’t Be Academic
Every journalist who has attended a university must learn to be bilingual. That does
not mean you must learn English and Chinese, or other languages, although that
would not hurt your career. It means you must learn to write in academic language
and journalistic language. They are different languages, and you may fail as a
journalist if you write news stories using academic language.
Here are a few major differences between the two languages:
• Academic writing has a more formal structure. Journalistic writing is more
informal and is sometimes conversational.
• Academic writing has long, dense paragraphs and often employs complex
sentences. Journalistic writing has fast-moving, shorter paragraphs and varied
sentence length. As we noted above, it is important to be economical with your
words.
• Academic writing is aimed at a specialized audience that has an in-depth
knowledge of the subject matter. That allows the writer to use technical lan-
guage and jargon that would not be understood by an average person.
Journalistic writing is usually written for a general audience, although some
news sites do focus on niche audiences. Journalistic writing requires accessible
language that can be easily understood by a wide spectrum of people.
• Academic writing, by its very nature, draws conclusions. Academics often
become advocates for the particular point of view espoused by their work. The
job of most journalists is to inform the audience and present a balanced view-
point. Unless you are a columnist or a staff member of a partisan news outlet, it
is not your job to advocate for one side or the other. “The thing,” Susan
Chandler reminds us, “is you do not give an opinion at the end of your story.
You don’t say this is a good thing or this is a bad thing.”
2.1.8 Key #8: Use Social Media as a Reporting Tool
Social media is omnipresent in our digital world. Most people use social media for
social reasons, to chat with friends and share photographs or videos with their social
media communities. But social media is becoming increasingly important as a
source of news and information.
News now often breaks on social media. The Xinhua News Agency in 2013
broke news of an automobile plowing into a crowd of tourists at Tian’anmen
Square on its English-language Twitter feed. President Barack Obama announced
that he had changed his position on same-sex marriage in a tweet on his official
Twitter feed, @BarackObama.
President Donald Trump makes important policy pronouncements (and a wide
range of provocative declarations) at all hours of the day and night via Twitter.
As a reporter, you can use social media for your reporting by sharing breaking
news you have witnessed, or by sharing photographs or videos of an event. In the
moments after the 2013 bombings at the Boston Marathon, the world got most of
the details of the terrorist attack through social media posts by witnesses, including
hundreds of compelling photos.
Social media also is a good place for reporters to find reaction and analysis
during breaking news, or to look for follow-up story ideas. You can check for
officials’ reactions on social media or monitor the posts of average people following
news events. You can interact with others to do reporting for your own stories, or
you can quote other people’s social media posts in your story.
Social media sites also are good places to do research for stories: to find more
information on people or companies you are writing about, to locate experts you
can interview, to find data you can utilize or analyze.
But social media has its limits. There are people who use social media for
nefarious purposes. Truth can be spread quickly on social media, but so can lies and
unfounded rumors. For example, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro was declared
dead on social media many times before he actually died in 2016. The Twitter feed
of the Associated Press was hacked in 2013. The unknown hijackers posted false
“breaking news” about a terrorist attack on the White House that purportedly
injured President Barack Obama. It took the news organization about a half-hour to
regain control of its social media feed, but not before the U.S. stock market dropped
precipitously.
The power of social media to affect elections was evident in the 2016 Brexit
election in the United Kingdom and the 2016 presidential election in the U.S., as
hundreds of agents of the Russian government, working in so-called “troll facto-
ries” in St. Petersburg and Eastern Europe, created and disseminated false news
stories via social media. The power of social media to affect markets was evident in
the weeks after the 2016 U.S. election when Donald Trump rattled the stock market
with tweets critical of American corporations including defense contractors Boeing
and Lockheed Martin. Whether the criticism was accurate or not, the damage was
done.
Surveys indicate just how much influence social media is having on mainstream
journalism. A survey of UK journalists finds that 80 percent of them believe the
influence of social media has “increased a lot.” Journalists said that social media
had far more influence on the business than other technological changes such as
interactivity, user-generated content and “crowd-sourced” reporting.
>>> Read the entire Reuters Institute study of journalism trends: http://reutersinstitute.
politics.ox.ac.uk/publication/journalists-uk
2.1.9 Key #9: Be Fair
Journalists must retain their credibility. To do that, you must be fair in your
reporting and writing. Accuracy is vital. Strive for perfection. If you make a mis-
take, correct it quickly on every platform you have used: print, video, audio, digital,
social media.
In controversial topics or those involving conflict, seek out all sides and
opposing points of view. Never report accusations about a person or organization
without contacting them for comment. They may not choose not to respond to your
request, but fairness demands that you make the effort. If a source gives information
about another person, always seek out that person for her or his perspective. Strictly
limit use of anonymous sources. You want to be as transparent as possible in your
reporting. Never allow a source cloaked in anonymity to engage in a personal attack
on another, identified person.
Journalism is about transparency. Identify yourself as a reporter when you
approach someone for an interview and make sure the subject agrees to allow you
to use material. Never pose as something other than a journalist when working on
stories. Journalists do not trick people. Even the ethics of undercover journalism
“sting” operations to document wrongdoing is a matter of vigorous debate in the
media industry.
In all reporting, remember that your goal is to get as close to the truth as
possible. As Tom Johnson, former publisher of the Dallas Times Herald and Los
Angeles Times and ex-president of CNN, has noted: “I was taught to report without
an ideological bent, to get the story right, to be accurate, to be fair, and to know that
having more than two sources does not assure you have the truth.”
There is no way to explicitly define what is meant by fairness. But here’s an
alphabetical approach to journalistic fairness from Charles L. Overby, the former
CEO of the Newseum in Washington:
Accuracy þ Balance þ Clarity þ Detachment þ Ethics ¼ Fairness

2.1.10 Key #10: Maintain the Highest Ethical Standards
To be an effective journalist, you must not only be fair and accurate, you must act
ethically. Never plagiarize. Ideas or information that you paraphrase from sources
—human, written or online—must be attributed. If you copy-and-paste something
from the internet onto your digital device, you must attribute it. You also cannot
change several words in a block of copy and claim it as your own. That is pla-
giarism. Plagiarism is a firing offense at most news organizations.
Do not re-use a quote that you didn’t get yourself without properly attributing it
to the original source. For example, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang gave an exclusive
interview to African reporters in 2014 and said the following: “As a Chinese saying
goes, it is easy to get a thousand pieces of gold but difficult to find a bosom friend.
The Chinese people will never forget that it is our African brothers who carried us
into the United Nations.”
If you re-used this quotation without properly attributing it, you would be
misleading the audience into believing that Premier Li made the comments to you.
It is acceptable for you to re-use the quotation, but only by attributing it properly
this way: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in an interview with African reporters.
Ethics goes far beyond attribution. Never take money to cover stories—or not to
write about specific subjects. Do not take gifts of value from sources, and never
seek money or gifts from sources in exchange for any action on your part. Do not
repeat gossip or other information that you cannot confirm. Your reputation is on
the line every day, as well as the reputation of your employer. “One mistake will
cost you your credibility,” says Shahira Amin, an Egyptian journalist and former
television anchor.
Amin warns journalists—particularly in developing countries—to avoid the
temptation to take money in exchange for stories and to “never, ever risk your
credibility by faking evidence.” She says ethics is at the core of journalism’s
mission and its power to influence. “Journalists must be fair, balanced, skeptical
and thorough,” she says. “The code of ethics requires you to be truthful, accurate,
objective, fair, impartial and to hold the government and private sector to account.”
The bottom line is that in today’s world of rapidly changing news delivery,
quality journalism is more important than ever. You must deliver world-class
journalism—but quicker and on varied platforms. “We need to improve the practice
of journalism, hourly,” Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Eric Nalder
wrote on his Facebook feed on June 23, 2016. “We must dig deeply to tell people
meaningful stuff that they don’t already know. It must be factual, and it should be
entertaining. We must use more data. We must update. We must write more
powerfully.”
Journalism is an exciting occupation. If you are prepared and adaptable—and
ethical—you can accomplish great things.
2.2 Five Tips to Help You Become a Better Journalist
From Brian Bremner, Bloomberg News

1. Park your ego in the closet and be open to learning. Early on, you have to be
open to an editor. You have to detach your ego from your writing because we’re
never as great as we think we are. You’ll advance so much faster if you’re open
to that environment.
2. Be a student of good writing in the field. You need to read a lot. Read quality
journalism and you’ll begin to understand how it’s done. You’ll start to think, “I
really like the way the writer handled it.” Look at the stories structurally and try
to figure out how they put it together.
3. Be naturally curious about how the world works. I look for intellectual curiosity
in a reporter. It is a person who is constantly searching for what is going on.
4. Have your dreams, but be flexible. I was interested in journalism because I
wanted to see the world. Now I find a lot of satisfaction as an editor, helping
reporters break the code.
5. Don’t be an observer. Be a participant. Absorb yourself in your journalism as
much as you can. You can accelerate that experience by really throwing yourself
into it.
Brian Bremner greets students at Tsinghua University (GBJ photo)

2.3 Ten Tips for Beginning Reporters 35
2.3 Ten Tips for Beginning Reporters
By Hailey Branson-Potts, the Los Angeles Times

1. Depend on journalism basics, not technological accessories. The essentials
of good reporting are bigger than the app you’re using.
2. Keep up with the latest technologies. When I started, I didn’t have a smart-
phone. Now I’m filing stories on it.
3. Be prepared. I always have a “go bag” ready with comfortable shoes, jeans,
make-up and pajamas in case I’m sent out of town on a story.
4. Observe actively. I’m an observer. It’s how I view my roles. I like to sit in the
back [of a room] and look for little details. It takes a lot of focus and think that
way.
5. Interview with curiosity. Ask them, “What did it look like there?” You’re
there, but you’re not. Take a moment and step back. Just be quiet. Let them
talk. Watch for human expressions. Watch facial expressions.
6. Write with your senses. I think of using my five senses. What it sounds like.
What it smells like. The smoke in the air. The person lighting up a cigarette.
What she’s wearing. What her hair looks like. What the room looks like. Little
details that put you in the moment. Painting the picture with words.
7. Plan your story structure in your head. I cannot write a story until I have the
first line in mind. I also know the ending.
8. Relate to your readers. Write your stories like you’d tell them [orally]. I don’t
use a lot of words. Very short sentences.
9. Read a lot. I read other people’s stories. I underline sentences that I like. The
more you read, the better. You absorb things.
10. Be humble. There’s no story you’re too good for. If you have been given an
assignment make the most of it. Don’t complain about what you’re covering.
Take the initiative. Make yourself available for any assignment.
2.4 Tips on Getting the Most Out of Your College

Journalism Experience
From Eric Fish, author of “China’s Millennials: The Want Generation”

1. My biggest advice would be to leverage this time and write. I had a feature
writing class and turned assignments into something I could publish. You need
to do stuff in addition to your classwork.
2. If nothing else, start a blog. Get your writing out there. It helps you to get
progressively higher and higher.
3. Write about things the other media are not writing about. I started blogging
about social trends in China. I wrote about demographics [in China]: the rapidly
aging population and the social side effects of the gender imbalance, for
example. I carved out a niche.
4. A lot of people look at their thesis as an obligation. I saw it as an opportunity to
dig in and do something cool that could be used as a foothold into journalism.
My book started with my thesis.
5. You have to sell yourself. I connected with the press corps, building up to
higher and higher media outlets. Step by step. You have to get out into the
journalistic community and get to know them. Find events that you might meet
journalists at. That was a very long process. You have to write and write and
write. You might think, “Am I ever getting anywhere?” But you do.
6. Have a social media account. You can start building up your audience. Retweet
others. Push out your own stuff. Get involved in conversations.
7. Email people. Ask advice. Ask a question. You’ll be surprised how many
people respond. More often than not, they were very nice. One became my
mentor.
8. Look for internships at top publications. You have to be very pro-active. We are
all competing with each other. It was very difficult. I found a list online of 20
top bureaus [in Beijing]. Eventually, I landed at CNN. I got in. I had a good
internship. A lot of my classmates sat back and were more passive and then
complained that there weren’t internships out there.
9. It is important to learn what goes into a good story pitch. Editors might get 10–
20 pitches a day. How are you going to make yours stand out? You want to
make your pitch sound like it is written for that site and is valuable for that site.
Tailor your pitch to that audience. Explain why it fits well with the readers of
that outlet.
10. Find a way to tell economic stories in a really interesting way. It’s a big
challenge, but there are a lot of good stories out there. There will always be a
market for breaking down complicated concepts into relatable stories.
11. Talk to professors who have had professional journalism experiences.
12. It is a learning experience. It is tough, especially getting your foot in the door at
the beginning. Don’t give up.
2.5 Leadership Tips for Women
From Catherine Cai, chair, China Investment Banking, Citigroup

1. There is a glass ceiling, no doubt. Successful women share a lot of similarities:
Emotional intelligence, hard work, persistence, passion for their dream.
2. It’s important you know who you are.
3. Never give up.
4. Be a good listener.
2.5 Leadership Tips for Women 37
5. You have to have charisma. You must attract people. You have to be a little
different in some way.
6. You have to know what people want. People have to feel they are getting
something by following you, a mutual benefit.
7. Your leadership style must be very versatile.
8. You must overcome the gender gap and communicate with young workers. If
you become distant in terms of communication with them, you won’t be
effective.
9. Try to stay happy and get rid of your frustrations. We are human beings. If you
are not happy, you cannot perform as well.
(This list is adapted from a discussion sponsored by Bloomberg News at
Tsinghua University in December 2016.)
Professional Advice
In every society, relationships matter. In journalism, just as in life, relationships matter. You
need to build relationships and connect with people.
—Richard Collins, Texas publisher, educational entrepreneur and philanthropist
Richard Collins (Photo reproduced with permission)

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Chapter 3
Best Practices in Multimedia Journalism
3.1 Convergence Comes to Journalism
The days of single-medium journalists—a print reporter, a television reporter, a

radio reporter, a graphic artist—are over. Every young journalist, and even veteran
journalists, must develop multimedia skills to survive in this brave new word of
digital journalism. To succeed, you need to do more than adapt your print story for
a digital audience or transcribe your television script and post it on your digital
platform.
Creating memorable multimedia packages is a tough challenge for today’s
“publish now” journalists, because superior multimedia work takes time and
imagination to produce. But the multimedia imperative also is a great opportunity.
Innovators survive. Innovators thrive. Innovators will become the leaders of the
next generation of journalists.
“Readers and viewers are hungry for smart, analytical stories on important
business and economic topics,” Jane Sasseen, executive director of the McGraw
Center for Business Journalism, told Global Business Journalism students at
Tsinghua University in May 2016. “Well-reported, well-written, in-depth stories
still matter, and they still get read. People read longer stories, but they read them in
a different way and at a different time.”
Indeed, convergence has come to business journalism, and there is much we can
learn from the latest innovations. This chapter will examine some global best
practices in multimedia storytelling.
>>> Read NeimanLab’s “The five E’s of journalism in 2016,” by Alfred Hermida: http://
www.niemanlab.org/2015/12/the-five-es-of-journalism-in-2016/

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_3
42 3 Best Practices in Multimedia Journalism
3.2 The Best Multimedia Storytellers
To many journalists and journalism educators, the modern era of multimedia sto-
rytelling started when The New York Times published “Snow Fall” in December
2012.
A compelling, six-chapter tale of a deadly avalanche at a place called Tunnel
Creek in the western United States, “Snow Fall” combined a traditional text article
with dramatic video, sideshows, maps, three-dimensional graphics and a riveting
documentary. Its traditional storytelling is superb, but it is the concurrent multi-
media content that lifted “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek” to the next
level, one that had not been reached by any news organization before that.
“What’s striking is how smoothly the illustrated tale transitions into even more
full-bleed-style graphics that are as gorgeous as they are useful,” wrote Rebecca
Greenfield in The Atlantic.
The text article’s author, John Branch, won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for feature
writing “for his evocative narrative about skiers killed in an avalanche and the
science that explains such disasters, a project enhanced by its deft integration of
multimedia elements.” “Snow Fall” created a new category of journalism, one
dubbed “experiential journalism” for its ability to create a sensory experience for
readers. “It set a new standard for long-form storytelling on the Web through its use
of a magazine-like layout, infinite scroll downs, moving background imagery, and
other techniques,” Barry Levine wrote in 2015 in VentureBeat.com.
While few news organizations around the world have the resources or techno-
logical capabilities to replicate “Snow Fall” on a regular basis, there are dozens of
news outlets that do an outstanding job telling stories on multiple media platforms.
To open our “best practices” chapter, let’s look at 10 international news organi-
zations that are among the world’s best multimedia storytellers.
>>> Read “Snow Fall”: http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/#/?part=word-
spreads
1. The New York Times

Nobody conceptualizes a story in multimedia terms better than the Times. Its
multimedia projects seamlessly flow from one multimedia element to the other.
Unlike some other news organizations, the Times’ projects don’t seem like
text-dominated stories with multimedia elements later added.
Led by its mobile-friendly data blog, The Upshot, the Times has done a
tremendous job of using multimedia as the primary way of telling stories. One
example is a data visualization showing how the American middle class is no longer
the wealthiest in the world. American workers have fallen behind countries such as
Canada. If you mouse over it, you can see the difference in each country. But you
see U.S. middle class income is leveling off while other countries’ middle classes
are gaining ground. The poor in the United States are actually worse off than they
3.2 The Best Multimedia Storytellers 43
were before the global financial collapse of 2008. But the rich in America are doing
the best in the world by a wide margin—and that gap is getting wider.
2. National Geographic
Home of the world’s finest news photography, National Geographic’s attractive
design and creative content command your attention. Its photos, graphics, maps and
layout are all first rate. Washington-based NatGeo has an instinctive feel for the
most effective multimedia element to use at each point in the storytelling process.
The long-form writing is compelling.
>>> National Geographic multimedia examples: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/
hubs/multimedia.html
3. The Washington Post

The Post stands out for its terrific informational graphics and its integrated story-
telling. After earning a reputation for its ability to explain complex political and
policy stories with the assistance of infographics, the Post has branched out into
immersive narrative storytelling, most notably its coverage of the destructive 2017
hurricane in Puerto Rico. The Post’s rise as a multimedia innovator coincides with
the arrival of Martin Baron as its chief editor. Its presentation of the 2015 radical
Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels was the best in the world. When there
is breaking news today, the Post and the New York Times are the two “must-read”
news sites in America.
>>> The Washington Post uses multimedia to retell the Watergate scandal story: http://
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/multimedia.html
4. Bloomberg News
The best data visualizations, day in and day out, are created by Bloomberg News.
You can just look at the Bloomberg site at any moment and find something
interesting. For example, on one day, Bloomberg charted the cost of the occupation
and annexation of Crimea to the Russian economy in the wake of international
sanctions and stock market declines. It published an interactive graphic looking at
Chinese pollution from a regional perspective, and another charting U.S. auto sales.
These topics were varied, and the graphics were attractive and were easy to
understand.
As the global leader in economic data and analysis, Bloomberg is an indis-
pensible tool for investors, traders, business leaders, policymakers, economists and
students alike. Bloomberg clients can create their own multimedia reports with the
proprietary data contained in the Bloomberg terminals.
Bloomberg finds a way to make interactivity enriching and enjoyable, such as its
“Bloomberg Billionaires” project that allows you, the reader, to immerse yourself in
the lives of the richest people in the world. Each day you can find out how their net
worth has changed over time. You can analyze the entire list of billionaires, or
break it down by industry, country, or other demographics. For each billionaire, you
can locate the latest news stories involving them, a trendline of their wealth over
time, a concise profile and much more. It’s a triumph of database building and ease
of navigation.
>>> Bloomberg Billionaires link: http://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/
5. Reuters
Reuters effectively clusters multimedia elements around the day’s most significant
business stories. It also skillfully packages its world-class investigative reporting
projects. Reuters has a strong and easy-to-use search engine with a colossal archive
of past stories.
>>> How Reuters tells stories visually: https://blogs.thomsonreuters.com/answerson/
visual-journalism-many-ways-can-tell-story/
6. The Boston Globe

The Globe is best known globally for the Academy Award-winning movie
“Spotlight,” which highlighted the history of world-class investigative reporting by
its Spotlight team. But the Globe has embraced the future, as well as journalism
fundamentals. The news organization won a Pulitzer Prize for its multimedia
coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, and deservedly so. Its compre-
hensive and compelling coverage highlighted everything this regional newspaper
does well with multiple media. Projects are organized in a user-friendly way that is
easy to navigate. Videos and graphics complement the text elements. The Globe
harnesses linear storytelling techniques, such as timelines and eyewitness accounts,
with non-linear techniques, such as analysis and commentary.
>>> Boston Marathon bombing link: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/specials/boston-
marathon-explosions
>>> Other Boston Globe multimedia stories: https://www.bostonglobe.com/multimedia
7. The Guardian
The London-based Guardian is exceptional at telling stories that are a seamless
whole, where the interactive elements, the multimedia, are woven into the tapestry
of the stories. The news organization won worldwide acclaim for its multimedia
package on the American National Security Agency (NSA) spy scandal, but this
British news organization has repeatedly demonstrated that its multimedia-first
philosophy makes it global leader in multimedia storytelling.
>>> Here’s the Guardian’s U.S. homepage: https://www.theguardian.com/us
3.2 The Best Multimedia Storytellers 45
8. The BBC
The London-based global information giant leverages its strength in radio and
television to produce high quality audio and video. That’s just the beginning,
however. The BBC, on its website and digital apps, effectively integrates text,
maps, graphics, photography and interactive elements to tell stories in dynamic
ways. On big stories, the website aggressively uses “crowd-sourcing,” seeking
input from citizens who witnessed breaking news events. The BBC’s multimedia
presentation is far more balanced than the U.S. television networks’, which are
video-dominated.
>>> The BBC News homepage links to multimedia content: http://www.bbc.com/news
9. National Public Radio

NPR, the U.S. radio network supported by private contributions and government
funding, is masterful at combining sound with both images and words. No other
news organization uses audio more effectively as an element in multimedia story-
telling. An NPR series on China’s preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics had
the best slide shows with sound ever published. Now, NPR also produces some of
the most creative data visualization projects in journalism. One example is a 2016
project on South Florida’s Seminole cowboys, Native Americans who play a
leading role in the state’s cattle industry.
>>> NPR’s latest multimedia projects: http://www.npr.org/sections/multimedia/
10. The Texas Tribune

This online start-up, launched in 2010, has some of the most innovative data
visualization in the world. Its philosophy is simple: present complex information in
a way that helps citizens understand what public policy debates mean to them. The
result has been greater transparency in Texas government and greater public
understanding of the policy issues facing the United States’ second-largest state.
The Trib, as it is known, has experimented with the latest available technologies
from the day it was launched. It was one of the first media outlets to use live social
media streaming apps and produced a powerful mini-documentary about the U.S.-
Mexico border in 2016 that was shared with news outlets all along America’s
southern frontier.
The Texas Tribune has published an interactive, multimedia guide to the financial interests of more
than 200 elected officials in America’s second-biggest state (Screen grab, The Texas Tribune)
>>> The Texas Tribune has some of the best news apps and data tools in the world:
https://www.texastribune.org/data/
3.3 Professor Dunham’s Favorite Multimedia Stories
Textbooks are not the only place you can learn about journalism. Since your
author’s earliest days as a young journalist, he learned the craft of storytelling from
the best in the business by reading as many of their inspiring articles as possible.
Back in the days when you cut stories out of newspapers and magazines with
scissors, he kept folders filled with his favorite stories from his favorite writers—
breaking news, profiles, investigative stories, features. Decades later, he still does,
though the folders now are digital and the stories often are told through multimedia.
Here is a sampling of those stories. They are not necessarily the 15 best mul-
timedia projects ever produced. But they reflect the range of skills and storytelling
tools needed to create memorable multimedia journalism. Take a look and see what
you learn:
1. The Guardian, “NSA Files: Decoded. What the revelations mean to you,”
November 1, 2013. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/the-nsa-files
3.3 Professor Dunham’s Favorite Multimedia Stories 47
From the Guardian, the best example of fully integrated multimedia storytelling (Screen grab, The
Guardian)
In recent years, a few international news outlets have excelled at fully integrated
multimedia storytelling. They use every available medium to relentlessly move their
story forward. Of many superb projects, the best is the Guardian’s explanatory
investigative report on the American National Security Agency. This 2013 report
was called “NSA Files Decoded,” which aptly describes the way an international
team of journalists explain an intricate tale of espionage and geopolitical intrigue.
From beginning to end, the story is told through multiple media. As you scroll
down from the top, an American congresswoman, Zoe Lofgren, begins to talk to
you, explaining her role in the drama. Other major characters spring to life and
explain, in their own words, some significant elements of the story. The quality of
the video is superb. The video is tightly edited to keep your interest and maintain a
fluid pace of storytelling.
Before you get too deeply enmeshed in the story, the Guardian simplifies its
complexities by creating a “cast of characters” graphic, featuring photographs of 11
of the most important people mentioned in the report, from whistleblower Edward
Snowden to U.S. President Barack Obama. If you click on the images, you can find
out how the characters are important in this story. The Guardian did the compre-
hensive reporting. You decide to dig deeper into any part of it that interests you.
Time and again, the Guardian provides depth and it provides context. It provides
instant analysis and commentary from inside players and outside experts. The
complementary multimedia elements allow the reader to proceed at her or his own
pace, to dig deeply into one element or to get a broad overview.
Explanation is a key to multimedia storytelling. One particular Guardian graphic
—entitled “Three degrees of separation” – explains in simple language how the
complex spying system worked. The U.S. government got a secret court order that
said that if you want to spy on someone, you are allowed to spy on them, plus
everyone they’ve had contact with, plus everyone those people have had contact
with, plus everyone that bigger group of people has had contact with. So if you
have 50 Facebook friends, they will be able to spy on every friend and all of the
friends of friends, and then their friends. That turns one suspected terrorist who has
been targeted into 1.13 million people who they can legally spy on, based on a
secret U.S. court ruling.
Oh, by the way, you can read that secret court ruling, too. The Guardian obtained
a copy of it and posted it via a document-sharing platform. They embedded the
court order that allowed this to happen, so everyone in the world can read this court
order and see what the justification was for the spying.
A site called Scribd.com is an invaluable tool to embed court transcripts, letters,
reports and other documents. Embedded documents allow readers to dive deep into
your reporting and to discover things for themselves. Embedded documents can
enhance your credibility because they confirm the validity of your reporting and
your findings.
2. The Washington Post, “Sin Luz (Life Without Power),” Dec. 14, 2017.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/national/puerto-rico-life-with-
out-power/?utm_term=.3076db9c5c3b
Darkness, disease and death: The Washington Post explores life after Puerto Rico’s “super
blackout” (Screen grab, The Washington Post)
Hurricane Maria in 2017 caused an apagón, or “super blackout,” on the Caribbean

island of Puerto Rico. It was the longest and largest loss of electricity in modern
U.S. history. The loss of electricity caused a loss of clean water. The economy was
ravaged. Washington’s response was slow, incomplete and rife with corruption. The
Washington Post sent a team of reporters to chronicle the devastation, and the result
is an award-winning multimedia package that immerses the reader in the sites, the
sounds and (virtually) the smells of the fetid conditions. The Post tells the story
through humans trying to cope and survive. You see them and talk to them. But the
Post also explains the scope of the devastation through maps and other graphic
devices. The text, spare and powerful, complements the visual elements of the
package.
3. Bloomberg News (Bloomberg Visual Data), “Bubble to Bust to Recovery,”
2014.
http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/dataview/bubble-to-bust-to-recovery/
This 2014 report on the U.S. housing industry’s recovery from the collapse of
2007-2008 is visually stunning and analytically superb. It is economical in the use
of text. Most of the story is told through images: interactive graphics and pho-
tographs. It is heavy on numbers but never seems dense, boring or confusing. If you
want to learn how to tell complex stories with lots of numbers in a clear and concise
manner, this is a good starting point.
Bloomberg created an excellent case study in conceptualizing a business journalism report for a
multimedia audience (Screen grab, Bloomberg News)
4. The Los Angeles Times, “Dirty John,” Oct. 1–8, 2017. http://www.latimes.com/
projects/la-me-dirty-john-terra/
Christopher Goffard of the Los Angeles Times produced a journalism masterpiece
about the explosive marriage between a handsome grifter (named “Dirty John”) and
a deeply religious middle-aged woman who thought she had found the love of her
life but instead found a descent into terror. The smoothly written narrative is part
romance novel, part horror movie. The characters are vivid, flawed but sympathetic.
The photographs and GIFs are hauntingly beautiful. Each of the six parts of the
package is accompanied by a podcast. In pre-digital days, this would have been a
terrific print news series. Today, it’s an engrossing multimedia experience.
5. The New York Times, “A Game of Shark and Minnow,” Oct. 27, 2013. http://
www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/10/27/south-china-sea/
The New York Times’ multimedia story on the territorial disputes in the South
China Sea immerses the reader in the story. You can hear the sound of the waves.
You can see the map. You’re on the boat with the fisherman. And, yes, the text is
compelling and comprehensive without lapsing into boring.
6. The Financial Times, “The Debt Dragon,” August 2013. http://www.ft.com/
indepth/china-debt-dragon?ft_site=falcon&desktop=true
In some ways, the FT series on China’s growing debt is very old-fashioned. It is
structured like a traditional print series, with distinct parts being published over
three days. However, it also embraces modern digital storytelling. The multimedia
content is fresh, and it complements the traditional text. There are videos, slide-
shows, informational graphics and other visual content to satisfy the most finicky
multimedia consumer. The packaging is reader-friendly, too.
7. The Boston Globe, “Terror at the Marathon,” 2013. http://www.bostonglobe.
com/metro/specials/boston-marathon-explosions
The Boston Globe won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the terrorist attack on
the 2013 running of the city’s famous marathon. The writing was consistently
excellent, and the packaging was easy to navigate. There were tabs to learn more
about the victims, the manhunt, national and global reaction—even how to donate
to victims’ families. The Globe continued to update its package as the story mor-
phed from a crime story to an international terrorism story to a criminal trial.
8. The New York Times, “The Isis Files: When Terrorists Run City Hall, https://
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/04/world/middleeast/isis-documents-
mosul-iraq.html
Interactive extras: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/04/world/mid-
dleeast/isis-documents-photos.html
It took months of research, including five trips to Iraq, painstaking translation, and
careful document authentication before the New York Times published a
multi-layered interactive report on the day-to-day governing practices of
terrorists-turned-trash-collectors at the Islamic State. You can peruse the docu-
ments, hear interviews with key players, see superb photojournalism and read a
tightly written yet lengthy narrative. The Times report upends much of the con-
ventional wisdom about the terrorists’ caliphate by showing that Islamic State relied
less on oil revenues and more on taxing its subjects and other mundane income
sources. It describes the banality of evil, as well as the shocking excesses of the
Islamic State organization.
9. The New York Times, “How Big Business Got Brazil Hooked on Junk Food,”
Sept. 16, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/16/health/brazil-
obesity-nestle.html?emc=edit_ta_20170917&nl=top-stories&nlid=60397838&
ref=headline&_r=0
This project is superb because of its simplicity and its clear storytelling. It illustrates
a global problem—the accelerating obesity epidemic—through a single country in
the developing world, Brazil. It illustrates the problem through real people. Its data
visualizations are simple and understandable. It deals with the complicated causes
in a fair, even-handed way. It doesn’t oversimplify the problem, even as it maintains
clarity in its storytelling. Through a series of three maps, it show obesity rates in
every country in 1980 and 2015, and the changes in obesity rate over those
35 years. In a media world oversaturated with fancy interactives, this project
impresses you with its old-fashioned values.
10. National Public Radio, Chinese Olympians. July 21, 2008. http://www.npr.org/
templates/story/story.php?storyId=92479526
An early example of a multimedia project, NPR used still photography, video,
sound and words to tell the tale of the boarding schools that trained young Chinese
Olympians in the run-up to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Stark, dramatic
still photographs added depth to the report. You heard the voices of children,
coaches, families—real people telling an important global sports and cultural trend
story.
11. The Washington Post, “The math of mass shootings,” July 26, 2016. https://
www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/mass-shootings-in-america/
America is known for its gun culture, and its all-too-regular mass murders using
guns. Harnessing the power of data, the Washington Post created a project about the
individual victims of the mayhem. Who were the dead? What weapons were used in
their murders? What was the mental state—or criminal history—of their shooters?
This project was attracted, informative and profound. It was an important story that
was made more powerful through the use of multimedia storytelling.
12. The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Seven Days of Heroin: This Is What an Epidemic
Looks Like,” Sept. 10, 2017. https://www.cincinnati.com/pages/interactives/
seven-days-of-heroin-epidemic-cincinnati/
Abuse of opioid drugs has become America’s most deadly epidemic. One local
newspaper, in Cincinnati, Ohio, decided to tell the story by documenting the impact
on the community in real time over a one-week period. Enquirer editor Peter Bhatia
dispatched more than 60 reporters, photographers and videographers to give a
human face to the destruction wrought by the addictive scourge of working-class
America. The news organization called the result a documentation of “an ordinary
week” in an “extraordinary time.” The death toll in the Cincinnati region during the
week of July 10–16 was 18. Hundreds of families were shattered by heroin over-
doses, drug-induced mayhem and daily arrests. The Enquirer documented pregnant
moms hooked on opioids and shared a dramatic video of emergency personnel

trying to save the life of a man having a drug-induced seizure. The chronological
report used simple language to communicate simple truths. And that added up to
something profound.
13. National Geographic, “Remembering Pearl Harbor,” NatGeo educational
interactives, 2011 (repeatedly updated).
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/
History as journalism. To mark the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack
on Hawaii that prompted American entry into the Second World War, National
Geographic used a wide range of multimedia tools. Always a visual-storytelling
innovator, NatGeo used maps, video, animation, historical photos, text and other
tools to provide its audience with an unforgettable history lesson. You see the attack
from the perspective of the attackers and those being attacked. You watch memories
from the survivors. You recount the way the infamous day changed the course of
the world war. It’s a lesson for all of us. History can be interesting. History can be
journalism. And history can be important in explaining our world today.
14. The New York Times, “The Vanishing Male Worker,” Dec. 12, 2014. http://
www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/upshot/unemployment-the-vanishing-male-
worker-how-america-fell-behind.html?_r=0
Business journalism often lags behind other types of journalism in the use of mul-
timedia. The New York Times is responsible for the finest economics-related mul-
timedia project in recent years. “The Vanishing Male Worker,” describes how men
in America are falling out of the U.S. job market, and how more and more men of
prime earning age are not working, voluntarily or involuntarily. There is exemplary
writing in the stories by Binyamin Appelbaum, there’s a compelling slideshow and
there are very strong photographic images of the main characters. And there are two
data visualizations that provide depth and understanding to readers.
One explores where in the United States these men are not working. So there are
poor, white people in the Appalachian Mountain region, and then along the
Mexican border there are American Indians—Native Americans—and
Mexican-Americans, where men are leaving the work force.
The second data visualization paints a demographic portrait of men who are not
working. The X axis goes by age from birth (zero) up to 80 and above. Younger
people are in school, and a substantial group of people on the right side of the
visualization is retired. But it’s the growing group in the middle that is most
significant. And if you move your mouse over the visualization, it will explain the
proportion of the male population at every age that is out of work—and why.
15. Zeit magazine, German reunification: 25 years later, Oct. 29, 2014. http://www.
zeit.de/feature/german-unification-a-nation-divided
Another excellent global example of multimedia creativity comes from Germany.
The magazine Zeit published a multimedia package in 2014, 25 years after the
reunification of Germany. The core of the story was a series of interactive economic
maps of the country contrasting the economic status of citizens of the former
Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the former German Democratic
Republic (East Germany). Through data, it became immediately clear to the reader
that people in the old East Germany are still far less affluent than their compatriots
in the West and they are falling further behind people in the old West Germany.
Professional Advice
Never close any window of opportunity, and never say no to something because it’s not
your planned path.
—Dr. Hang Min, Associate Dean for International Affairs, Tsinghua School of Journalism
and Communication
Dr. Hang Min (Photo by Rick Dunham)

Bibliography
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Beckedahl, M. (2013, November 1). NSA files decoded: What the revelations mean for you.
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you/.
Berkowitz, B., Lu, D., & Alcantara, C. (2015, June 17). The terrible numbers that grow with each
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Bloomberg Billionaires: http://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/2016-09-23/cya. A varied col-
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Branch, J. Snow fall. nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/#/?part=-
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Callimachi, R., & Prickett, I. (2018, April 4). The ISIS files: When terrorists run city hall.
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ments-mosul-iraq.html. Interactive extras: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/04/
world/middleeast/isis-documents-photos.html.
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german-unification-a-nation-divided.
Part II
Multimedia Skills
Chapter 4
Multimedia Writing
4.1 Writing for the Web and Mobile Platforms
In the mid-1990s, just one in every 50 Americans used computers for news. By
2011, according to the Pew Research Center, more people received their news via
the internet than from print newspapers. Digital passed television in 2015 to
become the favorite way of consuming news and information. As these rapid
changes illustrate, the reader decides how to consume the news, and if you want
your stories read, you must adapt your writing style to new digital platforms.
After all, if you write a good story but nobody reads it, what have you
accomplished?
A few years ago, writing for digital platforms meant learning how to write for
people who consumed news on laptops. That’s changed. According to Pew, the
audience choosing to receive news through their computers has shown little growth
since 2010. What has exploded is the audience for news on mobile devices—mostly
smartphones, but also tablets such as the iPad. What also has grown dramatically is
the number of consumers who get their information from social media platforms
such as Facebook, Instagram, Weibo, WeChat, RenRen, Snapchat and Twitter and
smartphone news apps.
As people choose different platforms for news and information, they tend to
develop different ways of consuming the news. Newspaper readers often start on the
first page, then scan each page of the front section and check out their favorite
sections of the newspaper. By taking this approach, readers see the stories that the
newspaper editors think are most important, and they can discover other interesting
stories you might never have found if the editors had not chosen them.
But when a reader clicks through to a news report from a social media website or
app, she or he is looking for a very specific story recommended by a friend or a
self-selected source. The reader is not likely to go to that website and start browsing
through its content, section by section, from the first story to the last. Instead, the
reader is more likely to look for stories that have been specifically chosen through

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_4
60 4 Multimedia Writing
algorithms developed by the social media app or website. The news consumer will
browse stories that have already been listed on the eye-catching part of the page.
Readers might scroll down your WeChat or Twitter feed to find another interesting
link to click or find your news through a search engine such as Google, Baidu, Bing
or Yahoo.
In the new digital world of journalism, readers also are less likely to spend a lot
of time on news and information. While 72% of Americans got news on a mobile
device in 2017, the average minutes per visitor to a mobile news site was about
seven minutes per month, according to an analysis by Jacob L. Nelson and Ryan
Lei published in February 2018 on DataDrivenJournalism.Net. “What most web
visitors do is glance at each new page, scan some of the text, and click on the first
link that catches their interest or vaguely resembles the thing they’re looking for,”
said Steve Krug, author of Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to
Web Usability.
This transition away from the printed product has been painful for traditional
news organizations. Readers, not newspaper publishers or television news directors,
control when, how and where the story is viewed. There are thousands of sites
competing with traditional news organizations each and every day. Take, for
example, the Houston Chronicle, the sole surviving newspaper in the largest city in
Texas. The Chronicle must compete with ESPN for sports, Politico for national
politics, the City of Houston social media feeds for local information, the Texas
Tribune for state politics, Foreign Policy and the BBC for international issues, the
Texas Medical Center for healthcare issues, TMZ for national entertainment news,
Culture Map Houston for local arts coverage, and millions of blogs, microblogs and
Twitter feeds on subjects ranging from oil to beer.
That has led to a fundamental change in the news business. There is little brand
loyalty anymore. It used to be that newspapers, television networks and radio chat
shows were all about brand loyalty. You’d get your news from sources you trusted.
CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite was known by many as “Uncle Walter” and
dominated American television news from 1960s to the 1980s. He was called the
most trusted man in America. Today, news consumers have no such commitment to
a single source. They are information omnivores—meaning that they graze at a
wide range of information sources. In 2013, 77% on the traffic on the top 25
American news sites came from users who visited only one or two times a month,
according to Pew Research Center statistics. That means that three-fourths of the
traffic consisted of people who just found a story of interest on the site and clicked
on it, as opposed to people who kept coming back to the news site every day for
regular news consumption. Overall, 57% of visits to the internet websites, and 51%
of page views (the number of pages on websites that people read), are people who
visit a website just once a month. Two-thirds of all news consumers go to individual
news sites no more than twice a month.
On the New York Times website, the most visited newspaper site in United
States, only 12% of people spend more than two minutes a day on the site, Pew
found. That mirrors statistics charting the most loyal readers. Just 11% of news
consumers average one visit a day to a news site. The one exception to the rule, in
4.1 Writing for the Web and Mobile Platforms 61
the United States at least, is sports news sites. More than half of the readers of
sports websites visit their favorite sites once every day on average.
This change in reader loyalty has led to a change in the way journalists must
write and package news. We write news now to attract readers, not just because
something is newsworthy or interesting to us. Indeed, at many publications, readers
often determine what we write. Metrics are everywhere. Until the past decade,
editors chose to publish stories they thought were important and interesting, and
there was no count of how many people read specific stories. Now, metrics rule, and
it is possible to find out how many people read every single one of our stories. It is
also possible to find out how the reader discovered our stories—from social media,
a search engine, a hyperlink from another publication or the news organization’s
home page.
In some ways, the leaders of news organizations have learned some wrong
lessons from the digital world. For example, they often have chosen to forgo serious
policy discussions or in-depth reporting projects to focus on what is known as
“click bait,” meaning large numbers of people “click” on the link to the story.
That’s why digital editors often opt to post stories about pets, celebrities, sex, weird
happenings, gossip and rumors—all popular topics with information consumers.
However, you do not need to abandon serious reporting in this digital world if
you can adapt your writing style to make it more reader friendly. There are key
differences between digital writing and traditional writing. And every young
journalist must learn them.
Here are 18 quick tips for writing on digital platforms:
1. Stress immediacy
Writing for the web is not like writing for print, for wire services, for television or
for radio. It is a different medium. Writing for the web is more immediate. You
want to write about something just happened as quickly as possible. When you
write for print you are often writing about news that happened yesterday. Digital
news is here and now. News is new: “a new report,” “a new survey” or something
that happened “just now.” Breaking news is digital news.
2. Post quickly, update regularly
When news is breaking, you should try to get something on your news platform as
quickly as possible, sometimes breaking it on social media. You post the breaking
news, then go back and update the post with details and create additional stories.
When terrorists crashed a van into a crowd of tourists in Tian’anmen Square on Oct.
28, 2013, the Xinhua News Agency broke the news on social media. Xinhua and
other news organizations followed up with updates from the scene.
3. Facts matter
A big warning: Just because you are writing with immediacy does not mean you
can be wrong. The same rules of accuracy apply. You should be particularly careful
if you are covering breaking news and you are depending on social media for
material. Some information might be inaccurate, either in the blur of the moment or
because sources are unreliable or intentionally spreading false rumors. News

organizations, in the rush to publish, have sometimes printed rumors that end up
being false. Sourcing and accuracy are important. Your reputation is at stake.
4. Be conversational
Writing for the web is generally more conversational, especially if you are writing
for a blog. It is also more analytical. You want to add context. Your goal is to add
value by explaining why the news event that just happened is important. You don’t
just describe things. You explain them.
5. Use an active voice
One sure way to lose your digital audience is to write with a passive voice. Use an
active voice, get to the point, and tell your readers the most important details.
6. Smaller can be better
While traditional news stories sometimes contain several themes, digital writing
usually focuses posts on one idea. Break news items into bite-sized pieces. Focus
most web posts around a single thought. To do that, you might want to break up
interviews or events into multiple posts on single newsworthy topics.
7. Shorter is better
Think short. Less is usually better in digital news writing. If you don’t need to say
it, don’t say it. Shorter and simpler sentences are much more reader-friendly,
particularly on a small-screen device. Shorter paragraphs are easier to digest on a
hand-held device.
8. Vary your length
You want to keep your paragraphs short, but sometimes it is necessary to pack three
or four sentences into a paragraph. If you have a story with some long paragraphs, it
is good to intersperse some shorter ones to vary the look and the length. People
who read news on digital devices enjoy variety.
9. Don’t be boring
Boring is a fatal flaw in the digital world. If your lead is boring, or you start
repeating yourself, people will just click away from your story. Don’t use sentences
or quotes that are too long or complex. If you must include a long quotation, use the
“block quote” function and set it apart from the text of the story. Better yet,
paraphrase the quotation, or just use the most interesting or relevant part.
10. Avoid using too much background
On a digital platform, focus your story not on what has happened that is new. Insert
an embedded link to another story for background information. Other options are a
multimedia package that includes a timeline with background information or a
video or audio interview with an expert discussing the background information.
11. The word “I” can be OK

In traditional print or television journalism, reporters were witnesses to the news,
not participants. But digital journalism is different—especially when you are
writing for a blog or social media. It is acceptable to use the word “I” when relating
a past experience, some particular expertise you have, or to bring the audience into
the action. But don’t insert yourself into a news story on a digital platform unless
you are an integral part of the news.
12. Don’t take reporting shortcuts
The emphasis on brevity in digital writing is no excuse to take shortcuts in your
reporting. It is as important to fully report a 100-word breaking news blurb on the
internet as it is to report a story for print or television. “Even if the story is short,
over-report, over-report, over-report,” says Yochi Dreazen, managing editor for
news at Foreign Policy magazine. Better to have too much reporting and get it right
than to have too little and get it wrong.
13. Vary your story-telling techniques
Web writing does not always follow the inverted pyramid style of traditional
journalism. Digital readers like to see their stories broken up into easily digestible
pieces rather than long blocks of text. Consider experimenting with stories that
involve lists. To add value for the readers, each item on every list should be
followed by a brief one- to three-sentence description of its reason for being chosen.
Or embed social media posts into your text story.
14. Get edgy
Web writing is often edgier than print content. You may also be encouraged to write
with a certain “voice” that is more authoritative or informal than traditional print or
TV journalism. Clever writing is often rewarded by an audience that shares your
content, or, in the language of digital journalism, causes it to “go viral.” Be careful
not to be too clever, write in a nasty tone or use shocking language for gratuitous
effect. Clever writing does not mean being biased or partisan.
15. Integrate text and graphics
Use graphics to enhance your storytelling. Graphics can tell a powerful story using
a few words and simple images. They can help to explain complex subjects in
visually attractive ways. And they can help you avoid confusing your reader with
too many numbers in your text posts.
16. Think multimedia
Use multimedia elements to complement your writing. Among those that work well
with text are photo galleries, embedded video, original video or audio, and
high-quality photographs. Embed links to other stories that can provide a deeper
understanding of the subject, and include hyperlinks to related stories. And don’t
forget to include links to your social media handles and one-click ways for readers
to share your material.
17. Think Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization—generally known as “SEO”—can help people find
your stories through search engines. Thirty percent of the traffic on the top 25 U.S.
news sites comes from Google searches. To improve your search results, put the
most important words in your headline on the left because people tend to scan down
the left side of a web page or a digital device when using a search engine. Include
the names of key figures in the story near the beginning of the headline. Use as
many “tags”—the author-generated list of topics included in the story—as possible,
because they help optimize search engine results.
18. Keep your headlines straightforward
Digital headlines should be less artistic and more practical than traditional headlines
for print journalism products. Clever headlines, encouraged by newspaper and
magazine editors, confuse search engines and make your stories hard to find.
Metaphors, in particular, confound search engines. Get to the point and be direct.
Include specific names in headlines rather than general descriptions of the people
because readers search for specific names. If you are writing about a person with a
common name, use their entire name for clarity (Katy Perry, for example) and to
ensure readers know the person you are writing about.
An example: The headline for one digital story was “Programmers squash bugs
with quick fixes.” It is a play on the word bugs, which means both an insect and a
computer glitch. But it confused every search engine. On Baidu, it led us to a
website about “how to identify and control garden pests” and “Quick Fixes with
Mixes.” But nothing about the story we were seeking.
>>> Best practices
Here’s an example of excellence in digital writing from Politico. It is a story about Donald
Trump’s rural support in the 2016 presidential election:
CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa.—Donald Trump’s road to the White House begins here: on a
four- lane highway, just east of Pittsburgh, past the roadside taverns, burned-out gas
stations, and parking lots choked with weeds, up into the dark fingers of the Allegheny
Mountains, and then down into the valley that was once home to steelworkers, coal miners
and party-line Democrats.
Regis Karlheim once counted himself among that third group. A farmer’s son, Karlheim
grew up doing two things: voting Democratic and growing potatoes. “It was a lot of good
years in potatoes,” he said. “Everybody and their brother grew potatoes in Cambria
County.”
Today Karlheim—blue-eyed, 58, and graying around the temples—spends his days behind
the wheel of a giant coal truck, but the declining coal industry has hit Karlheim hard. He’s
making $10,000 less than he was just three years ago, he said, and he’s worried about his
mortgage. “How do you make those payments?” he asked. This spring, after years of not
voting for anyone, in either party, in any presidential election, his anxiety compelled him to
cast a vote in the Democratic primary. For Bernie Sanders.
His vote helped the socialist from Vermont beat Hillary Clinton in the county—while
Trump won big, claiming more votes than either Democratic candidate. Since then, Clinton
has sewn up her party’s nomination, but recent polls show that Cambria’s primary was no
fluke: among the crucial battleground states, Pennsylvania is a tossup. Who wins the state’s
precious 20 electoral votes in November will depend, in part, on people like Karlheim.
And he has some bad news for the former secretary of state.
While there are some things that worry him about the GOP nominee—“We don’t know his
background,” Karlheim said, and “He’s a bit outspoken.”—he likes that Trump is talking
about jobs. “That’s what we need,” which is why, Karlheim said, “In the big election… I’m
going for Trump.”
>>> Read the complete story: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/06/coal-
country-democrats-donald-trump-2016-213988.
>>> More tips on “Writing Persuasive Web Content”: http://www.enchantingmarketing.
com/writing-for-the-web-vs-print/.
>>> More tips on web content writing from the Content Factory: http://www.contentfac.
com/even-more-web-content-writing-tips/.
>>> More tips on writing for the web from New York University: http://www.nyu.edu/
employees/resources-and-services/media-and-communications/styleguide/website/writing-
for-the-web.html.
>>> More tips from University of Florida Professor Mindy McAdams in her “Reporter’s
Guide to Multimedia Proficiency”: http://faculty.jou.ufl.edu/mmcadams/PDFs/
RGMPbook.pdf.
4.2 Creating Your Own Website
A website is a must for every aspiring journalist. It’s easy … and can be fun
Why create a website? Maybe it’s because your professor told you that you had to
do it. That’s a good reason. Or because everybody else already has one. That’s a
good reason, too. But there are a lot of good reasons that are related to your skills as
an aspiring journalist.
Creating a website makes you more visible. People can find you on the internet.
A website makes you more visible in the infinite world of cyberspace. A website is
a platform for you to show off your best work. It can showcase your talents—and,
in connection with this book, it can showcase your multimedia talents. It can even
get you a job. You can point to your website when you apply for jobs. And, even
more important, people can find you (and study your work) by searching for your
website through internet search engines. As a Washington bureau chief, your author
always checked out a job (or internship) applicant’s website. If they didn’t have
one, it hurt their chances. If they had an exceptional one, it was a big plus.
You need to do more than just have a website. You need to fill it with interesting
posts. Creating multimedia content for your website will hone your talents. The
writing you do for your website will make you a better writer. The more you
practice, the more you should improve. Write, write, write can become right, right,
right.
There is no reason to fear building a website. It’s easier than ever to create your
own website. There are free templates such as Wix.com that give you hundreds of
pre-formatted templates. Or you can customize one yourself. That’s a huge change
in just a few years from the days when you needed to know coding before you
could build a site. Now, all you need is imagination to create a site and some
journalistic talent to fill it up.
Global Business Journalism student Amy Zhong’s website

4.2 Creating Your Own Website 67
Here are 15 things to consider before you start work on your website:
• What is the goal of your website? Is it personal? Professional?
Brand-building? A school exercise?
• Do you know enough programming to create your own site or will you use a
platform offering pre-packaged templates? Most people do not know enough
programming or coding to build their own site from scratch, so it’s good to
know that there are many platforms available on the internet with pre-packaged
templates that do not require any coding skills.
• What website platform will you use? We will use Wix (www.wix.com) in this
book, but you can find a wide range of options if you do a simple internet
search.
• What template will you use? Explore the platform you use. You can find one
that fits your needs and your journalistic or personal goals.
• Are you willing to pay for a template or will you use a free one? Most
website templates are free, but you can pay for fancier design or additional
features.
• What will the site be called? It’s important to think about it. How do you want
the world to see you? Clever? Simple? The bottom line is that it should let the
world know who you are and what you’re doing with your site.
• Will you buy a premium URL? It’s nice to have an easy-to-remember URL
that does not include the home platform you use. Your author spent a bit extra to
purchase the name RickDunhamBlog.com for his personal website so he would
not have to use “Wordpress” in the site’s URL.
• What is your targeted audience? Who are you trying to reach? Family?
Friends? Classmates? Potential employers? Experts on a particular subject? The
content you produce should reflect the audience you are targeting.
• What will be your mix of multimedia components? Are you going to rely on
text posts, or do you want to show off your multimedia skills? Even text articles
should contain at least one photo. But a website allows you to show off your
skills at creating photo galleries, graphics, videos and complete multimedia
projects, as well as written articles.
• Prepare a mission statement. You don’t have to publish it, but it reflects the
goals of your website. Be as specific as you can. Feel free to share it on your
website if you think it will build your brand.
• Prepare a biography to post on the site. This is how you present yourself to
the world. It can be serious. It can be an official biography. It can be a CV. It can
be poetry. It can contain photos. It can be clever or funny. It can be very short. It
can be long. It reflects who you are and how you want to use your website to
present that personality to the world.
• Prepare some photographs of yourself and other relevant subjects to post

on launch. Be ready in advance to publish some photos. It makes the site more
attractive.
• Prepare “contact me” information. It’s important to think of just how much
you want to share. Email? Mobile phone? Office address? (Probably not a home
address. The world is too dangerous a place for that.) Social media handles?
Again, the amount of information depends on how you plan to use the website
for brand-building.
• Prepare a strategy to fulfill your mission. You don’t want to create a site and
then leave it sitting dormant. What comes next? Do you add some of your best
articles from the past? Do you write new blog posts each week? Do you spe-
cialize in a certain subject? Think before you publish.
• Prepare a strategy for using social media on the site or to promote the site.
What good is a website if nobody knows it’s there. How are you going to use
your own social media platforms to drive people to the site? It’s a good idea to
have friends and associates share the good news about your new website with
their friends and associates. And remember to share new posts via social media.
You can slowly build a following. The larger your following, the more likely
you are to have an impact with your posts.
After you have contemplated these questions, you’re ready to begin. Start by
choosing your website platform. Choose your platform. We will use Wix for three
simple reasons:
• It’s free (although you can buy fancier templates and additional features)
• It’s very user-friendly
• It has attractive free templates.
When you start with Wix—or most other website builders—you can sample the
templates that are available to you (for free or for a charge) before you sign
up. When you decide that the website builder is for you, sign up to create your own
account. This is the first step toward launching your own site. With Wix, you click
on “Start Now.”
Just follow the instructions and click on “Sign Up.” You’re signed up.
Next, it’s time to pick a template. There are lots and lots of choices. Wix starts
you off with categories, and then you can click to visualize your options.
Template categories
Your mission as you review template options is to find one that you can adapt to
best showcase your work. The template you choose is the beginning of the design
process, not the end. You can modify the existing templates to suit your needs. Or,
if you don’t want to do much design work yourself, you can just take a template and
replace the existing photos and text with your own.
Try a few of the templates out. Which ones fit your personality and your jour-
nalistic goals? If you really don’t like the choices, you can customize your own Wix
site—without needing to know any coding. Just follow the instructions.
Template choices
To show you how to create a website, let’s walk you through the steps used by
the author to create his website. As your author was clicking through the potential
templates, he found one that he thought had potential. He liked its design and
thought it had the right number of tabs for his purpose. Also, many of the tabs
contained content similar to what he had planned to include in his own website.
And the price was right: Free!
This had a good balance between design and content

Once you’ve picked a template, it’s time to make it your own website. Just click
“edit” and get started. Following the instructions and, step by step, you transform an
alien template into your personal site. Follow the instructions to customize each
element in the template. It’s intuitive.
A reminder: Save your work with regularity. You don’t want to lose your
changes if your computer crashes.
The first thing the author changed was the website name. Of course, this is not
“PR.” This is journalism. This is for the Global Business Journalism program, so he
kept it simple: “GBJ Prof.” You can adjust the typeface, type size and color, if
you’d like.
Before…
…and after
The author didn’t really like the beige background color, so he decided to change
it to a neutral white. He also decided to add a photo—something that says “China,”
because the GBJ program is at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He found a nice
picture of the Great Wall, plugged it in and took a look. You can easily edit photos
in Wix, if you want to modify them from the form you import. Photo editing is easy
in Wix.
Search your computer for background images
The author tried his selected photo as the background image—and hated it. It
overwhelmed the text. So he decided a background photo was not going to work on
the GBJ Prof site. Trial and error is a good thing. Just keep trying until you get it
right.
Not a good idea
How about a purple background, because purple is the school color of Tsinghua
University? Again, it didn’t work. Too distracting. Too unusual.
Another try. Another miss
Let’s try just plain white. That’ll emphasize the content on the page, not the
background. This time, it worked out well.
Now that the design is set, it’s time to start creating content. The process is
intuitive. You should experiment with type font and size, boldface or italic type,
and other design variables.
This is OK. Can I do better?

Too big, too bold
Too small. Keep trying

This looks about right
Modifying the tabs at the top of the page allows you to create the categories you
want on your website. You change the pages for each tab, one by one. After you
create the tabs you want, it’s time to start filling in the content. Your author started
with the “about me” page.
You’ll want an “about me” page with a biographical sketch and photos
Next up: A description of the Global Business Journalism Program and its key
features.
This website is not just about the author. It also describes a prestigious master’s
degree program. So let’s brag about GBJ.
GBJ highlights
Reminder: Have you saved your work recently?

Save it!
It’s time to tweak the site. The beige background that came with this template is
not very attractive. So the author decided to change it on all of the website pages to
plain white. As you can see, all of the tabs (the inside webpages) are completed. To
add more (or eliminate) tabs, it’s easy to change the number. But this template came
with the perfect number for the author’s plans. It’s easy to navigate and be logical.
Background color options. White, rather than beige
Before launching the website, it’s a good idea to include at least one new blog
post. That gives the site a sense of vitality and immediacy. Wix makes blog posting
easy.
Just follow the instructions to create a blog post
It’s important to include at least one good photo with each blog post.
The author wanted a “live” blog post when the site goes public
Just one step left: Publish. Click “publish” to, as Wix says, “share your creation
with the world.”
Success! Wasn’t that easy?

Congratulations! We’re up and running. So here’s a look at the author’s page.

Good luck with yours.
>>> Here are some free Wix tutorials: http://www.wix.com/blog/2014/05/tutorials-for-

wix-newbies/#
>>> Guidance on building a website using WordPress: http://www.2createawebsites.com/
4.3 About Blogging
The blog concept is about two decades old. The term was coined in 1997 by John
Barger to describe the “web logs,” the daily online diaries people were creating on
the internet. Eventually the “w” and “e” were eliminated and “web log” became
“blog.” It referred to informational or opinion websites consisting of text entries.
(A similar attempt to make “video logs” into “vlogs” never became widely used.)
The number of blogs in the world has increased exponentially. There were 35
million blogs in 2006 and 173 million five years later, according to a Nielsen media
analysis. The rate of growth has slowed in recent years as digital content moves
toward video and blogs morphed into websites. But there are more than 425 million
blogs in existence globally. More than 170 million are on Tumblr and more than 75
million bloggers use the WordPress platform. While the blogging trend peaked in
the early 2010s, many multimedia journalists today also are bloggers, or use blogs
as part of their own websites.
Blogging first had a major impact on journalism in 2001, as specialty blogs such
as Mashable, Perez Hilton and TechCrunch began to compete as news dissemi-
nators with mainstream news organizations. Today, the most popular blogs in the
United States generate more digital traffic than most newspaper websites.
Social4retail delineates five types of bloggers: the full-time professional, the
part-time professional, the hobbyist, the entrepreneur and the corporate blogger.
Only 14% of bloggers earn a salary through blogging, and very few journalists for
traditional news organizations are paid extra for their blog posts.
>>> Read some interesting facts about blogging at http://www.wpvirtuoso.com/how-
many-blogs-are-on-the-internet/
Why might you want to maintain a blog? Here are six quick reasons:
• To showcase your work
• To express your ideas and insights
• To share articles, photos or videos
• To increase public awareness of an issue or a cause
• To network with others who share your interests
• To build communities.
4.3 About Blogging 87
>>> Best practices

A blog with a clearly defined mission
The best example of a well-focused niche blog is called “The Color of Hockey,” written by
William Douglas, a longtime Washington reporter who has covered the White House and
the U.S. Congress. But this blog has nothing to do with the topics Bill Douglas has covered
during his distinguished career. It focuses on his personal passion for ice hockey. He has
played hockey since he was a young kid in Philadelphia and continues to play goalie in
senior leagues. What makes the blog unique is that Bill Douglas is an American of African
ancestry, and he writes about the achievements of minority people in the sport of ice
hockey, a sport dominated by Caucasian people from Europe and North America.
The subhead of his blog—“Hockey for Fans and Players of Color”—tells it all. He went to
the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, to cover hockey. He has covered professional
hockey and youth hockey on his blog. The blog is not just about black players. He has
written about Korean players, Hispanic players and players descended from the
pre-European peoples of North America. Douglas’ blog quickly became a very valuable
resource for people interested in minority players in professional hockey, as well as
hockey’s outreach to global audiences. Much of his audience is minority hockey fans of
color, but he has built a growing audience among white Americans who are interested
about the growing diversity of their nation. Bill Douglas owns his niche and has gained
widespread respect and acclaim.
>>> Read William Douglas’ blog: http://colorofhockey.com/
The vast majority of blogs go dormant after just a few posts. Only a tiny fraction
of the more than 425 million blogs in the world build serious followings. You may
not be the next Buzzfeed (www.buzzfeed.com), but you can have an impact in the
niche you choose. Here’s how. Before you start, it is important to think seriously
about these seven things:
• The name of the blog. It can be creative. You want to figure out something
people will remember. If the name you choose is clever and is something people
will remember, it is even better. There is a political consultant in Washington
named John Feehery, and he created a blog with the name the Feehery Theory
(www.thefeeherytheory.com). Because of its internal rhyme, that’s a blog name
that everyone who follows public policy debates in the United States’ capital
city can easily remember.
• A mission statement. It explains, in 40 words or less, what you are trying to do
with your blog. What is your niche among the 400-plus million blogs in the
world? Is it to express your opinion? Is it to break news? Is it to offer smart

analysis? Is it to share photographs or data? Is it to locate and share links to the
most interesting posts on the internet about a particular subject? Is it for a class
assignment? Is it to highlight your own journalistic work so you can get an
internship or a job? Is it to connect with friends or family? The mission state-
ment does not have to be published on your blog—though there is nothing
wrong with doing that. But it does need to exist as a guiding force behind
everything you do with your blog.
• Write a theme of your blog in a few words. This “subhead” description will
appear on the blog’s home page to explain to readers what your blog is all about.
It boils down your mission statement to its essence and tells readers, in brief
form, what to expect from your blog. It can be clever, but it must convey your
journalistic goal.
• What community are you targeting? Before you start posting, you need to think
about the audience you are trying to reach. This flows from the mission state-
ment and is reflected in your “subhead.”
• Develop a strategy to fulfill your mission and adhere to your mission statement.
What content can you produce on your blog that will attract the audience you
have targeted? Each post you publish should take you one step closer to building
your community and fulfilling your blog’s reason for being.
• Develop a community-building strategy: How are you going to increase the size
of your audience? How are you going to reach the audience you want to reach,
and how are you going to slowly but surely build a bigger audience? Almost
every community-building strategy involves harnessing the power of social
media.
• Develop a strategy for using multimedia tools. What will best help you fulfill
your mission? Video? Photo galleries? Interactive graphics? Data visualization?
Mapping? What are you most comfortable with? And what you will be able to
do if you have time constraints and skill limitations?
Now you’re ready to get started.
4.3 About Blogging 89
Global Business Journalism student Wang Peinan’s blog combined smooth writing and good
photography
Professional Advice
I would advise young people who want to become journalists to start early. Start interning,
start writing, start photographing — start early to gain experience. And yes, passion is the
thing that keeps you going.
—Raihana Maqbool, journalist, Kashmir, IJNet Journalist of the Month, March 2018
https://ijnet.org/en/blog/journalist-month-raihana-maqbool?utm_source=bulleti-
n&utm_campaign=0402 (3/28/18)
Raihana Maqbool (IJNet photo)

Bibliography
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2createwebsites.com. http://www.2createawebsites.com/.
Bousquet, K. (2017, August 22). It’s go time: 11 of our favorite low-cost (and free!) blog sites.
stylecaster.com. http://stylecaster.com/best-free-blog-sites/.
Chibana, N. (2015, July 8). 7 storytelling techniques used by the most inspiring TED presenters.
blog.visme.co. http://blog.visme.co/7-storytelling-techniques-used-by-the-most-inspiring-ted-
presenters/.
(Even more!) Web content writing tips. contentfac.com. http://www.contentfac.com/even-more-
web-content-writing-tips/.
Gaille, B. (2013, November 20). How many blogs are on the internet. wpvirtuoso.com. http://
www.wpvirtuoso.com/how-many-blogs-are-on-the-internet/.
Henneke. 9 simple tips for writing persuasive web content. enchantingmarketing.com. http://www.
enchantingmarketing.com/writing-for-the-web-vs-print/.
Krug, S. (2014). Don’t make me think: A common sense approach to web usability (pp. 11–12).
New Riders.
McAdams, M. (2009). Reporter’s guide to multimedia proficiency. faculty.jou.ufl.edu. http://
faculty.jou.ufl.edu/mmcadams/PDFs/RGMPbook.pdf.
Mitchell, A., & Page, D. (2014, March 26). State of the news media. assets.pewresearch.org. http://
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media-report-2014-final.pdf.
Mulcahey, T. (2018, March 28). Journalist of the month: Raihana Maqbool. ijnet.org. https://ijnet.
org/en/blog/journalist-month-raihana-maqbool?utm_source=bulletin&utm_campaign=0402.
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wix.com. http://www.wix.com/blog/2014/05/tutorials-for-wix-newbies/#.
Chapter 5
News Photography
5.1 Introduction to News Photography
Many people think of photography as something frivolous or fleeting.

A smartphone picture of your latest meal. A selfie with a friend. A snapshot of a
tourist destination.
But in today’s multimedia news world, photography is a valuable journalism
tool. After all, it’s a powerful form of journalism. Just think back to British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill flashing the “V for Victory” sign on Downing Street in
London during the Second World War. Or U.S. Marines planting the American flag
atop Mount Suribachi after a bloody battle with Japanese troops for control of Iwo
Jima, a tiny but strategically significant island in the western Pacific in 1945. Or
Bob Jackson’s famous, Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph in the Dallas Times
Herald of the moment Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of U.S. President John F.
Kennedy, was shot by Texas nightclub owner Jack Ruby in the basement of the
Dallas police headquarters building in November 1963.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_5
94 5 News Photography
The 48-star U.S. flag is raised by American Marines on the highest peak of Iwo Jima after a battle
resulting in more than 25,000 U.S. casualties. Two photographers, Sgt. Bill Genaust and Joe
Rosenthal of the Associated Press, captured the image from slightly different angles. This photo,
taken by the U.S. soldier, is in the public domain
“Still photographs are the most powerful weapons in the world,” said the late
photographer Eddie Adams, who became famous for his 1968 photograph of the
street-corner execution of a Viet Cong prisoner by a South Vietnamese police chief.
“Words and pictures have a continuing struggle for primacy. In my mind, a
person can write the best story in the world; but a photograph is absolute.”
5.1 Introduction to News Photography 95
This photo heartened anti-fascists across the world in 1943 (Photo from Imperial War Museums
collections, public domain.)
Photography serves multiple purposes in multimedia storytelling. Lesley Vos, a

content writer and blogger of Bid4papers, says the functions of photos include “(a)
stirring some emotions, (b) catching attention, (c) entertaining people, and
(d) sending some powerful message.” As Eddie Adams once said, “If it makes you
laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips out your heart, that’s a good picture.”
Always think of your “message” when you create news photographs. When you
are in the field as a news photographer, start by asking the question, “What is the
story I want to tell?” suggests Joe Newman, a Washington photographer and
founder of Cosmic Smudge Media. Once you have settled on the story you want to
tell, think of how to best illustrate that vision. Joe Newman asks himself three
questions to help him explain the story: “What sets the overall scene? What is the
action that is happening there? What is the detail?”
Action. Detail. Message. Your photographs can become valuable tools in telling
a bigger story. Or your photography can be a valuable storytelling device in and of
itself. Several Chinese officials lost their jobs after photographs were posted on
social media and published on the internet showing them wearing expensive
watches—watches that would have been difficult to afford on their public employee
salary. The photographs certainly caught the attention of average people in China—
and government anti-corruption investigators.
Photography can add additional perspective to your stories. Who can forget the
memorable photographs of Russian president Vladmir Putin, bare-chested and
wearing wrap-around sunglasses, riding a horse in the wilds of Russia? Or wrestling
with a tiger? Or looking very unhappy in the company of U.S. president Barack
Obama? These images are far more valuable than a typical “grip and grin” hand-
shake. A 1970 photograph of U.S. President Richard Nixon posing awkwardly in
the Oval Office with music legend Elvis Presley provided insight into the character
of Nixon. The revealing image is one of the most-requested photographs in the
history of the United States National Archives.
Nixon and Elvis (Photo by White House photographer Oliver F. Atkkins, public domain)
Sports photography is known for action photos. As a photographer, you want to

capture the pivotal moment in the competition, the climax of the action. But you
can create a memorable sports photo by capturing the emotion following the big
moment, a moment of silent reflection or unabashed emotion. The additional per-
spective is often more memorable than the climactic moment.
5.1 Introduction to News Photography 97
Teammates (Photo by Graham Dickie)
Photographs help you tell stories, but they also help you build your audience.
Statistics show that digital reports reach a wider audience when they are accom-
panied by photos. Social media posts are shared more often if they contain a visual
element. Put it simply: People like photos with their words, or sometimes without
any words.
There’s no question that photography helps you build your digital audience. The
media frenzy that followed American actress Renee Zellwegger’s cosmetic surgery
on her face became a bonanza for click-driven websites. The story may have had very
limited news value, but it found a huge audience that generated significant revenues
for news sites. Here’s the Google search page the week after the story broke:
Renee Zellwegger’s new face went “viral” on the web (Google search page screen grab)
Photography is an important tool in storytelling. Digital platforms demand some

sort of graphic element in each post, and a photograph, by default, is often the
choice. The trouble is, for some subjects, such as business, action photography is
not an inherent part of the beat. So it takes special skills in photo composition and
visual storytelling. You’ll learn them later on in this chapter.
5.2 Getting Started
So how do you get started as a digital news photographer? You don’t have to be a
professional photographer or own an expensive, state-of-the-art camera to thrive in
the digital world.
Your first mission is to find a camera that works for you. It can be as simple as a
smartphone or as complicated as a multi-lens, multi-reflex camera with manual
settings for focus and light. You might want a relatively inexpensive (but good
quality) “point and shoot” camera with automatic focus. If your budget allows, you
can probably find a bargain on a low-end (or more expensive) professional grade
camera.
If you’re going to be working in a multimedia world, you will need a camera
with the capability to take both still images and decent-quality video. Depending on
which of those two options is more important to you, you can find a good digital
camera with video or a good video camera that allows you to easily capture still
images.
If you will use it only occasionally and do not need a rapid-fire lens or
high-powered zoom, a point-and-shoot model might work. If your employer is
paying, you might want to get a higher-quality camera with more features. If you
are taking photos for print publications as well as digital ones, you will need a
camera that takes high-quality, high-resolution images. If your video might appear
on television and not just on the web, you need a top-shelf digital video camera. If
you’ll need to zoom into take long-distance photos, a multi-lens camera is a must. If
you want to post immediately to the internet without uploading to a computer, look
for digital cameras with WiFi. (Or you can rely on a smartphone or tablet.)
Once you’ve chosen your camera, get to know it before you start using it for
professional purposes. Start by reading the manual. It may be boring, but you are
almost certain to learn something. Modern cameras are packed with new features,
and you might discover something you didn’t know by scanning the manual.
5.2 Getting Started 99
Get to know how to focus automatically or manually. Check out the way your
camera adjusts to different lighting situations such as bright light, low light, and
flash options. Is there a rapid-fire option for breaking news, sports or entertainment
photography? Also learn the editing functions of your camera. What kind of editing
can you do on the camera (or smartphone) itself, and what do you need to do on a
computer?
Learn basic photo editing. Pick a program that you like. Apple products have
excellent built-in editing programs. But you can use programs like Microsoft Photo
Editor, Picasa or Flickr. Practice photo editing. And practice it again. Learn to crop
your photos to edit out unnecessary or distracting elements. Learn to sharpen the
focus of your photographs, adjust them for light and darkness, find the right level of
contrast and the proper color balance. Resize them, if necessary, depending on the
requirements of your news outlet and its computer server.
It is worth trying out special effects and screens, as well. They can make your
photos artsy and add an interesting dimension. But remember that it is unethical to
use photo editing to change the editorial content of a photograph. Time magazine in
the United States was harshly criticized in 1995 for its cover photograph of accused
murderer O. J. Simpson, an African American who had been a football hero and
movie star. Time magazine darkened Simpson’s face to make it seem more omi-
nous. Its competitor, Newsweek, ran the same police mug shot of Simpson on its
cover without altering it. Time was criticized for appealing to centuries-old racist
stereotypes of the menacing, dark-skinned black man.
5.3 Honing the Craft
Once you’ve learned the basics of photo editing, it’s time to hone the craft. It’s
impossible to say this too often: Practice, practice, practice. Experiment with photo
angles. Experiment with lighting. Experiment with texture. Experiment with
wide-angle shots and close-ups. See what works for you and what you need to
improve.
Award-winning photographers underscore the importance of finding a mentor
and learning from a professional. Don’t believe you know everything. “Work hard,
be open to failure, accept advice and work as a team,” photojournalist Stephanie
Sinclair told the Washington Post in October 2017.
>>> Read professional tips from photographers who have attended workshops organized
by legendary photography Eddie Adams: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/
wp/2017/10/06/lessons-through-the-lens-and-life-9-photographers-share-their-best-mem-
ories-of-the-eddie-adams-workshop/?tid=ss_fb&utm_term=.abbcc9cac66e
As you experiment with the craft, it’s important to think of the qualities that
make a news photograph more compelling. Among the most important: drama,
action, motion, emotion, expression, an unexpected occurrence, and strong
composition.
>>> Read journalism and photo tips from Sam Houston State’s journalism blog: http://
www.hfactorblog.com/2015/02/shsus-globalcenter-for-journalism.html
Gestures also make photographs more interesting by adding action. Look at

these two photos of your author from a television appearance. The picture with a
gesture is more compelling to a viewer.
Hand gestures make photos more interesting (Screen grabs from CCTV)
5.3 Honing the Craft 101
A wave to the crowd makes the photograph more dynamic (Screen grabs from CCTV)
As you try to position yourself for the best possible picture, little things matter.
One of them is your posture. Try to stand up straight. Don’t lean back and don’t
lean forward. That will maximize your back support and provide stability. Stand
with your feet a bit apart. That also provides stability. If you’re sitting or kneeling,
don’t put your elbows on your knees. That is unstable and can result in a blurry
picture.
Another bit of basic advice: Avoid the shakes. “Camera shake” makes your
images seem blurry, usually because the camera was not held still enough while the
shutter was depressed.
You are particularly susceptible to camera shake when you are photographing in
low-light situations where the shutter is open for longer periods of time. It’s also a
risk when someone is moving, particularly in situations with less-than-optimal
lighting. An unsteady hand is the most common cause of shaking. But the smallest
movement of the camera can also cause it. That is one reason to avoid taking
photographs with your camera at arm’s length. You become unsteady.
Photographers often do this when holding their cameras up over a crowd for a better
angle. There indeed may be a reward, but there’s also a risk. It’s always best to hold
your camera with two hands rather than one. Finally, adjust your shutter speed. The
faster your shutter speed, the less impact camera shake will have and the more
you’ll freeze any movement in your shots.
Likewise, your breathing at the wrong moment can cause a blurred photo. In low
light, try to inhale and then take the photograph before exhaling. There is a com-
peting school of thought that recommends taking the photo immediately after
exhaling. Do whatever works for you. Just try to avoid breathing and snapping a
shot at the same moment.
The shakes: One of many bad White House photos by your author (Photo by Rick Dunham)
There is only one sure way to avoid camera shake: a tripod. But a tripod, the
three-legged device that immobilizes the camera, is impractical most of the time for
news photographers. Alternatives to the traditional tripod are a pocket tripod, which
is smaller and less intrusive, a “gorilla pod,” which is a flexible tripod that you can
wrap securely around many different surfaces, and natural tripods such as the top of
a wall, a stack of books, the hood of your car – anything in your environment that is
a solid, stable surface.
Take time to focus your frame. You may want to use portrait mode on your
digital camera or Aperture Priority mode to manually choose the aperture (the size
of the hole in your lens), while your camera makes all of the other choices. To
minimize the chance that your photos will be out of focus, be careful not to:
• Focus on the wrong part of the image
• Be too close to your subject for the camera to focus
• Select an aperture—the size of the hole in your lens—that generates a very
narrow depth of field, or
• Take an image too quickly without checking if it is in focus.
When you snap the picture, it helps to perfect your shutter technique. Squeeze
the shutter with gentle pressure to take the photo. Don’t jab at it. Don’t press the
shutter with the very tip of your finger—use the flat part of it instead—so that your
finger is almost horizontal at the time of releasing the shutter.
It’s important to have a solid grip. Exactly how you should grip your camera will
depend upon what type of digital camera you are using and varies from person to
person depending upon preference. Generally, hold the camera with both hands.
The left hand will be on the lens, while the right holds the camera body and controls
the shutter.
Here is one way preferred by professionals: Use your right hand to grip the
right-hand end of the camera. Your forefinger should sit lightly above the shutter
release, your other three fingers curling around the front of the camera. Your right
thumb grips onto the back of the camera. Most cameras these days have some sort
of grip and even indentations for where fingers should go, so this should feel
natural. Use a strong grip with your right hand but don’t grip it so tightly that you
end up shaking the camera. The positioning of your left hand will depend upon your
camera but in in general it should support the weight of the camera and will either
sit underneath the camera or near the lens of a fancier camera. Tuck your elbows
into your sides and keep the camera a short distance from your face.
Learn by practice, but also learn by example. Look for photo role models, people
whose work you particularly admire and try to emulate them. The internet gives you
a chance to review some of the best work of the best news photographers in human
history, people like George Tames, David Hume Kennerly and Annie Leibovitz.
One example to practice is “the rule of threes,” which describes the distance
between you and the subject of your photo. Some photos are “long-range” (the first of
the threes), meaning that you are a long distance from the focus of your photograph.
This enables you to show a panorama or to produce a photo with dramatic sweep. The
mid-range photo features the central subject of your photo within a clearly defined
setting. A close-up photo, the third of the “rule of threes,” is a tight photograph
focusing on the central subject of your photo. It seizes the audience’s attention.
Close-up photos, because of their immediacy, should be riveting images that attract
your audience. Extreme close-ups can be useful to show drama or personality.
Long-range photo of a couple at Prince Gong’s palace, Beijing (Photo by Rick Dunham)
A mid-range image of the couple (Photo by Rick Dunham)

A close-up of the scene (Photo by Rick Dunham)
Once you’ve collected your photographs, you need to learn how to turn your
images into published products by uploading them to social media or websites. It’s
not very difficult, but you need to master the process before you can start. Every
platform has its own protocol. Check the directions for the posting platform you’ll
be using.
News photography requires skill and training, to be sure, but it’s easier than you
may think. As the famous Irish writer and philosopher George Bernard Shaw (an
accomplished amateur photographer) once noted: “A photographer is like a cod
[fish], which produces a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity.”
Shaw’s point is important: Every news photograph you take does not have to be
a prize-winner. If you take enough photos, you’re likely to get some good ones.
And more than a few are likely to be very good.
It’s always a good idea to take more photos than you need. If a news reporter
writes 100 stories and five are good, she or he might get fired. But if a news
photographer snaps 100 shots and five are great, that might be good enough to win
journalism awards. Joe Newman, who edited a book of images of dissent against
Donald Trump’s 2017 presidential inauguration, says he took 679 photographs
during the anti-Trump protests. He said that “maybe a dozen” were worthy of
publication. That’s a good percentage, he noted.
These days, though, you probably want more than a dozen good photos. The
public likes—and demands—photo galleries on news websites. So think about
taking a series of photographs that you could arrange into a photo gallery on your
site. (More on photo galleries in Chap. 6.)
Photography involves a tremendous amount of skill, but some of it is luck. If you

are in the right place at the right time and you snap the shot at just the right moment,
you could be the next Bob Jackson and win the Pulitzer Prize.
5.4 Photo Composition
Photo composition can be the difference between a good photo and a great photo.
How you compose a photograph—what elements are included or excluded, where
in the frame they are located and your perspective—is vital to quality news pho-
tography. If you develop strong photo composition skills, you can quickly stand out
in a multimedia world where many journalists take pictures but few master the art.
Here are 26 photo composition rules, divided into six categories:
The Big Three

• Simplify
• Frame images
• Rule of thirds
The Art of Composition
• Balance
• Fill your frame
• Color
• Silhouettes
• Odd versus even
Adding Depth and Complexity
• Rule of space
• Depth of field
• Patterns
• Texture
• Point of view
Adding Action and Motion
• Lines (diagonal lines, curves, geometric lines, converging lines, leading lines)
• Lean into the frame
Subjective Tools
• Background subtext
• Irony
• Humor
• A dramatic moment
Things to Avoid
• Avoid distracting backgrounds
• Avoid photo bombers
5.4 Photo Composition 107
• Avoid protruding elements from subjects’ heads

• Avoid near mergers
• Avoid crooked horizons
• Avoid competing lines
Now that you know the rules, it’s important to add this one: Break the rules. If it
looks good, click it.
Simplify
Don’t complicate your photographs with too many competing images. You want
the viewer to focus on the element that you are highlighting. “As a general rule,
simple images tend to be more appealing than complicated ones,” says David
Peterson of Digital Photo Secrets.
Be mindful when you are taking your pictures of the background. A photo of a
newsmaker with an automobile prominently featured in the background may dis-
tract the reader’s eye and camouflage the person. Better to have the person with a
blue sky or a blue backdrop or a neutral background.
“Keep the focus on the subject, not all the details in the scene,” a tutorial on
https://doi.org/ImprovePhotography.com advises. “Too many details take the focus
away from the story your photo is trying to tell and make it more difficult for the
viewer to figure out what you are trying to convey.”
If you take a photograph and have several competing elements in it, you can
simplify the final image by cropping the photo—editing the original image by
deleting extraneous elements to narrow the focus of the final image.
The neutral background focuses the viewer’s attention on the moon cake (Photo by Rick Dunham)
Frame images
The term “frame images” comes from the old-fashioned picture frame. The idea is
to create an attractive outside border that accentuates what is inside the frame. In
photography, “framing” is a figurative term. Often, photographers will use objects
in nature, such as trees or doorways, to frame images. Framing is an effective way
to focus readers’ attention on the central element of your photograph. By creating a
“frame” with your lens, you focus the viewer’s eye on what is inside the frame.
Trees are the most commonly used framing device in professional photography, but
an entryway or humans can form frames, too. A tightly framed image magnifies the
power of what is inside the frame. Sometimes, the frame will be out of focus,
sharpening the focus on the part of the image that is being framed.
A shattered set of windows frames a car and other debris that has blown into a destroyed home in
the town of Tacloban in the Philippines (Photo by Rick Dunham)
A smoggy day in Beijing: Rachael Ruble wearing a mask, framed by the CCTV building (Photo by
Rachael Ruble)
Rule of thirds
While balance is one important concept in photo composition, your photographs
often are more compelling if the picture’s focus of attention is off-center. The “rule
of thirds” has been developed to serve as a guide to help you place the key subject
(or subjects) in a photo.
The rule of thirds leads your eyes both to the face of the photographer and to her camera (Photo by
Rick Dunham)
The “rule of thirds” is an imaginary grid that divides your photo into thirds both
horizontally and vertically. The four points where the lines of the grid intersect are
natural spots for people to focus their attention. “Studies have shown that when
viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most
naturally rather than the center of the shot,” says Darren Rowse, author of the
Digital Photography School blog.
Photos usually are more dynamic when the main subject of the photo is not in
the center. The grid intersection you use to place your main subject depends on the
image and your personal preference. And it is not just still photographers who use
this technique. It is also an important rule of composition for video journalism, as
well.
The rule of thirds applies to Instagram, too: On the streets of Paris, a tourist stands out among the
artists (Photo by Alan Blinder)
Balance
The concept of balance is one of the most important in news photography. Balance
leads to harmony in a viewer’s mind. It will subconsciously attract your audience to
your work.
There are many kinds of balance. There is symmetry, where a photograph is
balanced on its left and right sides. Often, the symmetrical form resembles a mirror
image, with the top half of the photograph and bottom reflect each other, like a
mirror. Symmetry can come naturally, like a reflection in water, or can be staged by
a talented photographer.
The Washington Monument at night (Photo by Rick Dunham)
There is geometric balance, where geometrical images such as triangles or

pentagons add visual unity to a photo. While the photo is not balanced like a mirror
image, it still maintains a sense of balance. The following photograph contains three
sets of triangles: the three temples in the foreground, the three temples in the rear
and the person in the center of the photo with the two largest temples. The com-
bination of triangles creates a sense of harmony.
The Silver Pagodas outside of Beijing (Photo by Agnes Kneitz)

A photograph can be balanced even if the figure on one side of the photo is not
the same as the figure on the other side of the photo. If there is a large image that
dominates the left two-thirds of a photo, it can be balanced by a smaller figure on
the right. Or a dominant figure in the foreground can be balanced by several figures
in the background.
Man meets camel on a road near Lac Rose in Senegal (Photo by Jordan Ricker)
Fill your frame

Photographs gain power when you fill the frame with the central image. That
focuses the attention of the viewer and emphasizes the drama or emotion contained
in that central figure.
By filling the frame, the photographer increased the power of the central characters (Photos by
Graham Dickie)
Color
Color can be an important element of photo composition. Primary colors—red, blue
and yellow—stand out and command the viewer’s eye. Bright colors on a neutral
background—such as a white house or a wall—jump out at the audience.
Contrasting colors create tension and drama, and heighten the interest of your
audience. Varying shades of a color create a dramatic unity. And a touch of color
from a palette outside of the dominant color scheme (for example, child dressed in
red who plays in front of a group of dark gray statues) instantly captures the eye of
your audience.
A bright color can offer an eye-catching contrast to whites and shades of gray (Photo by Qiu
Weiyi)
“Perhaps nothing can compete with color as a tool for creating mood in a
photograph,” writes David Peterson of Digital Photo Secrets. “Cool colors (blues
and greens) can make your viewer feel calm, tranquil or at peace. Reds and yellows
can invoke feelings of happiness, excitement and optimism. A sudden spot of bright
color on an otherwise monochromatic background can provide a strong focal point.
How you use color can dramatically change a viewer’s perception of an image. Pay
attention to the colors in everyday scenes and use them according to what you want
your viewer to feel when looking at your image.”
The color green is the unifying factor in this lively feature photo from Guangdong in Southern
China. To the mind, green often connotes vibrancy and life (Photo by Sophie van der Meer)
A monkey family in Hunan Province, southwestern China. Complementary colors, and colors in
the same color palette, create a sense of visual satisfaction (Photo by Rick Dunham)
Silhouettes
Silhouettes are used to create artsy images by juxtaposing a darkened outline of a
dark outline of a person or object on a more colorful background. The contrast
provides excitement and can make otherwise boring images far more interesting.
Silhouettes are a good way to liven up “boring” images, like stock boards or
political events. Your audience probably is tired of seeing so many photos of the
American president or the Pope. So show them in silhouette, with telling images in
the background. One of the most skillful photographs of the decade was an image
of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square, his silhouette in the foreground, with statues
of angels in mid-range and a bright blue sky in the background, conjuring up
visions of heaven.
Darkness and rough seas: Gazing out the door of no return at Goree Island, Senegal, where slaves
were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas (Photo by Rick Dunham)
Silhouettes require a balance. They are two photographs in one. Each photo
should be meaningful. The darkness should tell one story, the contrasting back-
ground tells another. If the darkness dominates the image, the silhouette focuses the
viewer’s attention on what is in the background.
A fisherman in Mozambique gazes out over the Indian Ocean (Photo by Graham Dickie)
Odd versus even

You may not realize it, but your eye prefers to see an odd number of images in a
photo rather than an even number. That means that three people are better than two.
If you have two rows of people, they shouldn’t have the same number of people in
each row. But sometimes you are just stuck with an even number of people. What to
do? One way to avoid the “odd versus even” problem is to line people up diago-
nally in a single line. Four people lined up diagonally is more attractive than
composing the photo with two lines of two people, or one horizontal line of four.
You also should discover the secret of triangles. Images of three people in the
shape of a triangle add a sense of action. If you have no choice but to snap a shot of
an even number of people (two, or four) try to group them in the shape of a triangle.
It will make the photo more interesting to viewers.
Odd is more attractive to the eye than even: The Texas on the Potomac blog staff, 2012 (Photo by
Pam Tobey)
When you have an even number of people, think of ways to create triangles (Photo by Rick
Dunham)
Rule of space
Photographs can become more powerful by leaving empty space is the background.
This “rule of space” gives the subject of the photo some “breathing room” and
focuses the viewer’s attention on the image that is in the foreground. This “rule of
space” is particularly useful for feature photography, particularly for profile
pictures.
As David Peterson of Digital Photo Secrets writes, “Think of your frame as a
box and your subject as something you’re going to be putting inside of a box. To
make your subject comfortable, you need to give him a bigger box that allows him
some visual freedom and/or freedom of movement. If your subject is looking at
something (even something off-camera), make sure there is some ‘white space’ for
him to look into.”
Where you put the white space creates different feelings. Wider space in front of
a walking person adds a sense of distance and optimism, whereas narrower space
ahead conveys a sense of urgency.
CCTV journalist Tian Wei speaks to students in the Global Business Journalism Program at
Tsinghua University (GBJ photo)
Depth of field
Depth of field brings perspective and complexity to images by showing a contrast
between an image in the foreground and a very different (but complementary)
image in the background. The depth adds a three-dimensional feeling to the photo,
and it often results in a dramatic visual statement.
Smartphones aim at the most famous painting in the Louvre Museum in Paris (Photo by Marco
Van Stralen)
Filmmaker Rong Hua marks the completion a movie scene filmed in Higashikawa, Japan, by
showing an in-focus film slate against the backdrop of Asahidake Mountain (Photo by Rong Hua)
Patterns
Like lines, news photographs benefit from recurring patterns. A pattern helps your
composition by adding depth and dimension to your image by leading the eye from
top to bottom, left to right, foreground to background. It also brings a degree of

complexity and a sense of sophistication to the composition.
Patterns create a sense of movement or depth. They can be vertical, which give
the reader a sense of perspective from looking up or down at the top or bottom of
the image. A horizontal pattern allows you to place the focal element of the pho-
tograph either in the foreground or the background, with the pattern drawing
attention to that focal element.
They can make breaking news photos more emotional by emphasizing a wide
sweep of space and by tying it to a person or object.
Patterns are effective both for breaking news photography and feature photog-
raphy, and they work well with stories on subjects such as travel or food. By
shooting images in a pattern, a skilled photographer can make an ordinary subject
into an extraordinary photo.
Patterns: A boy climbing a remnant of the Old City Wall of Beijing (Photo by Rick Dunham)
Texture
A photograph with texture makes a viewer feel as if she or he is there. Whether your
photograph shows holiday candy or the hot sun on the sands of Senegal, textured
shots take your audience to the scene. The viewer might even be able to feel or
smell the location if the texture is done well.
“Texture is another way of creating dimension in a photograph,” writes David
Peterson of Digital Photo Secrets. “By zooming in on a textured surface—even a
flat one—you can make it seem as if your photograph lives in three dimensions.
Even a long shot of an object can benefit from texture – what’s more visually
interesting, a shot of a brand new boat sitting at a squeaky-clean doc, or a shot of an
old fishing boat with peeling paint sitting in the port of a century-old fishing
village?”
See it. Feel it. You are there. In the sands of Senegal (Photo by Rick Dunham)
Smell the grass in the main campus quadrangle at Tsinghua University (GBJ photo)
Point of view
Do you want to make your photograph more dynamic? Think of taking it with a
point of view. Shoot a photo of a squirrel from the point of view of the person
handing the little animal a nut. Or shoot a war photo of soldiers leaping through the
air from ground level. “Point of view” adds drama. It makes your photo more
artistic. And it can make it more compelling.
A nut for a very excited squirrel (Photo by Ewa Berus)

A climbing squirrel (Photo by Ewa Berus)
The point of view can be from the bottom up—or from above looking down.
Photographs taken from below can emphasize height and depth.
CCTV’s Tian Wei interviews Yao Ming: Two perspectives (Photos shared by Tian Wei on
WeChat)
“Point of view” can offer a viewer different perspectives on the same image or
event. Take a look at these three photographs of the statue of Zhou Enlai at Nankai
University in Tianjin. The emotional impact of the photograph varies based on the
point of view of the photographer.
The statue of Zhou Enlai at Nankai University in Tianjin (Photos by Rick Dunham)
Lines
Straight lines, curved lines, lines the shape of a corkscrew, lines heading off into the
horizon, geometric shapes formed by lines. Lines make photos look more inter-
esting. “A line – whether geometric or implied – can bring your viewer’s eye into
an image and take it wherever you want it to go,” writes David Peterson of Digital
Photo Secrets. When photographing ordinary news events such as speeches or
meetings, think of ways to use the visual power of lines. Even the most basic news
photo looks better if you think creatively.
Hong Kong skyscrapers offer some good examples of feature photography using lines (Photos by
Rick Dunham)
Lines can run in any direction. Diagonal lines can be particularly useful,
bringing a sense of dynamism and motion to news and feature photography. Sports
photographers often use diagonals to emphasize action and forward motion.
Diagonal lines are especially dramatic when people are marching in lines. The
diagonal angle makes the marchers seem to continue to infinity, an image that is
infinitely more interesting than a “straight on” shot where the marchers appear in
vertical lines. Even a typical family photograph can be made to look more inter-
esting by arranging people diagonally, rather than side by side.
The dynamism of diagonal: William Paget Hoblyn and three children, Ernest, Wilhelmin and
Rosalind, in 1860s Britain (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
Horizontal lines can bring more life to a background. They also can add texture
to a background while helping focus the eye on the central image of the photo.
Vertical lines can emphasize force or strength—one of the reasons so many
architects use massive vertical pillars in their work. They also can emphasize
growth or momentum.
Vertical lines can connote growth, progress or strength (Photo by Rick Dunham)
A series of converging lines can be attractive to your readers. It draws their eyes
to the focal point of your photograph, often a person, a place or the horizon (toward
infinity).
The lines of the train track appear to converge, giving viewers the sense of a long journey ahead
(Photo by Graham Dickie)
Leading lines lead the reader to the spot where you want their eyes to go, often in
the background of the photo. Leading lines can provide a sense of motion or
change. They inevitably add depth and drama to photos. “Use artificial, man-made
or natural structures to help bring the viewer’s eyes to your subject,” advises Joe
Newman. “Leading lines are everywhere.”
Famed American outdoors photographer Ansel Adams created this image while working for the
U.S. government in 1942. Your eyes follow the winding lines created by Snake River as they lead
you to the mountains of Grand Teton National Park in the background
Sometimes, the leading line from a photo can take you out of the picture. This
kind of photograph lets the viewer’s imagination take over. You can envision where
the line is pointing.
The arm forms a leading line focusing the viewer’s eye on the unseen object the people in the
photo are looking at (Photo by Ali Farnam)
Leaning into the frame

A person or figure that leans into the frame provides your photograph with a strong
sense of movement. “Leaning in” is often used in sports photography. Such photos
often leave what is called “active space” in front of the moving figure to increase
the sense of dynamism and lead the viewer’s eye into the forthcoming action. The
center of attention in the photo might be moving toward the foreground of the
photo, or toward the left or right edge of the image. The key is movement.
The young runner is leaning into the frame as he heads toward the American flag (Photo by Joe
Newman)
The skateboarder is leaning into the frame as he heads toward you, with plenty of active space in
the foreground (Photo by Graham Dickie)
Background subtext
Sometimes, the center of attention in foreground of the photograph is accompanied
by a message in the background of the photo. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who
unsuccessfully ran against Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential
primary, emphasized a message of “freedom.” At campaign events, Cruz’s advance
staff positioned the candidate in front of a banner declaring “freedom,” so pho-
tographers would underscore Cruz’s theme in their images. The most famous—or
infamous—example of background subtext was then-President George W. Bush’s
speech on a Navy vessel in the Pacific Ocean after the toppling of Saddam Hussein
in Iraq. A banner declaring “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” on a background of a
stylized American flag hung in the background as Bush declaring an end of “major
combat operations” in Iraq. The photo was published around the world, but came
back to embarrass the White House months later, when civil war erupted in Iraq and
it became very clear that the mission was not accomplished.
Subtext can be unintended. In 2009, then-President Barack Obama and his
family were photographed amid African dancers in front of Air Force One at a
departure ceremony in the West African nation of Ghana. Obama was the first
American president of African ancestry, and the vivid “UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA” on the presidential aircraft underscored the historical nature of the
visit.
Subtext: The first African American president in Africa (White House photo by Pete Souza, Flickr)
Humor
Humor can capture a moment in time that will make people smile. It often comes
from the juxtaposition of two images within a single photograph. Humor can have a
serious social message, or it can just result in a good chuckle. If it is effective, it
evokes an emotional response from the audience. “I think humor can be a very
important and useful tool in photojournalism,” Peter Dench, a London-based
photojournalist, told IJNet. “It can disarm a viewer. If I show a sequence of
amusing photographs then drop a more serious image into that sequence, in my
opinion, the impact is heightened. For me, a successful magazine spread, exhibition
or book is to take the viewer on a journey, to make them laugh, think and ultimately
affect change — and humor can help achieve this.” Humor does not have to be
biased, belittling or negative, he notes. But it sometimes is hard to effectively
capture, in images as well as in words: “It’s a fine line to get right.”
No, this is not a department store. It is a joke by local residents in a tiny, remote town in the Big
Bend region of Texas (Photo by Harold Cook)
No, the professor is not a part of this fighter plane’s engine (Photo by Rick Dunham)
Irony
Irony expresses a photographer’s meaning by using images that normally signify
the opposite sentiment of emotion of focal point the photo. Sometimes, it is done for
dramatic emphasis. Other times, it is for humorous reasons. “I believe that being
able to see situations with empathy and care is mandatory for any photojournalist,”
Ayelet Kohn, senior lecturer at David Yellin Academic College in Jerusalem, told
IJNet. “This might be shown in being able to see the humor in daily routines, in the
irony which is formed when images and meanings clash, and generally speaking,
when photographers are alert to the nuances of human behavior, they are more
likely to put a smile on people’s faces.”
This is billed as a “recovery program in a typhoon-ravaged village in the Philippines, but the image
looks anything like recovery.” (Photo by Rick Dunham)
A dramatic moment
Being in the right place at the right time can result in dramatic compositions. It
might be as simple as a handshake between Chinese President Xi Jinping and
Japanese Prime Minister Abe. Or it could be a wave cresting around a young
woman on a beach. Or it could be an aerial shot of a flooded neighborhood. Drama
is one of the most effective types of photo composition—and you often cannot plan
it. Joy, pain, panic, horror, scope, the unexpected. This is emotion. This is the
human drama.
Joy (Photo by Joe Newman)

Discomfort: A young guard at Tian’anmen warily stands guard (Photo by Adam Dunham)
Elation: A U.S. Navy sailor kisses a nurse in Times Square, New York City, amid the celebrations
of fascist capitulation in 1945. This photo by Lt. Victor Jorgenson of the U.S. military shows a
different perspective than the more famous photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt (Photo from the U.S.
National Archives, public domain)
Horror: A former slave displays the scars of decades of abuse as he enlists in the Union Army in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, during the U.S. Civil War in 1863 (Photo from the U.S. National
Archives, public domain)
Avoid distractions in the background

The last thing you want to deal with when you take a news photo is an unwanted
person in the background distracting the viewer from the main point of your photo.
Sometimes, spectators known as “photo bombers” intentionally intrude on the
photo. More often, spectators are doing something silly or stupid that may become
more memorable than the people you are photographing. At the wedding of British
Prince William, for example, a tender moment between the royal and his bride, Kate
Middleton, was marred by a young man in the audience who was picking his nose
at the moment the photograph was snapped. Try to avoid that kind of distraction
when you shoot or edit news photos.
Avoid protruding elements from subjects’ heads
A good photograph can be ruined when the person you are shooting is positioned in
front of a distracting object like a tree or a shrub or a flagpole. This is known as a
“merger” and is to be avoided at all costs. Protruding elements are very distracting
and make your news photograph all but useless.
This White House photo makes President Barack Obama look like a king wearing a crown. It
really is the chandelier in the White House, but the angle of the image makes it look like the U.S.
president is wearing it on his head (Frame grab from WhiteHouse.gov video)
Avoid near mergers

Not only should you avoid protruding elements, you should try to make sure that
such elements are not close to the focal point of your photo. “Near mergers” distract
the eye and almost always can be avoided with a little planning and a quick check
of your camera’s view finder.
This photo from the Tang Dynasty Forbidden City ruins in Xi’an, China, could have been
improved by moving the person away from the statue. In this picture, the two characters are
indistinguishable, and the result is confusing
Avoid border mergers

When you take your photo, don’t cut people in half or trim parts of their heads or
feet (or hands). Careful editing or better framing can help.
This potentially good photo fails the composition test because heads and other body parts are cut
off. Try again
Avoid crooked horizons

When taking a photo with a background, it is best for any horizon you show to be
horizontal. Crooked horizons throw a photo off-balance and confuse viewers’ eyes.
“Oceans don’t slope upwards,” writes Darren Rowse of Digital Photography
School. “‘Slightly’ off horizontal does nothing except make your photos viewers
feel dizzy or lean their heads when they view your shots.” Careful editing often can
fix this problem.
Before and after: The crooked lines were straightened out in the editing process (Photos by Rick
Dunham)
Avoid competing lines

Too many lines (or patterns) can be distracting. The visual chaos takes away from
the impact of your photo. Try to avoid competing lines in a single image.
Way too many lines here (Photo shared on Flickr)

Rules are made to be broken

Yes, there is a rule of thirds. And the odd versus even rule. And dozens more. But
in the end, you should do what works. “Just remember: for every rule we suggest,
somewhere out there is a great picture that proves you can disregard it and still
produce a fantastic image,” concludes Jeff Meyer of Digital Camera World.
As the great landscape photographer Ansel Adams once remarked, “There are no
rules for good photographs. There are only good photographs.”
Break the rule of thirds and border mergers, but come up with a fine photo (From Katie
Perkowski’s Facebook feed)
5.5 Photo Editing
You want to master photo editing as quickly as possible. A little practice will
improve your editing skills a lot. There are a wide range of free photo editing
programs, such as Flickr, Google, VSCO, Snapseed, and Instagram, many of which
are quite simple to use on smartphones. Almost every computer you get will have a
5.5 Photo Editing 149
built-in program, from Microsoft’s photo editor to Apple’s iPhoto. You can also
pay for advanced programs such as Adobe Photoshop.
Most programs have an automatic, one-step photo adjustment designed to
optimize your photo at the click of a mouse. But you will discover that individual
editing tools can make your photo the best that it can be. Among the most
important:
• Cropping, to edit out extraneous material and focus the viewer
• Straightening, to fix any off-balance elements in the shot
• Rotating, if you took the photo with your camera not in the right position
• Exposure, to adjust for light
• Contrast, to heighten the contrast in your photo
• Saturation, to deepen the colors in your photo
• Sharpness, to increase the level of focus
• Definition, to improve the detail
• Shadows, to adjust for light and shadows in the shot
• Tint, if your photo is too red or green
• Temperature, if your photo is too “hot” (yellows) or “cold” (blues)
• Horizontal or vertical perspective, to correct a photo’s distorted perspective
• Clarity, to enhance detail in contrast in your photo
• Highlights save, to help recover detail and push down some of the overexposed
highlights in your photo
• Vignette, to darken the corners of your photo without it looking too obvious
• Grain, to add some noise and imperfections to your photo
• Fade, to lighten the midtones and shadows of your photo without blowing out
the highlights
“I cannot tell you how often a good editing job made the difference between an
OK, acceptably professional job and something very unique and special,” fashion
photographer Benjamin Kanarek wrote on his blog.
Internationally renowned photographer Thomas Ingersoll notes that his appre-
ciation for editing deepened with experience. “As my photographic skills grew so
did my curiosity for better images,” he wrote on his blog. “The more I observed the
photographers I looked up to, the more I noticed the images they took were not
straight from the camera. Post processing plays a big role in today’s
photographic society,”
Here are a few examples of the value of photo editing:
Before and after: Democratic congressional leader Nancy Pelosi speaks to reporters at the White
House (Photos by Rick Dunham)
On the Bund in Shanghai: A small boy and a big lion (Photos by Rick Dunham)
Three versions of the same wedding photo. Which do you like best? (Photos by Rick Dunham)
Photo editing can change the editorial meaning of a photo. Donald Trump and
his third wife, Melanie, were photographed at their wedding with Bill and Hillary
Clinton. Because Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump ended up as rival presidential
candidates in 2016, this photo became a public curiosity. But its meaning can be
altered – not so subtly – through the editing process.
In the original version, Mr. and Mrs. Trump flank the former first couple. All are
smiling. In one edited version, it appears that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton
have their arms around each other, smiling. Their spouses are cropped out. In a third
version, Bill and Hillary Clinton are standing alone, smiling. It looks like thousands
of White House photos from the 1990s. The Trumps are cropped out. In the fourth
version, Bill Clinton and Melania Trump are standing together, with Bill holding
Melania’s hand. Their spouses are cropped out. It sends a completely different
message.
The only ethical option is to use the complete photo of the former and future first
families. What would you do?
>>> Check out the Trump wedding photo with the Clintons here: https://abcnews.go.
com/Politics/trump-money-drew-hillary-clinton-wedding/story?id=32936868
Another historical example is the four different versions of a famous scene

following the death of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. As the president’s body
passes in a somber parade, the first photo includes the martyred president’s siblings,
wife and children. A second version focuses on his widow, Jacqueline Bouvier
Kennedy. A third photo focuses on his two young children. A fourth photo,
showing the very young John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting his late father, became a news
photography classic.
Each editing choice is an editorial decision. But the choice results in vastly
different experiences for the viewers of the photos.
Good editing can make strong photos even stronger. But bad editing can ruin
good work. So edit with care.
>>> Examples of bad photo editing: http://photodoto.com/bad-edits/
>>> How to avoid common photo editing errors: http://www.thephotoargus.com/3-signs-
of-bad-photo-editing-and-how-to-avoid-the-common-pitfalls/
5.6 Best Practices: Ten Tips to Improve Your News

Photography from a Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Winner
Every year, the Pulitzer Prizes celebrate some of the world’s best journalism. Just
hours after the 2015 Pulitzer winners were announced, the Global Business
Journalism Program hosted a two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for photog-
raphy. Larry C. Price, a University of Texas graduate who won the Pulitzer while
working for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Philadelphia Inquirer, dazzled
Multimedia Reporting and Data Journalism students with tales from his latest
project, a multi-year investigation into the use of child labor in gold mining. His
work—entitled “Tarnished”—was published in eBook form by the Pulitzer Center
for Crisis Reporting.
>>> See best practices from the winners of the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News
Photography:
http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/216
>>> See best practices from winners of the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography:
http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/217
Here are ten tips culled from Larry Price’s lecture and the subsequent Q-and-A
period. They are not a definitive list of “ten top tips.” They are just a collection of
tips to improve your photographic skills.
The eBook “Tarnished” is available online from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting
1. Always remember that you’re a storyteller
Whatever publishing platform you’re on, and whatever visual medium you’re
using, journalism is always about one thing. “It’s all about the stories,” Larry
says. “Stories are as old as language. They’re everywhere. And journalism tells
them.”
2. Look for something new—or a new take on an old image
“Find something that hasn’t been done,” Larry says. “Or find a different spin on
it.”
He says colleagues have sometimes discouraged him from shooting certain
images, saying, “It’s been done.”
5.6 Best Practices: Ten Tips … 155
“My response is, ‘I haven’t done it,’” he says. “If somebody’s told the story, tell
it differently.”
His example: a recent trip to Paris and a photo shoot at the Eiffel Tower.
3. Get up early. Stay late
Larry doesn’t use artificial lighting. As a result, he is looking for the best
natural light available. “If you want your multimedia productions to look good,
shoot them early in the morning or a few minutes before sunset,” he says.
That means long days of work and short nights of sleep.
4. Get close
Every photographer has her or his own signature. For Larry, it’s close-ups. “I
love tight facial portraits,” he said. “Force yourself to get close.”
Another favorite subject for his close-ups: “Hands and feet. That’s what it’s all
about.”
5. Get personal
To make a subject comfortable with you—especially if you are going to shove

your camera into their face—is to develop a personal relationship with them. “I
spend a lot of time getting rapport established before I take out a camera,” Larry
says. “I develop that rapport so it doesn’t get uncomfortable to your subject.”
Of course, you can’t always do this when news is breaking, but it can help
improve your image if you have a bit of time to prepare.
6. Keep shooting
“When I’m in the field, it’s constant activity,” Larry says. “Digital allows you
to shoot, review, delete a lot.” Don’t let your guard down when you’re on duty:
You never know when the next great photo opportunity might come. “You
can’t ever relax,” he says. “It’s a never-ending cycle of feeling guilty.”
On his most recent trip to Burkina Faso, Larry returned with 37,000 frames. “I
always have a lot of failures,” he notes. “I shoot a lot of pictures.”
7. Minimize your vertical shots
Horizontal photographs work best on digital platforms, whether that’s a mobile

device or a computer. And if you’re taking video, make sure it’s horizontal.
“Never shoot vertical video,” warns Larry. “It’s useless. Half your space is
wasted.”
He rarely takes vertical stills, except for portraits. But he likes the square format
popularized by Instagram. “Square is a very good portrait format – a little more
artsy,” he says.
8. Stay natural
Great photographers don’t cheat with editing programs that alter reality. “I
don’t do a lot of Photoshop with my pictures,” he said. “I don’t exaggerate the
colors or anything.”
9. Take good notes
You need to have the spelling of names, correct ages and the locations of cities
or villages. Larry always uses two notebooks. He also records the GPS coor-
dinates of everything.
10. One old-fashioned photo composition rule
“Don’t ever put people in the middle of the frame,” he says.
>>> Check out Larry Price’s blog for more examples and tips: http://www.larrycprice.
com
5.7 Best Practices: A Multimedia Journalist Analyzes

Some Favorite Photos (From Alexis See Tho)
Sometimes there are obvious reasons why a certain photo stands out, and at other
times, it might not be as clear. Let’s look at a few examples.
When I lived in Nebraska, I was asked a couple of times to do family portraits
and high school graduation photos. I managed to find some of those old photos
buried in my old laptop!
1. Framing
Meet the Lennander kids. I used the beams on a bridge to frame this shot and add
geometric shapes to make it more interesting.
5.7 Best Practices: A Multimedia Journalist … 157
(Photo by Alexis See Tho)
2. Lines
The Lennanders’ friend, Valerie Wiebelhaus poses for this photo on an abandoned
railroad track. The railroad track acts as a leading line and also a diminishing point
in this frame.

3. Depth of Field
Hannah Koehler (front) forms the first layer, Valerie (left) forms the second layer,
and the trash cans and brick seating area forms the third layer in this photo. Depth
of field adds a sense of space to photos.
4. Wide-shot/Long-shot
Valerie’s older sister Natalie was graduating, so I went around parks and grass
fields to get some good photos for her graduation album. Here is a wide/long shot in
the middle of some low bushes. The chair helps to prop up the subject and make her
standout.
5. Mid-shot
This is a closer shot of Natalie. I cropped the top and bottom, making this photo
sized differently. The idea was to put her in the center of the frame. Although the
rule of thirds apply at most times, putting the subject in the middle might work too
sometimes.

6. Close-up
This time, the subject is closer and the framing from the chair adds something
interesting to the frame. The purple bushes in the background adds a nice texture
and hue.
7. Silhouette
This photo was taken on my photo-documentary trip to Kyrgyzstan. The men on the
wooden pole was fixing electric cables in a squatter settlement in Bishkek. The
setting sun in the background provides a good background for a silhouette.
8. Shadow and Lighting

I like the lighting in this photo that shone on only one side of the clarinet player. His
clear bright music notation is juxtaposed against the dark background.

9. Drama/“Moment”
This is Guljan, a teenager living in one of Bishkek’s squatter settlement. Guljan’s
eyes are right at the four intersections in the rule of thirds. My photo professor
picked out this out of the hundreds that we shot everyday. He said her expression
there captures a ‘moment’ or drama.
I wish I could end with another photo to round it up to 10, but I don’t have
another! Although there were some compositional rules that explained why some of
these photos work, photographers don’t stop in his or her track while out making
photographs, asking if there are lines, or if there is depth of field. Instead, pho-
tographers are told to ‘train’ their eyes to look out for good shots, and that comes
with practice, practice, practice!
Professional Advice
Composition is all you should worry about until you become a seasoned photographer.
―Joe Newman, American photographer and multimedia journalist
Joe Newman (Photo reproduced by permission)
Bibliography
Adams, E. photoquotations.com. http://photoquotations.com/a/5/Eddie+Adams.

Alpizar, L. Infamous examples of really bad edits you could do to your pictures. photodoto.com.
http://photodoto.com/bad-edits/.
Breaking News Photography from The Pulitzer Prizes: http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-
category/216.
Chinula, M. (2017, April 13). How humor can play a role in photojournalism. ijnet.org. https://
ijnet.org/en/blog/how-humor-can-play-role-photojournalism.
Eddie Adams workshop: https://30of30.eddieadamsworkshop.com/.
Feature Photography from The Pulitzer Prizes: http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/
217.
Harmer, J. (2013, October 28). Six advanced tips for photography composition. improvephotog-
raphy.com. https://improvephotography.com/11769/six-advanced-tips-photography-composi-
tion/.
Ingersoll, T. (2015, April 19). 10 editing techniques that changed my photography. fstoppers.com.
https://fstoppers.com/education/10-editing-techniques-changed-my-photography-68187.
Kanarek, B. (2011, April 15). Why editing pictures is as important as the photo shoot.
Benjaminkanarekblog.com. http://benjaminkanarekblog.com/2011/04/15/editing-pictures-
important-photo-shoot/.
Lahey, M. (2015, February 25). SHSU’s global center for journalism & democracy “Goes Local”
with our journalism teachers and Zoriah Miller & Dr. Marcus Funk. hfactorblog.com. http://
www.hfactorblog.com/2015/02/shsus-globalcenter-for-journalism.html.
Laurent, O. (2017, October 6). Lessons through the lens and life: 9 photographers share their best
memories of the Eddie Adams workshop. washingtonpost.com. https://www.washingtonpost.
com/news/in-sight/wp/2017/10/06/lessons-through-the-lens-and-life-9-photographers-share-
their-best-memories-of-the-eddie-adams-workshop/?tid=ss_fb&utm_term=.abbcc9cac66e.
Meyer, J. (2015, September 15). 10 rules of photo composition (and Why They Work),
graceauphotography.weebly.com. http://garceauphotography.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/5/0/
13501655/10_rules_of_photo_composition__and_why_they_work____digital_camera_-
world__1_.pdf.
Photofocus team. (2014, January 11). There are no rules for good photographs, there are only
good photographs. Ansel Adams. photofocus.com. https://photofocus.com/2014/01/11/there-
are-no-rules-for-good-photographs-there-are-only-good-photographs-ansel-adams/.
Peterson, D. 18 composition rules for photos that shine. digital-photo-secrets.com. http://www.
digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/3372/18-composition-rules-for-photos-that-shine/.
Rowse, D. Rule of third, digital-photography-school.com. https://digital-photography-school.com/
rule-of-thirds/.
Rowse, D. Getting horizons horizontal. digital-photography-school.com. https://digital-photo-
graphy-school.com/getting-horizons-horizontal/.
She Shoots Film Photography. (2014, October 13). Dorothea Lange-The camera is an instrument
that teaches people how to see without a camera. Sheshootsfilm.photography. https://
sheshootsfilm.photography/articles/dorothea-lange.
Shaw, G. B. (2015, July 4). A photographer is like a cod, which produces a million eggs in order
that one may…. artofquotation.wordpress.com. https://artofquotation.wordpress.com/2015/07/
04/a-photographer-is-like-a-cod-which-produces-a-million-eggs-in-order-that-one-may/.
Vos, L. (2016, February 8). How to write better content for social media. squarespace.com. http://
static1.squarespace.com/static/56dee43ee321400514f98522/t/57581912d51cd4ccdac77417/
1465391380236/5+How+to+Write+Better+Content+for+Social+…trategy+and+Content
+Marketing+Strategy.pdf.
Chapter 6
The Photo Gallery
6.1 A Clear Theme
A photo gallery is more than just a collection of photos.

The key to creating a photo gallery is to assemble a group of compelling pho-
tographs. But a photo gallery is more than a collection of good pictures. To create a
compelling photo gallery, you must first come up with a clear theme. You should
ask yourself, “What is the common thread that runs through my photos?” Without a
clear theme, a photo gallery cannot be truly effective.
Once you have settled on a theme, you should come up with a name or title for
your photo gallery. The photo gallery title usually appears just above or below the
gallery on your digital site. Sometimes, it is superimposed over the first image.
A photo gallery is visual, but you need at least a little text, starting with the
headline. Unless the photos themselves tell the story, you will want to write some
lead-in text to introduce the gallery. If you think you need to set up your gallery
with a text introduction, keep it brief, one to three sentences. The photos are the
stars of your post. Don’t get bogged down in description.
Now you’re ready to get started. Carefully select your photos. They must all be
high quality. It is important that photos be consistently good. Make sure you have
cropped and edited the photos to improve their composition and maximize their
quality. Don’t include any mediocre images. If a reader sees a single poor quality,
boring or inconsequential photo, they may click away from your photo gallery.
Try to start with a particularly attractive or dramatic photo and make sure to end
on a high note with another artful picture. Like a good feature story, a good photo
gallery must have a dramatic arc of storytelling. You want an eye-catching “lead”
photograph and a memorable “kicker” image, just like a text story.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_6
166 6 The Photo Gallery
Joe Newman, a veteran photojournalist, wants his photo galleries to include

elements including a lead image, a portrait, a photo with details, an action shot and
an overall summation of the theme. The first image, he believes, must be excep-
tional. “You want your strongest image to be ‘the lead,’” he says. “I want to have an
image that tells a story.”
Warning: Today’s technology allows you to alter photos with all sorts of tints,
screens and other special effects. While it may make your photos more attractive,
please resist the urge. Do not alter photographic reality with artsy special effects. It
is not journalism. It alters reality.
6.2 Types of Photo Galleries
There are several ways to present photo galleries to your audience. You can create a
click-through gallery when the reader clicks on an arrow on your digital screen to
navigate from one picture to the next. Another form of photo gallery, popularized
by the digital site Buzzfeed.com, consists of a cascading vertical series of pho-
tographs. Photographs appear on the screen beneath each other, separated by
captions or other text. An example is Buzzfeed’s “25 Biggest Bromance Moments
Between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin,” which illustrates the bromance (or
brotherly romance) between the then-U.S. president and Russia’s leader. The
gallery contained clever captions such as “When they bro hugged so hard it sur-
prised Laura” and “When Putin kissed the First Lady … a few times.”
>>> Here’s the link to the Buzzfeed photo gallery: https://www.buzzfeed.com/benny-
johnson/the-26-biggest-bromance-moments-between-george-w-bush-and-vl?utm_term=.
chwRYDExW#.ceO8wKevk
6.2 Types of Photo Galleries 167
A cascading vertical gallery: The U.S. Library of Congress displays photographs for Women’s
History Month (Source Library of Congress, public domain)
Another type of photo gallery is a geometric pattern that appears on a website or

mobile device. A geometric pattern gallery allows you to juxtapose images with a
single theme in an easy-to-view format. This often works well with close-up images
or contrasting colors. For photo galleries designed to be viewed on a mobile device,
a vertical geometric pattern is an attractive option.
A geometric pattern photo gallery by Global Business Journalism student Graham Dickie
6.2 Types of Photo Galleries 169
For mobile devices, most journalists use the click-through presentation, but sites
geared to younger audiences usually opt for the vertical-scrolling or geometric
vertical options.
Turning from style to substance, photo galleries can be divided into two types of
journalistic storytelling: One driven by the images and the other driven by text. In
the first type, the star of the photo gallery is a person or a subject. Your captions
would be short, sometimes several words, usually no more than one sentence. The
text does not tell the story, the photographs do.
As the presidency of Barack Obama was coming to an end in January 2017, the
Huffington Post created a photo gallery of memorable images of the Obama years. It
called its photo gallery “Thanks, Obama.” The images—powerful, attractive to the
eye, and consistently engaging—provided a fine postscript to a historic presidency.
Photo Gallery, Type One: Driven by its images. The author described products on sale at a Chinese
Walmart that are not available in the United States (Source RickDunhamBlog.com)
>>> View the photo gallery of uniquely Chinese delicacies on sale at a Beijing Walmart.
https://rickdunhamblog.com/2013/10/02/my-local-beijing-walmart-isnt-like-any-youve-
ever-visited-in-the-usa/
>>> View the Huffington Post photo gallery of the Obama presidency: http://www.
huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-paintings-rob-pruitt_us_5852be5be4b0732b82ff1e33?sli-
deshow=true#gallery/58248a67e4b0aac62489563e/0
The second type of photo gallery is driven by text. Each photograph would
illustrate the text bloc connected to it. The text drives this type of storytelling.
Indeed, the gallery could be a stand-alone story without the photographs. But the
photographs add a multimedia element and, if they are good, also add significant
journalistic and artistic value.
A typical example of a text-driven photo gallery is Kiplinger.com’s slide show
called “Microsoft’s 15 Biggest Flops of All Time.” Each slide contains a photo of
the problem-plagued product, accompanied by a text explanation of what went
wrong. The list included such Microsoft products as Bing, Bob, Groove Music,
internet Explorer 6, Windows Phone and Zune. The photographs are not the focus
of the storytelling. The text is what creates the value for news consumers.
>>> View Kiplinger’s slide show: https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/investing/T057-
S001-microsoft-s-15-biggest-flops-of-all-time/index.html
So why do some people use the phrase “photo gallery” and others use the term
“slide show”? The two terms are similar but are not synonymous. Slide shows are a
collection of photographs shown one at a time. There is usually an arrow on the left
and right side of the slide show to allow viewers to click from beginning to end.
There often are thumbnail images of the slide show below it.
Photo galleries can be slide shows, but they also can be cascading vertical
photographs or displayed in geometric patterns. Photo galleries always consist of
photographs, but slide shows also can include graphics or video slides.
6.3 How to Craft an Effective Photo Gallery
Edahn Small, founder of Visuali.se, a presentation design company, has come up

with some invaluable advice for creating user-friendly photo galleries. Here are
some of his top tips from his blog post “Ten Tips for Making Beautiful Slideshow
Presentations”:
• “Know your goal: Be clear about the goal of your presentation before you begin
composing it.”
• “Plan it out. Outline your main points. Sequence your slides effectively.”
• “Make sure your presentation follows a logical or chronological sequence.”
• “Don’t bore them! Be focused, but not too dull or repetitive.”
• “Show restraint. Resist the urge to cram everything you know abut your topic
into your show.”
• “Let the images tell the story.”
• “Don’t forget to give credit when required.”
>>> Here’s Edahn Small’s entire slide show: http://www.slideshare.net/edahn/10-tips-for-
making-beautiful-slideshow-presentations-9210564
As you start to create your own photo gallery, there’s an obvious question: How
many photos? The answer is not so obvious. There is no rule telling you the optimal
number of photographs in a photo gallery. Your author generally prefers about 10.
You don’t want to have so many photos of a similar nature that viewers get bored.
However, if you have a gallery on a topic that lends itself to many photos (such as a
breaking news event, big social event, sporting event, a celebrity profile), it is fine to
use as many excellent photos as you have. Twenty, 30, 40 can be OK, assuming the
news story is sufficiently important and the photographs are sufficiently compelling.
6.3 How to Craft an Effective Photo Gallery 171
Time is also of the essence if you are in the breaking news business. That can
change the size of your photo gallery. If news is breaking, it is acceptable to publish
a photo gallery with a handful of photos and add more later. That’s what Texas on
the Potomac did when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark rulings on gay
rights in 2013. Your author’s website published a quick slide show with a few
images right away and then supplemented it with additional photos of the emotional
scene outside the court building in Washington, D.C.
As you produce your gallery, you need to think about text elements, too. You
will want to use captions on most photos. Unless a photo is self-explanatory, you
will probably want to add at least a few words of description. Captions can add
detail to inform your audience or humor to amuse them.
As you create your gallery, you should be aware of the need to credit the person
who took the photos. You do not need to include individual photo credits if there is
a single photographer and you include a byline at the beginning of the gallery.
(“Photographs by Rick Dunham” or “Photo gallery by Rick Dunham.”) If the
images are taken by more than one photographer, you should identify the source of
each picture in the caption.
Before you publish a photo gallery, you must consider legal issues such as
intellectual property rights. You cannot simple pull an image off the internet or a
social media app and use it in your photo gallery. If you are creating a photo gallery
for a public digital site, you must make sure that you are legally entitled to use
images you have not taken yourself. You must make sure that your publication has
the legal right to post the photos or the photos are in the public domain and
available for free use. There are many free “stock photos” or other images in the
public domain. Just do a bit of web research and you can find hundreds of options.
>>> These are some of the best sites to find free photos for your galleries:
• http://flickr.com/creativecommons
• http://www.sxc.hu
• http://www.morguefile.com
• http://www.everystockphoto.com
>>> Here is an article on 31 free sites containing public-domain photographs. As the
headline notes, proceed with care: https://99designs.com.au/blog/resources/public-
domain-image-resources/
It is generally safer to use images from official government or university sites, or

social media platforms—with proper attribution. The same is true of “frame grabs”
from television—still images from the original video—with attribution to the TV
channel or network. Official government portraits of individuals are usually
acceptable to use. But remember that some images of government or university
websites are copyrighted photographs taken by professionals. If there is such a
credit on the website, do not use it.
Don’t take any chances. Here’s a good rule: When in doubt, leave it out.
6.4 Creating a Photo Gallery on Tumblr
Because Tumblr is a free site and is easy to use, we’ll use it here to create a simple
photo gallery.
Step 1: Go to your Tumblr posts page. Click on the photo icon.
Step 2: Click on the “Upload a photo” button.
Step 3: You will see a list of upload choices from your computer or digital
device. Pick the photo you’d like to use. Click to upload the photo.
Step 4: Click on “add another photo.”
Step 5: You’ll have a choice of layouts for your photo gallery. Take your choice
and pick another photo.
Step 6: Continue adding as many photos as you’d like—until you’re finished.
6.4 Creating a Photo Gallery on Tumblr 173
Step 7: Add a caption to any or all of the photographs, if you would like.
Step 8: Click on “create post.”
Step 9: You have published your photo gallery.

Congratulations! Now it’s time to practice your photo gallery skills.
6.5 Tips for Telling Better Stories Through Photo

Galleries
By Yuki Nakajima
It is a visual reporter of facts. The public places trust in its reporters to tell the truth. The
same trust is extended to photojournalists as visual reporters. This responsibility is para-
mount to a photojournalist. At all times, we have many thousands of people seeing through
our eyes and expecting to see the truth. Most people immediately understand an image.
—Mark M. Hancock, a professional photojournalist
• Plan ahead
What your mind does not know, your eyes can’t see.
—Kaushik Ghosh, documentary photographer
In addition to having a clear theme, you also need to plan in advance to construct
the most suitable photos for your stories, themes, and the emotions you want to
express. Planning in advance will provide you with the narrative structure you want,
making it more convenient for you to write your story and shorten the time needed
to produce these photos. Your plan needs to include the selection of theme, research
on the themes, re-confirmation of your theme, and photography planning.
• Take photos like a film
Just like a film, your visual narrative should have a lead or opening shot, establishing shot,
interactive and sequential shots, and a conclusion or closing shot.
—Kaushik Ghosh, the documentary photographer
Because you want to use the photo gallery to illustrate a story, the story and
photos should have a particular order. Make sure the first photo will instantly draw
readers into the story. Your first picture should be eye-catching and should arouse
curiosity.
• Decide on the color scheme
After you finish taking the photos, post-processing is required. You should decide
which color schemes you want to use on your photos. Take monochrome or color
photos as examples. Sometimes using monochrome can stimulate people’s nos-
talgic emotions and better reflect the original meaning of the photo, while color
ones maintain the original color of the photo, which are more realistic to readers.
Different colors represent different meanings; clever use of colors can allow you to
change the mood of the photos to tell your story better.
6.5 Tips for Telling Better Stories Through Photo Galleries 175
• Take a series of photographs

It is important to remember that a single image is only “half the truth,” because it
never tells you the fundamentals of a story, which is “why.”
Sometimes, it is extremely hard to tell the full story by just using one photo,
because people cannot understand the background or what exactly happened.
A series of photos can emphasize more than one idea, to allow your theme to be
more fully expressed and your story better developed. Therefore, if the time and
situation allows, take a series of photographs.
• Size and scale consistently
Each photo in the same photo gallery should be of the same size, so that it will be
more pleasing to the reader’s eyes.
• Cut unnecessary elements

In order to create a more successful photo gallery, try to highlight the theme by
removing some unnecessary elements in your photo gallery. For example, having
too many navigation buttons or arrows on the picture serves as a distraction than
help. You do not need to provide too many buttons with unnecessary functions.
You just need to retain the most basic arrow buttons for readers to switch between
the images.
• Build emotional connections

An interaction exists between the author and the readers. Emotions are a very good
way for readers to connect with their feelings. For example, the New York Times
found that anger, fear and anxiety are the top emotions that let readers interact with
the authors. Extreme photos that can evoke strong emotions can be more attractive
to people.
• Don’t be afraid of technical imperfections

Sometimes, your photos will contain some technical flaws, such as missing focal
points or an underexposed shot. Do not be afraid of having some imperfections in
your photography, as the mistakes may sometimes help to make your story more
realistic to readers.
• Use only high quality images

Your photos don’t all have to be perfect, but the reader expects the photo gallery to
bring out high-quality visuals. Pictures that are not clear will affect the reader’s
interest and mood.
• Trust your instincts

Sometimes, your intuition is very sharp. If you have already had a clear theme and
content, your intuition will sometimes guide you to capture the pictures which you
want most in the vast land of information.
>>> Yuki Nakajima’s suggestions for additional reading:
>>> http://digital-photography-school.com/telling-stories-with-photos/
>>> http://www.shutterstock.com/blog/3-clever-ways-tell-brand-story-photography
>>> https://www.picmonkey.com/blog/6-visual-storytelling-tips
>>> https://designshack.net/articles/layouts/photo-gallery-tips/
>>> http://petapixel.com/2016/06/27/6-tips-telling-stories-photos/
Professional Advice
Show restraint. If you try to tell them everything, they won’t remember anything.
—Edahn Small, Creative Director of Hypothesis (hypothesisgroup.com) and the founder of
the presentation design firm Visuali.se.
Bibliography
Cousins, C. (2016, August 31). 7 tips for better responsive photo galleries. designshack.net.
https://designshack.net/articles/layouts/photo-gallery-tips/.
Creative Commons: http://flickr.com/creativecommons.
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Dunham, R. (2013, October 2). My local Beijing Walmart isn’t like any you’ve ever visited in the
USA. rickdunhamblog.com. https://rickdunhamblog.com/2013/10/02/my-local-beijing-wal-
mart-isnt-like-any-youve-ever-visited-in-the-usa/.
Everystockphoto: http://www.everystockphoto.com.
Frank, P. (2016, December 16). Nearly 3,000 paintings of president Obama are on view together
in NYC. huffingtonpost.com. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-paintings-rob-pruit-
t_us_5852be5be4b0732b82ff1e33?slideshow=true#gallery/58248a67e4b0aac62489563e/0.
Freeimages: http://www.sxc.hu.
Hopper, D. (2016, June 27). 6 tips for telling stories with your photos. petapixel.com. http://
petapixel.com/2016/06/27/6-tips-telling-stories-photos/.
Johnson, B. (2014, March 25). The 25 biggest bromance moments between George W. Bush and
Vladimir Putin. buzzfeed.com. https://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-26-biggest-bro-
mance-moments-between-george-w-bush-and-vl?utm_term=.chwRYDExW#.ceO8wKevk.
Moon, B. (2018, March 27). Microsoft’s 15 biggest flops. kiplinger.com. https://www.kiplinger.
com/slideshow/investing/T057-S001-microsoft-s-15-biggest-flops-of-all-time/index.html.
Morguefile: http://www.morguefile.com.
Rowse, D. Telling stories with photos. digital-photography-school.com. http://digital-photogra-
phy-school.com/telling-stories-with-photos/.
Small, E. (2011, September 11). 10 tips for making beautiful slideshow presentation. slideshare.
net. http://www.slideshare.net/edahn/10-tips-for-making-beautiful-slideshow-presentations-
9210564.
Wegert, T. (2016, August 2). 3 clever ways to tell your brand story with photography.
shutterstock.com. http://www.shutterstock.com/blog/3-clever-ways-tell-brand-story-photogra-
phy.
Young, B. (2015, June 30). Spinning yarns: 6 ways to get your photos to tell the story.
picmonkey.com. https://www.picmonkey.com/blog/6-visual-storytelling-tips.
Chapter 7
Introduction to Graphics
This ingenious graphic by 2015 Global Business Journalism Program graduate Anastasiya
Poshinova brings the vegetarian lifestyle to life by using real vegetables in place of pie charts and
bar charts
7.1 Why Graphics Matter
Numbers are boring. It’s boring to have too many numbers in stories. All too often,
stories on economic and corporate topics frequently rely on too many numbers and
too little explanation.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_7
180 7 Introduction to Graphics
One solution recommended by this author is clear, crisp, concise storytelling.

Another solution that will almost certainly make your story more interesting is a
good graphic.
Note the italicized adjective “good.” Good graphics enhance your storytelling in
many ways. They enlighten and entertain the readers. But not every informational
graphic is good journalism. As you continue to read this chapter, you will discover
why (or why not).
Today’s journalism technology is changing rapidly, and some news outlets have
become enamored with their new toys. That’s fine, as long as we remember one
thing: “content first,” as Daiyi Fukushima, president of Oriental Times, told a global
media summit in Macao in 2016.
“An information graphic (whether it is a chart, a map, a diagram, or an
explanatory illustration) should be thought of as a cognitive tool that facilitates
understanding,” explains Alberto Cairo, a professor at the University of Miami and
one of the leading graphic artists in modern journalism. Some journalists make the
mistake of letting their artistic design dictate the content of the graphic. Cairo says
that aesthetic concerns, while vitally important, “should arise after (or during, in
some cases) processing, structuring, and organizing your information correctly, not
before. The priority for information designers should be to extract meaning from
data and information, or to create tools that viewers can manipulate to build
meaning by themselves.”
>>> Read “‘The Best Advice I Ever Got’ with Alberto Cairo”: http://www.peachpit.com/
articles/article.aspx?p=1928560
Graphics are an important part of multimedia journalism because they can help
us explain our stories. But another reason they have become a staple in global
journalism is that they attract eyeballs. “According to IBM, an infographic is 30
times more likely to be read than a purely textual article,” graphics specialist Marisa
Krystian wrote on the Infogram Blog in 2017. “This is due to the fact that people
pay more attention to content with visuals.”
>>> Read Marisa Krystian’s post, “10 most common types of infographics”: https://
infogram.com/blog/12-types-of-infographics
Like photography, graphic images are important because they are processed by
the mind differently than text, and often are seared into human memory. “It’s a way
of telling a story that people understand, [even though] they don’t know why,” Liu
Xiangcheng, former executive deputy president of News Corp. said at the 2016
Macao media summit. “Pictures and graphics are our common memories. Pictures
in the brain can’t be destroyed.”
7.1 Why Graphics Matter 181
Bloomberg News is a journalism leader in informational graphics. Here is a chart comparing the
Russian stock market with those of other G-20 nations (Source Bloomberg News, reprinted by
permission)
Storytellers have known that since Shakespeare’s days, and examples of data
visualizations and timelines in Europe date back to the early 1600s. Modern
journalism has been much slower to adapt. USA Today revolutionized journalism
storytelling more than three decades ago with the introduction of multiple-color
graphics. After the debut of the innovative new newspaper on Sept. 15, 1982, news
organizations around the world staffed up with young experts skilled at producing a
strange new kind of art—the computer graphic, a graphic created on a computer
and not on an old-fashioned artist’s drafting table.
The importance of graphics in journalism storytelling has only increased with the
rise of social media. “It’s a storytelling aid, but there’s a business reason,” says
Brian Bremner, a senior editor at Bloomberg News in Tokyo. “People on Facebook,
Twitter and mobile love to share charts. If you are a business reporter, you have to
be thinking: How do I visually tell stories?”
Well, if graphics are that important and that popular, we should probably learn
more about them, right? But let’s start with a simple question: What is a graphic?
A graphic is an art element used to tell a story. It is an effective tool to describe
information that is hard to visualize with reality-reflecting visual tools such as video or
photography. “Graphics can go where cameras can’t—inside the human body or mil-
lions of miles into outer space,” explains Mike Chinoy, a former CNN correspondent.
Sometimes, it’s easier to tell a story with graphics than with words alone. In this full-page
illustration, Pamela Tobey summarizes changes in the Chinese economy in the year 2016 (Graphic
by Pamela Tobey. Reprinted by permission of Beijing Review.)
7.1 Why Graphics Matter 183
Graphics are a valuable element to complement traditional storytelling tech-

niques such as words or video. They help you synthesize large amounts of infor-
mation, or to simplify complex subject matter. Used effectively, graphics not only
complement the text, they empower it. “The graphic does the heavy lifting, pulling
the burden of numbers off the text,” graphic artist Laura Stanton and multimedia
journalist David LaGesse wrote in their 2018 book, “Superpowers of Visual
Storytelling.” “It frees words to paint the bigger picture.”
If you are working with a reporting team on the graphic, it is important to remain
in touch with them at every step along the way to make sure the graphic is clear,
accurate and in context. Your goal is to create functional art—a piece of art with the
added function of explanation. As Alberto Cairo says, “A good infographic should
be functional as a hammer, multilayered as an onion, and beautiful and true as an
equation (or as a scientific theory). An information graphic must be precise,
accurate, efficient, and deep before the designer can apply his or her own visual
style or typographical and color preferences to the display.”
>>> Any serious student of graphics should regularly read Alberto Cairo’s blog, called
TheFunctionalArt.com: http://www.thefunctionalart.com
7.2 Quick Tips to Produce Professional News Graphic
By Pamela Tobey, visuals director, Beijing Review, former Washington Post

graphic artist
• Keep it simple
• Have a main point you want to communicate with your audience
• Be aware if there are other points you need to communicate
• Don’t overcomplicate the visuals
• Streamline your visual storytelling
• Don’t use too many words
• Don’t use distracting images or art elements.
>>> For more advice, check out Infogram’s 10-step guide to creating infographics:
https://infogram.com/blog/make-infographic-10-step-guide/
7.3 Creating a Graphic in 15 (Not Always Easy) Steps
What are the goals of a good graphic? Graphics must convey information clearly
and directly. They should give readers additional information that is not available in
the text. They can be used to simply and visualize complex information. They can
help you tell a story in a different (or better) way. They can make an important point
in your story, complement other multimedia elements, or they can tell the entire
story visually, without a text or video story.
“Because our brains are wired for pictures, infographics are understood differ-
ently than text alone,” Sajeev Kumar, visual editor at Kerala Kaumudi in Bangalore,
India, has written. “Often, a visual promotes a unique way of thinking about
information because we’re able to perceive new relationships, improve our analysis
and form different interpretations.”
Here is a 15-step process that should guide your creating of news graphics.
1. Define the topic of your graphic as clearly as possible. The more focused you
are on your mission, the easier it will be to find the data or information needed
to visualize it. You need to decide early in the process what story you will tell
in the graphic.
2. Know your audience. How deep is their understanding of the subject matter you
are visualizing? This will help you decide how much background information
you need. Remember: With graphics, the less you need to explain with words,
the greater the impact of the visuals.
3. Decide if the graphic is underscoring a point in a bigger story or if it is telling
the entire story. If you are illustrating a larger point, keep it simple. If you are
telling a complete story, figure out ways to streamline your narrative.
4. Choose between data visualization and idea visualization (Or, on rare occa-
sions, choose both.). Decide if your graphic is a visualization of data that you
will collect or if it is a visual way to simplify a story. Sometimes, data can be
part of the process. But usually your graphics are one or the other.
5. Choose the type of visualization that makes your point in the clearest, simplest,
most powerful way. You have many choices, from line charts to bar charts,
maps to Word Clouds (Read about them later in this chapter.). Sometimes, you
will want to create several rough visualizations using different types of
graphics. Choose the one that tells the story best. With experience, you will
instinctively know which types of graphics best fit different data sets.
6. Collect your data. You source must be credible. The data must be accurate and
reliable. You need to make sure the data has been cleaned and is internally
consistent. The data should be timely (not too old). Ask yourself, “Is there any
more recent data that would be more relevant to my readers? Make sure you
don’t mix “apples” and “oranges” by combining data sets from different sources
in the same graphic (For more information on data, see Chap. 17, “Introduction
to Data Journalism.”).
7. Visualize the data. Your goal is to make it attractive as possible without making
it too complicated. If you have to choose between the data being the star of the
visualization or the art, choose the data. Focus on the data. Remove clutter.
Your most important mission is to create a graphic that can be understood
easily. The fonts should be consistent (within a single font “family” of type-
faces). They should be large enough to read, but not so big that they overwhelm
the visualization. Don’t ever mix serif (such as Times New Roman) and sans
serif fonts (such as Arial). The text must contrast with the art so that both
elements can be clearly understood. Pay attention to colors. Depending on the
point you want to make, use contrasting colors (to show contrasts) or shades of
a single color (to show gradations). Sometimes, colors carry meanings, and
respect those meanings (In the U.S., Democrats are often visualized using blue
and Republicans using red, for example.). If you use too many colors or mix
7.3 Creating a Graphic in 15 (Not Always Easy) Steps 185
colors randomly, you will confuse the reader. You can easily search the internet
for color palettes of complementary colors.
8. Write a good headline. This is a vital step in the process. You are creating a news
graphic. This is not a book illustration or an academic paper’s table. Your
headline should make people want to read the graphic. It also should make them
want to share it on social media. The headlines should engage the reader and
should not just state the topic of the graphic (“The Stock Market”), it should tell
a story (“Trump Trails Recent Presidents in Stock Market Performance”). You
might include a subhead that explains the data set you are visualizing (“S&P 500
average during the first 15 months of the past five U.S. presidents”). Don’t
oversimplify (“S&P 500”). You may want to include a sentence or two of text as
an introduction to the graphic, if you are using the graphic as an integral sto-
rytelling element rather than simply as an accompaniment to a print story.
9. Write a source line. You must include the source of your data. It should be as
short as possible. (Source: Standard & Poor’s data). “People want to know that
you are using good data,” notes Pamela Tobey.
10. Explain yourself, if necessary. Occasionally, you might need to include a note
explaining the methodology behind the data. For example, if you are visualizing
survey results, you might want to include the dates of the survey, the number of
people sampled, and the margin of error. You may also want to include a “key”—a
box explaining what the different colors or figures in the graphic represent. The
more elements you have in your graphic, the more important it is to clearly state, in
a key or in the main body of the graphic, what you are describing. If you find your
graphic getting too complicated, go back to the drawing board. Think simplicity.
11. Make sure your headlines, source lines and keys look good in the graphic. Most
headlines are centered, but it depends on the overall design of the graphic.
Sometimes, it might look better on the left top of the graphic (“flush left”) or
integrated into the graphic’s design. The source line usually goes at the bottom
left of the graphic. Make sure that any methodological information is large
enough for someone to read.
12. Get feedback. Just like writing a story, you should review the graphic yourself
before you send it to your boss. You are your own best editor. Have you
visualized your central point? Is there too much information? Is there extra-
neous or distracting information? Are the fonts consistent? Are the colors
helpful in telling the story? Is the design clean and clear? If you are working
with a reporter on the project, make sure to run the graphic by them to make
sure there are no factual errors or confusing elements. If you have time, get a
second opinion from a colleague, friend or family member.
13. Submit the graphic to your boss (or professor). You’re not done yet.
14. Make any necessary changes. The editing process should be a dialogue, so feel
free to respond to any criticisms or suggestions. The goal is to improve the
visual impact of your work.
15. Publish the graphic. Use your social media networks to share your work and to
direct friends and followers to the website.
There are dozens of forms of graphics, grouped into two broad categories. Static
graphics are images that can be viewed but not interacted with. Interactive graphics
allow the reader to gain additional insight by interacting with the artwork by using a
mouse or a fingertip.
“Visuals can add depth to the story, or add an angle to complement the story,”
says Pamela Tobey, who worked for 30 years as a graphic artist at the Washington
Post before becoming the visuals director at Beijing Review. “Interactives can lead
the viewer through the story, making it feel as if the viewer were seeing it or
experiencing it. And sometimes the interactive can be the story.”
>>> Take a look at a wide range of graphic tools at OneLineChartTool.com: https://
www.onlinecharttool.com
7.4 Bar Charts
Charts are the most common form of graphic used in news reports, and the easiest
to produce. To start with a basic definition, a chart is a graphical representation of
data using any of a number of forms such as geometric bars, cones, cylinders,
pyramids, lines, slices, pieces or symbols.
A simple horizontal bar chart (Graphic by Pamela Tobey)

7.4 Bar Charts 187
Bar charts are popular because they are often easy to understand and convenient
to produce. With dozens of free templates available online, any journalist can create
a fairly good bar chart without any additional training.
A bar chart usually uses rectangles as the bars. But you can use cylinders or
hexagons or other geometric patterns shaped into a bar. You have vertical bar charts
and horizontal bar charts, depending on which is more attractive and explains your
data the most clearly. You can create 2-D or 3-D bar charts: two-dimensional or
three-dimensional representations of your data.
Bar charts compare one thing to others, or compare something at one point in
time to other points in time. With “stacked” bar charts, you can compare multiple
variables over time by “stacking” one on top of others.
This vertical bar chart describes the day of the week preferred by American prosecutor Robert
Mueller for filing charges in his investigation of alleged Russian election interference (Graphic by
Rick Dunham)
But all bar charts are not the same. You have stacked bar charts to combine
multiple variables in single bars. Again, these bar charts can be either horizontal or
vertical. For example, a stacked bar chart is a good way to compare newspaper
advertising revenue over time. Your first bar is print advertising revenue, with
digital advertising revenue stacked on top of it. As the chart extends over time, you
can see a steep decline in print advertising, while there is an increase in digital
advertising. But the combined bar (the stacked combination of print and digital
advertising) shows a continuing decline in overall advertising revenue, adding value
to your simple-to-follow graphic.
This stacked bar chart shows the number of Nobel Prizes won by citizens of various continents. It
“stacks” countries from each continent onto five different bars (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
7.4 Bar Charts 189
You can have clustered (or grouped) bar charts, where you compare multiple
variables and multiple data points. That could be comparing two variables over
time. Or it could be comparing two variables over different countries, or provinces,
or political parties, or companies, or individuals.
A horizontal clustered (or grouped) bar chart (Graphic by Pamela Tobey)

A vertical clustered bar chart (Graphic by Pamela Tobey)
A “100%” bar chart compares how different factors make up the entirety of the
subject you are visualizing. This type of chart is very good at showing pieces of a
finite whole. These bars can represent sets of factors over time, or they can represent
multiple factors at a single time. For example, you can chart the portion of your
country’s economy that is composed of manufacturing, agriculture and services—
over the past half-century or just this past year. The “100%” chart is an effective
way to visualize public opinion, or other survey research where your universe
involves percentages and not numbers.
7.4 Bar Charts 191
A 100% chart (Graphic by Pamela Tobey)
The bars don’t have to be rectangles. Some bar charts use cylinders or pyramids
or polygons or cones. They can be horizontal or vertical. They can be
two-dimensional (2-D) or three-dimensional (3-D). They can have white back-
grounds, black backgrounds, colors or shades of colors. Choose the most attractive
option for the data you’re seeking to visualize. But remember that simplicity is
generally the best way to go, so your data can be the star of the graphic.
A 2-D “cone” bar chart shows the massive increase in university student debt in the United States
(Graphic by Lauren Kyger)
7.4 Bar Charts 193
A 3-D cylinder chart compares the frequency of Americans’ use of the five most popular social
media platforms (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
Every bar chart contains an “x-axis” (or horizontal axis), running from left to
right, and a “y-axis” (or vertical access), running from bottom to top. In each chart,
there is an “origin” point, where the x- and y-axes are both zero.
Using zero as the origin point on your graphics is important. If you use a point
other than zero as the origin point, it can skew your results and exaggerate the
changes that have occurred over time or the differences between one variable and
another.
Remember to begin your x- and y-axis at the origin (zero). Otherwise, your data visualization will
not be designed accurately (Illustration by Pamela Tobey)
In every bar chart, there is one decision that must be made: Horizontal or
vertical. Here are some tips on how to choose which one to use:
• If you are creating a horizontal bar chart, the x-axis usually represents change
over time, while the y-axis is variables such as people or countries or
companies.
• If you are creating a vertical bar chart, the y-axis is where you plot the different
elements you are comparing and the y-axis is where you plot changes over time.
• If you are visualizing changes over time, you will almost always want to use a
horizontal bar chart.
• If the data you are visualizing requires a long description (such as
“college-educated voters”), you will want to use a vertical bar chart.
7.4 Bar Charts 195
The reason is that the y-axis gives you more room to write descriptions. If you
have descriptions on the x-axis, it spreads out your data points too far. And if you
try to visualize these descriptions vertically—for example:
G
D
P
P
E
R
C
A
P
I
T
A
This approach is unwieldy, hard to follow, and ugly. Better to use a vertical bar
chart and visualize it this way:
GDP PER CAPITA
7.5 The Symbol Chart
The symbol chart is similar to the bar chart, but the geometric shapes of the bar
chart are replaced by symbols, creating an artistic representation of quantity.
Symbols can humanize your graphic and underscore your point with a symbol that
is central to the story’s narrative. Drawings of people humanize numbers, whether
you are visualizing public opinion or humans killed by gun violence. Economic
symbols can include stacks of currencies such as $, £, or ¥, bags of money, boxes of
imports or exports, tickets for movie box office receipts, automobiles, airplanes or
other products.
This symbol chart uses packing boxes to symbolize the volume of trade between the U.S. and
China. By using a single box to represent the first year in the comparison, the artist helps the reader
understand how the significant increase over the first 15 years of China’s membership in the World
Trade Organization (Graphic by Pamela Tobey. Reprinted by permission of Beijing Review.)
There are two ways to use symbols as part of the chart. You can have each
symbol be the same size, with equal to one unit of measure. Or you can vary the
size of the symbols to represent the difference in size between the variables. It is
important to keep these sizes proportional so you accurately depict the differences
you are charting.
7.6 The Line Chart 197
The symbol chart uses tiny human forms to show where master’s degree graduates of the Tsinghua
University journalism program found jobs. By using symbols instead of bars, the artist humanized
the statistics (Graphic by Wang Jing, Global Business Journalism Program)
7.6 The Line Chart
The line chart, sometimes known as the graph, plots differences through the use of a
line or a series of lines.
Most often, line charts visualize changes over time. Examples include a nation’s
gross domestic product, a president’s popularity or stock index values.
Lines charts can contain dots at each data point, but often do not. Line charts can
have straight lines connecting each data point or curved lines that accentuate trends.
If you are plotting changes over time and every data point does not represent the
same amount of time, it is important to make sure that your line chart accurately
reflects the dates of the data on the x-axis.
A simple line chart shows the rapid urbanization of China’s population in the decade following its
entry into the World Trade Organization. The y-axis measures millions of people (Graphic by Rick
Dunham)
If you are plotting multiple lines on your line chart, it is important not to have
too many. (After three lines, the charts can get crowded and confusing if the lines
are too close together or criss-cross.) Also, make sure you clearly mark the lines,
either on the chart or in a key. In charts with three or more lines, your graphic will
be clearer if you identify each line next to the final data point on the right (and
sometimes at the beginning and end of the data plotting).
7.6 The Line Chart 199
A multiple line chart looks at the declining importance of economic issues in America as the
nation’s economy improved after the global financial collapse of 2008–2009. Note how the author
made each line clear by spelling out the factor being visualized at the end of each line (Graphic by
Pamela Tobey)
Trend lines also can enhance the value of line charts. Because values go up and
down over the months (or years), a trend line shows the direction of the overall shift
more clearly than the jagged ups and downs of shorter periods of time.
This line chart contains 55 years of data points. Its trend line adds a further dimension, showing
that despite the recent drop, more Americans are out of work for longer periods of time than a
half-century ago (Graphic by Pamela Tobey)
7.7 The Pie Chart
The pie chart is so named because it is the shape of a pie. In other words, a circle.
Different values are represented by the pieces of the pie. A pie is the circular
equivalent of a 100% bar chart. Whether the pie uses percentages or raw numbers, it
always should add up to 100% of the visualized information.
7.7 The Pie Chart 201
Now you understand why it’s called a pie chart. (Graphic by Pamela Tobey)
Pie charts are very good for polling data or other information that adds up to 100.
Each slice of the pie must be proportional to the data it represents. Remember this:
pie charts must always be drawn to scale.
Pie charts are the most maligned type of graphic because there are so many bad
pie charts out there in the world. Here are some tips to avoid bad pie charts:
• Make sure all of your slices are to scale.
• Make sure you do not have too many slices in your pie (Five should be your
maximum number. Otherwise, think bar chart or other graphic option.).
• Label your pie chart carefully. Use a color-coded key (the insert identified what
each slice of the pie represents) or place text on (or next to) the pie.
• When possible, label each slice of pie with text superimposed over the pie chart.
• It is best to include the percentages represented by each piece of pie directly

outside the pie (These percentages also can be included inside the pie.).
• Avoid three-dimensional pie charts. It is very hard to label them because the
shading from the 3-D effect often obscures your percentages.
This pie chart explains voter preferences the week before the 2018 U.S. midterm congressional
elections (Graphic by Sangeet Sangroula)
There are programs available now that create “exploded” pies and “irregular”
pies. The exploded pie means that the pieces of the pie are carved out and displayed
beyond the original circle of the pie (It’s like the pie “exploded” into its component
pieces.). The “irregular” pie resembles early 20th century modern art. The largest
piece of the pie remains true to life, but other pieces of the pie are irregularly shaped
to emphasize the differences. This can be catchy to the eye, but the results may be
misleading. So be careful.
Generally, when it comes to pie charts, the simpler they are, the better. Experts
recommend that you use these exploded, irregular and 3-D pie charts sparingly.
When in doubt, experiment with several options and see which one you think looks
the best.
7.7 The Pie Chart 203
Exploded pie chart (above) or regular pie chart (below): Which do you prefer? (Graphics by Rick
Dunham)
Here’s an “irregular pie” chart. Is it attractive or misleading? (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
7.8 The Donut Chart
The donut chart is named for the fried dough pastry with a whole in the center that
is popular in the northeastern and southern United States. As a graphic, it serves the
same purpose except that it has a hole in the middle.
7.8 The Donut Chart 205
This donut chart depicts the partisan division of the U.S. House of Representatives before the 2018
general election, when Republicans lost their majority (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
The hole in the donut can be useful if you want to include some explanatory text.
That text can explain a key point you are visualizing (see the above chart), can
highlight a person whose popularity you are visualizing, or can describe the year in
a series of donuts depicting change over time (see the chart below). Like pie charts,
donut charts should not contain too many pieces and should be carefully labeled.
These donut charts illustrate

the rapidly shifting market
share of leading mobile phone
makers in China over a
two-year period. The “hole”
in the middle of the donut is
filled with the year, an
effective use of the space
(Graphic by Pamela Tobey.
Reprinted by permission of
Beijing Review.)
7.9 The Meter Chart 207
7.9 The Meter Chart
Meter (or “gauge”) charts, created by using a “needle” to point to a spot on the
semi-circular dial, are an attractive way to show points on a continuum. They look
like old-fashioned fuel gauges in automobiles, which ran from E (for empty) on the
left to F (for full) on the right.
Did Barack Obama keep his campaign promises as U.S. president? His tank was about half-full,
according to this gauge chart (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
Variations of the meter chart are called an “election donut” or “dial” chart. They
can be half of the circumference of a circle or a bit more than the top half of a donut
chart (See http://datawrapper.de for an example.)
Today, dial charts are often used at times of election to visualize the scale of
something, whether it is in percentage terms (0–100) or in absolute terms (each
party’s membership totals in the 435-seat U.S. House of Representatives).
This meter chart visualizes the narrow Republican majority on the eve of the 2018 congressional
elections in the United States (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
7.10 The Circular Chart 209
7.10 The Circular Chart
A circular chart (or “radial”) is a form of bar chart that unfolds in the form of a
circle, instead of a horizontal or vertical rectangle. It can be used effectively to
contrast one large number with several smaller numbers.
This circular chart explains Didi’s dominance in the Chinese cab-hailing market. That dominance
led Uber to pull out of the Chinese market soon after this visualization was published (Graphic by
Pamela Tobey. Reprinted by permission of Beijing Review.)
The circular chart is especially useful for visualizing sets of large numbers, such
as stock values, without losing a sense of scale. In a vertical or horizontal bar chart,
the visualization of large numbers results in a significant amount of wasted space.
Look at the comparison below.
7.11 Volume Charts 211
A circular chart is a smart choice when visualizing a comparison between a large number and
smaller ones. There is a significant amount of wasted space when the data is visualized using a bar
chart, the second example above (Graphics by Rick Dunham)
7.11 Volume Charts
Volume charts compare two variables using shapes. The numerical relationship
between the two factors is represented by the volume of the shapes.
The most common volume chart shape is a square. Other popular variations
include circles and shapes. While volume charts are attractive ways to visualize
data, they must be carefully calculated and accurately executed.
This volume chart, using squares, shows in dramatic fashion the massive increase in trade volume
between the U.S. and China in the past three decades (Graphic by Pamela Tobey. Reprinted by
permission of Beijing Review.)
Let’s start with the square volume chart (It can be a visualized as scaled squares,
a block of 100 squares, or a cube.). To create a square volume chart, you use the
square root of the relationship to visualize the difference. That means if you are
creating squares representing 1%—one out of 100— you would take the square root
of 100, or 10.
Let’s use a real-life example. The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments
from lawyers in only 80 of the 8,000 cases that are filed with it—a ratio of 1:100.
The percentage of accepted cases is, therefore, 1%. That means that you will
visualize one square for the accepted cases and 100 squares for the appeals filed at
the court. To create the larger square of 100, you take its square root (10) and then
create a larger square made of 100 small squares. It’s 10 rows, with 10 squares in
each row.
Here’s how world-renowned graphic artist Laura Stanton visualized the rela-
tionship between those numbers, using four different kinds of volume graphics.
Here are examples of volume graphics from graphic artist Laura Stanton (Graphics reproduced
courtesy of Laura Stanton)
The math gets a little harder with volume charts involving circles. In those cases,
take your data and divide it by Pi (3.1416). Then take the square root of that number
(which gives you the radius of the circle) and multiply it by two (to get the
diameter). Use that diameter to plot your circle.
Circles are an eye-catching means of comparison between volumes of variable items. This graphic
uses circles to compare the volume of food imports to China (Graphic by Pamela Tobey. Reprinted
by permission of Beijing Review.)
Let’s use a real life example involving the number of members of the
Communist Party of China. In 1921, the CPC had 50 members. By the time Mao
Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, there were
4,488,000 card-carrying Communists in China. By 2010, that number had grown to
80,269,000.
Now, the math. Let’s divide 50 by Pi to get 15.9155. Its square root is 3.989.
When you double it, you get 7.98 units. That’s the diameter of your circle. Do the
same calculations for 1949 and you get 2,390.5. For 2010: 10,109.5.
Those are your units of whatever size you choose for each unit to make pro-
portionate circles. You’ll have a tiny dot for 1921, a large circle for 1949 and a
giant circle for 2010.
Yes, you need to do a little math to create these attractive graphics, but it’s not
all that hard. Just be careful.
This volume chart shows how membership in the Communist Party of China grew from a tiny red
dot (in 1921) to a large red circle in 2010 (Graphic by Pamela Tobey)
Volume charts using shapes can get tricky. Remember that this is volume.
Because the volume of shapes does not follow a regular geometric formula (like
squares and circles), you often have to estimate the relationships. Be careful. You
should work hard to make sure the volumes of the shapes correspond with the
number you are visualizing. If you’re not sure (or not very good at math), use
another type of chart.
The corporate logos of two business competitors are shapes used in this volume chart. Because
they are similar to squares, the math is not overly complicated (Graphic by Pamela Tobey.
Reprinted by permission of Beijing Review.)
7.12 Circles Within Circles
Circles within circles are a variation of clustered bar chart where use circles rather
than rectangles to compare the values of two variables. A word of caution: circles
within circles can only be used for two variables. For three or more, you should use
the clustered bar chart.
The allure of circles within circles is that comparisons can look more dramatic
when you dramatize facts “in the round” rather than with rectangles. A reminder:
Make sure the circles are to scale. The volume of the circle within the circle should
be the correct proportion to the outer circle. And if you are using more than one set
of circles-within-circles, you need to make sure that the size of the outer circle for
each set of circles is drawn to scale. Otherwise, your graphic will be misleading.
7.12 Circles Within Circles 217
The Pew Research Center effectively used this circle-within-circle format to

illustrate the dominance of Facebook as a social media platform, both by regular
users and people using Facebook as a gateway for news consumption. Pew’s circles
showed Facebook with the largest audience (illustrated by the large size of the outer
circle), and it showed that Facebook also is the leading social media pathway to
news and information in the United States (with the inner circles larger in volume
than its competitors’ inner circles).
7.13 Venn Diagrams
Venn diagrams are overlapping circles that are often used in academic research but
are used only infrequently for journalistic purposes. They are most relevant when
used to compare and contrast behavior in more than one location.
A good example is the Pew Research Center’s work analyzing how Americans
in three different cities consumed their news. The goal was to compare how many
people read a daily newspaper in print, online or via social media (or any combi-
nation of the three) and how many people watched news from local television
channels on their television set, online or via mobile device (or in what
combination).
This would be a complicated data set to explain in text. But by using sets of
overlapping circles, it is easy for the reader to quickly understand the data.
One of the best uses of Venn diagrams comes from The New York Times, which
in April 2013 used Venn diagrams to show how the three most common chronic
medical conditions in assisted living facilities—Alzheimer’s disease, high blood
pressure and heart disease—overlapped in patients, and why this overlap was
becoming an important new field of study.
>>> See the New York Times Venn diagram graphics: http://www.nytimes.com/inter-
active/2013/04/16/science/disease-overlap-in-elderly.html?_r=0
The Reuters Center at Oxford University has effectively used Venn diagrams to
show the overlapping consumption of news on different devices, including com-
puters, tablets and mobile phones. The Venn diagram proves far more effective than
traditional bar charts at illustrating the wildly varying news-reading habits of people
from different nations. The Reuters Center illustrations are cleanly executed and
easy to understand.
7.14 Timelines
Since multimedia projects often are non-linear in their basic concept—meaning that
they don’t go from Point A to Point Z in telling a story—it can be very useful to
include linear elements to complement the non-linear parts of a multimedia project.
What storytelling device can be more linear than a timeline? A timeline starts at
the beginning of a story and ends at the end. It might summarize someone’s life, or
the rise and fall of a business executive, or a nation’s transformation, or the
trajectory of a war or international conflict. Whatever your multimedia project, you

should consider including a timeline—as long as it adds value to the total package.
“Timelines should be used to explain the history of a topic, or how a topic
changes over time,” explains Marisa Krystian. “They are easy to read because they
display multiple events in chronological order along one singular flow”.
When you begin to prepare a timeline, figure out what your starting point is and
where it should end. That seems pretty obvious. But some of the details can be
tricky. Just because you’re doing a timeline doesn’t mean you have to include
everything. After meticulous research, choose the most relevant and interesting facts
to include. Try to space out relevant facts so that 80% of your highlighted dates are
not within a very small portion of your timeline (If that’s the case, you might think of
revising your beginning and end dates or try a different form of storytelling.).
As you visualize the timeline, consider whether you want it to run horizontally
(with the beginning at the top and the end at the bottom) or vertically (with the
beginning point at the left and he end on the right). Most timelines run horizontally.
But if it is a long timeline—such as the history of a country—you may not have
enough room to visualize it from left to right in a traditional horizontal format.
It is good to include photographs along the timeline, but don’t confuse the reader
with too many art elements. The numbers and the facts are the stars of your timeline.
Bloomberg News uses a timeline to illustrate corruption cases against senior Chinese officials
7.14 Timelines 219
There are some excellent sites available to create timelines—either static or

interactive—including TimeToast and Dippity. Try them out and see which one you
prefer.
A good timeline is a major asset to a multimedia project. A bad timeline is a
waste of space … and readers’ time.
7.15 Connection Graphics
Graphics can make connections. Let’s use the president of the United States as an
example. The president is a member of a family. You can draw a “family tree” of
his ancestors, or his wife (and ex-wives) and their children. You can draw an
organizational chart of the White House staff, with lines of authority and the latest
cast of characters. You could draw a web of his outsider advisers, and create
additional webs of their connections. You could draw a chart of top campaign
contributors, or fundraisers, and the issues they are lobbying the White House to
influence.
See, it’s easy. All you need is a template, an imagination, and some in-depth
reporting, either facts or data. Connection graphics are an invaluable tool in the
artist’s tool kit. They explain how things work and why things happen. They
simplify often-complex material. And, with a little effort, they look really spiffy.
There are many kinds of connection graphics. Hierarchical charts explain how
things are organized. The most common is the organizational chart is a diagram that
shows the structure of an organization and the relationships and relative ranks of its
parts and positions/jobs. In a multimedia news package, it can be an effective way
to explain the hierarchy of a company or a governmental unit. The organizational
chart can show where the key player (or players) in your story fit in the larger
structure of the workplace.
It also can be used to explain how a business plan (or government program) is
supposed to work—or, sometimes, how it is not working well. Microsoft’s Excel
program has a collection of “hierarchy” templates that make it exceptionally easy to
create an organizational chart.
Texas Congressman Kevin Brady drew an organizational chart of the American health-care system
under President Barack Obama’s 2010 health-insurance reform law. It was used to demonstrate
how complicated the new system is to administer, and how complicated it is to navigate for
average Americans
Then there are the webs of individuals. These circular graphics have the key
figure in the center and then geometric patterns radiating from the center. Laura
Stanton describes these as “life buckets” (as sections of the main circle) or “rings of
influence” (as rings orbiting the central figure), depending on how you decide to
visualize them. “Engaging stories can emerge from the web of connections between
people and organizations,” Stanton and LaGesse write. “While many narratives
move in a line, as we discussed with timelines, the complexities of others defy such
a simple telling. So, cast a web and see what it snares.”
Another useful type of connection is a flow chart. This type of chart shows how
a process is supposed to work, or how an organization operates. It can be a straight
line (or a curved line, or a tree trunk with branches), if you want to show a process
from beginning to end. Or the flow chart can be circular, if it is illustrating
something that repeats itself.
Finally, you might use a connection graphic to illustrate a list, such as “top 10
tourist destinations in Vietnam” or “possible political directions for Cuba after the
Castros.” These lists have connected items, and can look far more attractive in
graphic form than as simple text.
7.16 Tables 221
7.16 Tables
A table is a chart that contains rows and columns. Because the human eye does not
respond well to large numbers of rows and columns, graphic artists usually dif-
ferentiate each row by a grid or by varying the colors of each row or sets of rows.
Tables most often contain a topic and then rows of numbers, with the variable
being a time element (usually years), or names, companies or geographical entities
(usually countries).
Most often, tables are powered by numbers. For example, here is a tabular
summary of Americans’ spending on alcoholic beverages.
Nearly eight of every ten dollars spent on alcoholic beverages in the United States goes to beer and
wine purchases (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
But tables also can be text-driven. Tables without numbers can be creative ways to
tell stories. The following example from Pew Research Center data tells a fascinating
(and humorous) tale of European stereotyping of fellow Europeans. Almost every-
body thinks that Germans are the most trustworthy and hardworking—except for
people in Greece. Greeks along think that Germans are the least trustworthy (and that
they themselves are the most trustworthy). Most Europeans view Greeks as the least
hardworking, but Greeks think that they are the hardest-working people in Europe and
that the laziest are the Italians. The Italians? They point their fingers at Romanians.
European stereotypes run deep. But Greeks beg to differ with the negative impressions of their
citizens (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
7.17 Maps
Is a geographical location an important element of your story? If so, a map may be a

useful tool for your storytelling. Maps can identify a location central to your story
within the larger context (as a part of a city, a province, a region, a country, a
continent). They can compare the same factor in different parts of a city, country or
the world. They can highlight differences between cities, regions, countries or
continents. They can show movement from one location to another. And they can
be used to show changes over time within one location, such as new borders or new
rulers or changes in annual income or GDP.
Maps are valuable because they help readers to understand. They clarify
information in the stories and immerse them in that place. But the maps you use for
journalistic purposes are different than the maps on your smartphone apps. “Unlike
navigation maps on our phones or geopolitical maps on the wall, which usually
show as much detail as possible, explanatory maps need to be simplified,” write
Stanton and LaGesse. “They need enough information to give good context … but
don’t overwhelm the point.”
Make sure your maps are accurate, however. Bad maps are not only embar-
rassing to you, they can confuse and even anger your readers. The CNN cable
television network made a classic mistake when they illustrated a story entitled
“GIANT HORNETS KILL 42 PEOPLE IN CHINA” with a map purporting to
locate Hong Kong. But the map was of South America, not China, and Hong Kong
was located, on this errant map, in southeastern Brazil.
Accuracy is vital, as it is in all news reporting. Usefulness also is vital. Don’t use
maps to state the obvious. It’s a waste of space and your readers’ time. One online
news site illustrated its story on a Yangtze River boat mishap that killed more than
450 people with a map with the national outline of China in orange superimposed
over a map of Asia. It served no purpose. A map of central China, highlighting the
flow of the Yangtze River, highlighting the location where the boat sank, would
have benefited the audience. If you are illustrating a story about violence in
Damascus, do not use a locator map with the entire nation of Syria highlighted. Use
a locator map that shows the country’s borders, its neighbors, and the location of its
war-weary capital city.
7.17 Maps 223
A map pointing out the location of Damascus is much more useful than one simply highlighting
the location of Syria in Asia (Maps from MapsOpenSource.com)
Using maps to pinpoint locations where action is happening is important in

multimedia storytelling. But journalists can make mapping an even more powerful
tool by using them to explain and analyze information. One example is the fol-
lowing map of the hometowns of international students enrolled in American
universities. The size of the dots represents the number of students from a particular
city. The darkness of the blue color of the dot represents the income level of the
foreign students from those cities. From the size and color of the dots, we can
quickly see that the largest number of international students in the United States are
Chinese citizens, and that the students from India and Africa are not nearly as
wealthy as those from the Arabian Peninsula.
Maps can be used to show differences among states, provinces or cities within a
country. American journalists frequently use maps to show political, economic and
social differences within the 50 states of the United States. The following map by
Tsinghua University journalism student Wang Jing illustrates the Chinese provinces
where Ph.D. graduates choose to teach after earning their degrees. The darker the
shade of green, the greater the number of Tsinghua graduates.
(Map by Wang Jing, GBJ)
A map can show territory won and lost in battle, as with graphic depictions of
the ebb of flow of territory held by the self-styled Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Maps also can show movement in the world, such as the Washington Post’s map of
the world showing the national origins of soldiers fighting for the Islamic State in
the Syrian Civil War. The Post graphic showed that at the peak of the conflict, the
7.17 Maps 225
largest flow of foreign fighters into Syria comes from northern Africa, with sig-
nificant involvement from the Arabian Peninsula and Europe. China and the United
States provide minimal manpower, despite being targets for attacks by extremists.
Despite their usefulness, maps should be used carefully. It is best to keep your
map as simple as possible. Avoid confusion by limiting your use of labels. (Is it
necessary to label each state or province?) Do not use too many colors. It is better to
use shades of a color than a rainbow of colors. And please do not try to present
maps in three dimensions. They are almost always confusing and can mislead the
reader about the size of the jurisdiction being mapped. It is always better to use a
traditional two-dimensional approach.
7.18 Illustrations
Illustrations are a graphic option if you want an “art” element rather than a pho-
tograph. The simplest ones are hand-drawn portraits of writers or subjects of your
stories. The Wall Street Journal has used pointillist illustrations for decades. Today,
computer programs readily generate “line-drawings” without the need to hire an
artist.
A typical illustration: YLE Washington correspondent Mika Hentunen (Reproduced

with permission)
A computer-generated illustration (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
Online tools such as online.rapidresizer.com allow journalists to transform

photographs into illustrations and then edit them with a wide range of
computer-generated effects.
In the era of mobile consumption of information, digital news outlets have
discovered that catchy illustrations can draw readers into stories more readily than a
standard photograph. But their approaches vary. Some use artistic renderings that
reflect human reality. Others cartoons illustrate the point of the story, but not in a
literal way. One example is the South China Morning Post’s illustration of Chinese
President Xi Jinping swatting at tigers and flies, the metaphorical representations of
corrupt officials, both major and minor.
An increasingly popular illustrate method is computer-generated cartoons, found
on websites like ToonyTool.com. These cartooning sites allow you to choose from
a range of free images to create your own masterpiece, suitable for publication.
7.19 Photo Illustrations 227
Want to use a cartoon to illustrate your story instead of (or in addition to) photographs? It’s easy to
do (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
7.19 Photo Illustrations
A decade ago, programs such as PhotoShop and Illustrator allowed professional

artists and others to transform photographs into illustrations with ease. Now,
websites and smartphones make it even more convenient. And they let you do it for
free.
Photo illustrations can be mash-ups of photos, photos mixed with text or
drawings, tinted photographs, photos with screens, or just about anything you’d
like. The only limits are your talent and your taste. In today’s multimedia jour-
nalism world, four of the most popular types of photo illustrations are enhanced
photos, memes, using photographs as part of a larger illustration, and combining
several photos into a new image.
The common thread in all of these is that photo illustrations alter reality. They
change the “true” image of the photo into something subjective: either with tints or
other editing techniques, words that comment on the photo, or multiple photos
combined into one to create a different sense of reality. One tool that you can
experiment with is called ChangeFaces.com.
A photo illustration can combine images with text and sometimes alters reality to make an editorial
point (Photo illustration by Rick Dunham)
The most popular photo illustration in the mid-2010s is the “meme.” A meme is
a photograph containing an editorial comment, usually in capital letters, above and/
or below the photograph. Here’s an example of a meme created by the author to
accompany a story in which one critic compared Texas Senator Ted Cruz to the late
Senator Joseph McCarthy, a notorious anti-Communist whose often-reckless
accusations ruined the lives of thousands of Americans during the Red Scare period
of the 1950s.
A meme mixes “objective” photography with “subjective” commentary (Photo illustration by Rick
Dunham)
7.19 Photo Illustrations 229
Dozens of popular meme-makers exist on the internet. One popular choice,

because of its ease of use and practical embedding capability, is imgflip.com/
memegenerator.
7.20 Word Clouds
Word Clouds allow you to chart the words most commonly used by the news
source of your choice and then to “map” them by making frequently used words
larger. You can often find the subliminal messages behind the public rhetoric by
deconstructing speeches or documents via world clouds.
Word Clouds are a popular tool of political journalists around the world, but they
also can be good to analyze the messages of companies or business executives—or
economic policymakers.
It’s easy to create word clouds by importing documents or text files into the
Word Cloud generators available at no cost on the internet. One example is https://
www.wordclouds.com. You can import files or copy and paste text, and the pro-
gram allows you to use various shapes, including maps, ovals, circles, squares and
rectangles. Another easy-to-use site is Wordle: http://www.wordle.net.
>>> Here’s a blog post comparing the features of some leading WordCloud generators:
https://blog.polleverywhere.com/best-word-cloud-generator/
The author generated this Word Cloud on WordClouds.com based on a 2017 Quinnipiac
University poll that asked Americans to reveal the first word that comes to their mind to describe
Donald Trump (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
The author generated this Word Cloud in the shape of the United States based on the words used
most frequently by Donald Trump in his 2018 State of the Union address to Congress (Graphic by
Rick Dunham)
>>> Here’s a list of WordCloud generators from Edudemic.com: http://www.edudemic.

com/word-cloud-generators/
7.21 Good Resources to Improve Your Data Visualization

Skills
From Alexis See Tho
1. There are some great online courses to learn data visualization through Learno.
Each course is divided into short sections with video instruction. Follow the link
here: http://learno.net/courses. Courses include “Bulletproof Data Journalism”
and “Managing Data Journalism Projects.”
2. DJChina, a Chinese website on data journalism, is a valuable resource for any
journalist, Chinese or international, writing about China. It was founded by
Yolanda Jinxin Ma, a former data specialist at Reuters, the South China
Morning Post and IJN who now works for the United Nations Development
Programme. DJChina contains information on where to look for data on China,
and offers advice on journalists and websites to follow in China to get data.
3. Another excellent blog to follow for data journalism is https://simonrogers.net.
Simon Rogers is author of Facts Are, a data journalism book, and he’s currently
a data editor at Google in California. He previously worked for Twitter and The
Guardian, where he created the Guardian Datablog.
7.21 Good Resources to Improve Your Data Visualization Skills 231
Professional Advice
Data visualization and infographics shouldn’t simplify convey information; they are
instruments for clarification. Clarifying a story very often involves increasing, not reduc-
ing, the amount of data shown to readers.
—Alberto Cairo, professor of information graphics and visualization at the University of
Miami.
Bibliography
Alberto Cairo’s weblog: http://www.thefunctionalart.com.

Cairo, A. (2012, August 28). “The best design advice i ever got” with Alberto Cairo. http://www.
peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1928560.
Fairfield, H. (2013, April 16). For the elderly, diseases that overlap. http://www.nytimes.com/
interactive/2013/04/16/science/disease-overlap-in-elderly.html?_r=0.
Krystian, M. (2017, October 8). 12 most common types of infographics. https://infogram.com/
blog/12-types-of-infographics.
Krystian, M. (2017, February 8). How to make an infographic in 10 steps. https://infogram.com/
blog/make-infographic-10-step-guide/.
Kumar, S. Themes for a good infographic. http://understandinggraphics.com/design/themes-for-a-
good-infographic/.
Learno.net: http://learno.net/courses.
Rogers. S.: https://simonrogers.net.
Stanton, L., & LaGesse, D. (2018). Superpowers of visual storytelling, p. 3.
Chapter 8
Audio Journalism
8.1 “The Invisible Medium”
Before memes existed, there was a meme. “Radio is dead.” It was repeated so often,
it became a news industry cliché. But, as American novelist Mark Twain once
famously noted, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” To find out why
radio’s death has been greatly exaggerated, read on.
“Radio news,” which should really be renamed “audio journalism,” has an old
reputation to overcome in today’s multimedia news world. Radio, many people
believe, is yesterday’s technology. Its “golden era” was in the 1930s. It was
eclipsed as a mass medium first by television and then by the internet. In recent
decades, its audience has been in steady decline as TV and then digital sources
came to dominate the news and entertainment landscape.
Young people today often think radio is boring. Sound in a box. They view radio
as a medium for old people. It’s a twentieth century medium, they believe. Very
few people listen to radio in the traditional way, over the airwaves. The vast
majority now consumes audio news and information through mobile devices.
For several decades, journalists have not taken advantage of what was dis-
paragingly called “the invisible medium” for news. But that is beginning to change
as the old-fashioned world of “radio” is giving way to the creative new world of
audio journalism. “Somehow, audio has been considered the ‘invisible medium,’”
notes Karin Høgh, a Danish podcasting consultant and owner of Podconsultsbutik.
dk. “However, if done right, audio can be as powerful in journalism as written
articles or even TV and videos.”
It’s easy for us to understand why words and sounds can be effective storytelling
techniques. We’ve grown up reading books, hearing stories from family and
friends, and experiencing the world of our imaginations. At their best, television
and the movies are dynamic ways to tell compelling stories. As talk radio and music
stations fade away, audio news is making a comeback. And for good reason. Audio

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_8
234 8 Audio Journalism
journalism stimulates the imagination and “gives you the ability to ‘see’ things with
your ears,” says Anthony Kuhn, a veteran international correspondent for National
Public Radio.
8.2 Audio Journalism Is More Relevant Than Ever
Just as the best print stories show the power of narrative journalism, so do cre-
atively produced audio reports. The best evidence is the enduring popularity of the
BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) and NPR (National Public Radio in the
U.S.), which are known for the quality of their breaking news coverage and deeply
detailed feature stories. While the overall radio news audience has dropped from
nearly 60% of the U.S. population to just more than 30% in the past three decades,
according to Pew Research Center statistics, NPR has built its audience during the
first two decades of the 21st century. Quality audio news content is being rewarded
with larger, more loyal audiences.
NPR has done that with quality programming and innovative storytelling. In
2014, NPR experimented with a new kind of long-form audio journalism by cre-
ating a podcast called “Serial” which raised questions about the reliability of a
guilty verdict in a 1999 murder case in the United States. The compelling story of
high school senior Hae Min Lee’s murder in the city of Baltimore, her boyfriend’s
arrest, his alibi, and the dramatic prosecution, created perhaps the finest example of
audio storytelling in the digital era.
This is how Joyce Barnathan, president of the International Center for
Journalists, described the storytelling breakthrough in a 2015 article for Columbia
Journalism Review, “Rewriting the Rules: The New Voice of Journalism”:
Reporter Sarah Koenig used all of her journalism skills to tell a story in real time about a
murder case that took place 15 years ago. Journalists usually tell stories once they’ve
completed their reporting. Instead, Koenig took her listeners with her as she looked into this
case. She asked the hard questions. She revealed her inner thinking. She was probing, yet
personal and passionate.
Her audience found her exploration gripping. Indeed, as she told the stories, listeners
contacted her with more information, including evidence that could be material for the case.
In other words, she also crowd-sourced her piece, deliberately or not, using the audience to
provide grist for future episodes. Though the series ended inconclusively, young people
listened in droves.
In this case, the reporter’s quest was at least as compelling as what she found out. That
suggests a new age of journalism in which the storytelling itself adds to the legitimacy of
the news.”
With the help of social media, the podcast went viral and brought new listeners
to NPR who had never—and still do not—listen to it live over the airwaves. The
podcast also had real-life consequences. As a result of the innovative journalistic
work done by NPR, a judge overturned the conviction.
8.2 Audio Journalism Is More Relevant Than Ever 235
>>> Listen to “Serial” here: http://serialpodcast.org
We can’t all produce audio reports like “Serial.” But it is easier than you might
think to create professional-quality audio news reports. For one thing, you need
very few tools. The three essentials are a recording device, a microphone and free
software to edit and share your work. Combine with this the ease of technological
access with your previous knowledge of storytelling and you have an exciting
journalism opportunity. “Reporters and journalism students must stop thinking
about sound as an exclusively radio format and adopt it as a reporting tool that can
be learned and used to effectively deliver information to readers or listeners,” notes
Jim Stovall, a journalism professor at the University of Tennessee who has written
authoritatively about audio journalism.
Inspired by the creativity and listener loyalty of podcasts, a new generation of
audio journalists is transforming the medium. “I feel that it has virtually unlimited
potential,” Jamil Smith, a senior editor at The New Republic, told the website
Editor and Publisher. “There is so much that can be done with audio as a story-
telling device.”
Examples of successful podcasts abound in the 2010s. Podcasts topics include
“true crime” dramas on NPR, public radio in the U.S. state of Georgia, and the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, business and economics (Financial Times), the media
and technology (ReCode), and race, gender and sexuality (New Republic).
There are several important reasons why audio is making a storytelling come-
back. Audio journalism fits comfortably into our modern digital culture. Not only is
audio news easy to produce, it is convenient for your potential audience to use in
our mobile society. It is inherently portable. People can listen to digital audio
reports almost anywhere they are, at home or in transit. People can listen anywhere
when they are alone. All they need is a digital device such as a smartphone, tablet or
computer, plus headphones or ear buds.
“I love to be able to listen to something while I’m doing something else, such as
driving or exercising,” William Rankin, creator of the “Breakdown” podcast on the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution site, told Editor and Publisher. “And I think excellent
audio—audio that takes you to a different place where you are enlightened, sur-
prised and amused—is awesome.”
>>> Read the entire Editor and Publisher story on the rising popularity of podcasts:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/feature/the-rising-popularity-of-podcasts/
Audio journalism is also powerful because it creates a sense of intimacy. While

millions of people may be listening to the same report, it seems that the reporter is
communicating directly with you. Listen to the radio scripts. The writing is dif-
ferent. The reporter is indeed talking to you.
There are many things you can do journalistically with audio in addition to
producing podcasts. You can create sound bites for blogs, websites or mobile apps.
You can easily share audio news via social media. And you can multiply the impact
of an audio report by creating audio slide shows combining still images and sound.
One easy-to-use platform for audio slide shows, available at relatively low cost, is
called Soundslides (More on that in the next chapter.).
News organizations believe that they have a better chance to make money with
audio podcasts, because they attract large numbers of listeners who stay tuned for
long periods of time. “If publishers want to grow audience engagement and revenue
numbers through sponsorships, podcasts are the future,” Sharon Knolle wrote in
Editor and Publisher.
8.3 The Advantages of Audio
What kinds of stories are most effectively told via audio? In addition to podcasts,
there are these:
• Breaking news: You can post audio files instantly on social media and quickly
on websites.
• Narratives: You can tell long, complex story in serial form using the podcast
format. The growth of “binge watching” of videos spawned a similar phe-
nomenon with podcasts. All of a sudden, people were willing to invest many
hours in compelling audio stories. Call it “binge listening.”
• The backstory: Reporters can provide an overview of their print story or explain
the story behind the story, “how I got the story.”
• Mini-documentaries: Audio is a surprisingly good way to tell in-depth stories on
a single subject. The documentaries can be explanatory, analytical or inves-
tigative. Award-winning audio documentaries generally run at least 30 minutes,
but you can make an effective mini-documentary of 10–15 minutes.
Whatever kind of story you are telling, audio has several important strengths.
First, it creates a sense of presence. It boosts the credibility of the storyteller and the
interest of the audience by transporting them to a specific place. The famous
American journalist, Edward R. Murrow, made his global reputation by reporting
live from London during the Nazi bombing campaign known as “the Blitz.” His
evocative narration, chilling interviews and use of ambient sound (such as bombs
falling, people crying, authorities barking instructions) captured the imagination of
listeners back home in the United States and in allied anti-Fascist nations around the
world.
The use of ambient sound brings a sense of atmosphere to the report. Ambient
sound (sound from being on location) comes from sources as varied as weather,
crowd noise, machinery, traffic, wild beasts or, as in the case of Murrow’s CBS
reports, a war zone. It makes a listener feel that she or he is a part of the scene. “The
right sound—the roar of an air raid siren in wartime, the echoes in a building
abandoned because of a chemical spill, the roar of a trading pit in Chicago—can
substitute for dozens or hundreds of words, and can be as descriptive and evocative
8.3 The Advantages of Audio 237
as a photograph,” Jonathan Kern wrote in his indispensible book, “Sound

Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production.”
Audio news not only can take you to a place, it takes you inside the psyche of
characters in the story. It can capture their tone of voice, their pauses, their into-
nation, their mumbling, fumbling, stumbling and bumbling. It can show their
confidence or their nervousness, their frustrations or their relief, their authenticity or
their phoniness, their anger or their joy.
Done well, your audio reports can project a sense of authoritativeness. Because
you are there, you can speak to each and every listener—as if they are the only
person you are addressing. Your voice, through training and practice, can project
expertise, excitement, sorrow, horror, or other shared emotions. Although it was
more than eight decades ago, the audio report on the fire that consumed the German
zeppelin “the Hindenburg” over an airfield in the American state of New Jersey on
May 6, 1937, captured the horror of the moment. Here’s the famous radio report by
Herbert Morrison of WLS Radio in Chicago, Illinois:
It’s fire… and it’s crashing! It’s crashing, terrible! Oh, my! Get out of the way, please! It’s
burning and bursting into flames and the – and it’s falling on the mooring mast. And all the
folks agree that this is terrible; this is the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world. Oh
it’s – flames – crashing. Oh! Four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it – it’s a terrific
crash, ladies and gentlemen. It’s smoke, and it’s in flames now. And the frame is crashing
to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity!
>>> Listen to Herbert Morrison’s report: https://archive.org/details/SF145
Audio reports allow you to add layers of texture to your reporting that are harder
to provide with words alone. Voiceovers (when you narrate or speak over ambient
sound) create an extra layer of storytelling that print cannot provide. Sound effects
are excellent for transitions, creating aural bridges between separate parts of your
story. They also allow you to appeal to emotions through sound, something that
cannot be done in print.
Another advantage of audio: It can transport you to a time and place in the past.
Because there is not always historical video available for all situations, audio can be
a useful tool to tell stories from the history books. Sixty years ago, a young CBS
protégé of Murrow named Walter Cronkite first rose to news stardom by hosting a
radio series entitled, “You Are There,” that used audio to bring listeners to the scene
of historical events.
Not every story is a natural audio story. Mika Hentunen, a Finnish radio and
television broadcaster, has a Finnish word for it: “VÄLINEENMURAINEN.”
Translated into English, the message is this: “Make sure your content is
‘medium-aligned’ or medium-appropriate.” Certain stories are naturals for audio. If
they are not, use another medium to tell those stories.
It’s important to remember that your writing—and your reporting—varies in
small and large ways, depending on the medium you choose for your storytelling.
“You need different material for each medium,” Mika Hentunen reminds us. “You
need to adapt to the sensory experience of every story.” Think carefully how you
can draw listeners in with ambient sound, reporting from the field, interviews,
cogent narration, even music. Think about places where you had multiply the
impact of the audio medium by mixing more than one audio track.
8.4 Storytelling via Audio
Think carefully about how you write the story. It’s different than writing a print
article. Print articles are often packed with information at the top—remember “who,
what, when, where, why and how”? Audio reports are conversational. “If you
wouldn’t say it, don’t write it that way,” notes NPR’s Anthony Kuhn. When you are
writing—and voicing—an audio report, you are speaking to each individual lis-
tener. Longtime U.S. radio reporter Tina Stage Rafalovich passes along this advice
she was given as a young audio journalist: “Imagine you’re telling a story to your
best friend.”
National Public Radio asks reporters to think up a one-sentence “focus state-
ment” that concisely describes what the story will be about. That focus statement,
similar to the “nut ‘graph” of a print story, provides a preview of the tension and
conflict that will play out in the report. You also want to decide if you will tell your
audio story “horizontally” or “vertically.” As NPR’s Jonathan Kern explains:
“Horizontal stories often take a high and wide view of a news event, while vertical
stories go deeply into a single idea or episode.” A horizontal story analyzes a trend
or explains a situation. A vertical story focuses on a single person who illustrates
the bigger story, or a dramatic moment in the broader narrative.
After you choose your approach, your job as a writer is to connect with each
listener on a personal level. To do that, says find a central compelling character or a
main point to serve as the storytelling anchor your audio report. “Frame your story
for impact,” says Elise Hu, National Public Radio’s former bureau chief in Seoul.
“Powerful stories are people stories.” When telling a story about the struggles of
parents, “focus on one mom, not all moms,” she suggests. Think like a novelist.
Look for universal themes: love, loss, risk, reward. Engage the audience.
Audio stories should be structured to tell a story with a beginning, middle and
end, Hu says. She calls the beginning “the setup.” The middle is the “discovery”
section. And the end is “the conclusion” of your dramatic arc. Always look for a “so
what?” conclusion that leaves listeners feeling they have benefited from your audio
report. “What are their takeaways?” Hu asks. “What conclusions can be drawn?”
You need to carefully use “actualities,” or audio sound clips, in your report. The
transition from narration to actuality is different than a transition in a print story.
Again, write it the way you would introduce the person you are about to quote to
the friend you’re talking to. Your story should not be a collection of actualities
connected by narration. The sound bites should add value to your report and move
the storytelling forward.
On rare occasions, your script is a narrated lead-into an extended actuality. More
often, it is a script that ties other audio parts of the report together. If you’re writing
8.4 Storytelling via Audio 239
for a radio broadcast, you’ll need to start with an “intro,” the sentence or two that the
host in the studio reads to introduce your story. Then you start with your narrative.
Not the 5 W’s, but a series of short sentences. You need to hook the listener quickly.
Audience surveys have found that listeners will tune out the report if you don’t find a
compelling way to capture their interest in the first 15 or 20 seconds of the report.
Good writing is always important. In audio journalism, it’s a must.
Simplicity is essential. Try to limit your sentences to a single thought. Don’t use
too many numbers or statistics. Put the numbers you use into context, quickly and
clearly. Use active sentence structure. Put the subject of the sentence at the
beginning. Attributions should come at the beginning of the sentence, unlike many
print stories, which append the attribution at the end. To simplify your writing,
avoid needless attribution and long titles. Indeed, avoid all unneeded words and
phrases. Avoid jargon and acronyms. Your storytelling can be more dramatic if you
occasionally end sentences with a word you want to resonate in the listener’s mind.
Many audio reports are short and to the point. The Associated Press Stylebook
summarizes the AP’s preferred format for this kind of radio report:
“Lead ! Back-up ! Details ! Background.”
The main point of the story is stated clearly and directly in the present perfect
tense. Example: “North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has met with his South Korean
counterpart in a historic meeting.”
The lead is followed by evidence backing up point made in the first paragraph.
Example: “It is the first time a North Korean leader has set foot upon South Korean
soil since the Korean peninsula was divided into two countries at the outset of the
Cold War.”
Your report then continues with important details. Example: “Kim traveled 120
miles from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang aboard an armored train. Amid
tight security, he shook hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in as the two
leaders straddled the line dividing their countries outside the so-called ‘Peace
House’ at Panmunjeom. He then took several steps into South Korea, before
inviting Moon onto North Korean soil. Later, the two leaders issued a joint dec-
laration pledging that ‘there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula’ and that
‘a new era of peace has begun.’”
The report concludes with background information. Example: “It is the third
North-South summit in Korean history. But it is the first for the 34-year-old Kim,
who has ruled his Communist nation for seven years. The two countries have
technically been in a state of war since Kim’s grandfather invaded South Korea in
1950, provoking a three-year-conflict that ended in an armistice. In their joint
communiqué today, the two leaders promised to engage in negotiations to sign a
peace treaty bringing the war to a close after 65 years. The pledges of cooperation
marked a stunning reversal in inter-Korean relations. Tensions have increased in
recent years as Kim defied U-N resolutions demanding that he end his nuclear
program. International sanctions have crippled North Korea’s economy, and have
strained relations with Pyongyang’s closest ally, China. Today’s meeting is part of
an audacious diplomatic initiative by Kim designed to restore his nation’s standing
in the world. He met secretly last month with Chinese president Xi Jinping in
Beijing. He has agreed to meet in coming months with American president Donald
Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin.”
As you craft your script, remember to write it the way a human would speak.
Since you are human, you need to breathe, so write your script to include natural
pauses. “In writing, we don’t have to worry about pauses for breath,” says Matt
Abrahams, a communications coach and Stanford University Graduate School of
Business organizational behavior lecturer. “Nor do we need to worry about the
audience understanding what we have written, as a reader can always reread a
confusing passage. To be more concise, start by stripping away excess wording that
might sound good when read silently but that adds limited value when spoken
aloud.”
As you are writing, avoid long and complex sentences. Simplify. If your sen-
tences are too long, you will run short of breath. What creates a natural pause? It
might be a period (full stop), a comma, or a dash. Write how you speak. After all,
you will be speaking those words before long. Vary your sentence lengths, but keep
the clauses short. You might include some sentence fragments. Because that’s the
way we speak. Right?
Think of your tone of voice. What words do you want to emphasize? Underline
them. (Or capitalize them. Or italicize them.) Spell out acronyms in your scripts.
Examples: The United States becomes U-S and the World Trade Organization
becomes W-T-O.
As you are recording the voiceover, you should know which words to empha-
size. Underline the important words that you want to emphasize. You need to learn
to “punch it”—emphasize certain elements in your narration. Vary your pitch and
your tone. People who speak English in a monotone are very boring. People stop
listening to them. Learn how to speak with some emotion. But not too much
emotion. Vary your tempo, or the pace of your speech. Some sentences might be
narrated more quickly than others. Sometimes, you want to emphasize a point by
speaking more slowly. Know where in your script to pause and mark it down.
Remember: You might want to pause for dramatic effect.
“The keys to vocal elements are variation and fluency,” explains Matt
Abrahams. “Think of your voice like a wind instrument. You can make it louder,
softer, faster, or slower. We are wired to pay attention to these kinds of vocal
change, which is why it is so hard to listen to a monotonous speaker. In fact, even
just a 10% increase in vocal variety can have a highly significant impact on your
audience’s attention to and retention of your message.”
>>> Read more of Matt Abrahams’ advice: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/big-
data-approach-public-speaking
Make sure you know how to pronounce names, nations or foreign words. “If
there is a hard to pronounce word or name, spell it out phonetically in your script so
you don’t stumble,” Tina Rafalovich says. For example, the African nation of
Tanzania becomes “Tan-ZAH-nee-ah” in your script. Iran becomes “Ih-RAHN.”
By preparing in advance, you will sound better when you give voice to your words.
8.4 Storytelling via Audio 241
After you’ve finished writing, practice your script. It is important that you sound
natural. You must not sound like you are reading a prepared text. You are having a
conversation with an individual listener. You are communicating, not lecturing.
You are communicating one person at a time. By practicing, you will lessen the
risks of stumbling when you are recording the script or appearing live.
Your voice needs to be right. Many broadcast professionals do voice exercises
before recording audio or appearing live. Your author prefers a bit of warm water or
tea. Many journalists avoid caffeine before recording audio, because it dries out the
vocal chords and can make you jittery. You may have your own special preparation
routine. Whatever it is, remember to warm up your voice before starting the
recording process. You want it to be ready for show time when the red light goes
on.
Before show time, remember to time the length of your report. Is it too long?
Too short? If you are working for a radio outlet, your report will need to be a
specific length. If you are preparing an audio report for the internet, keep it as tight
as possible to avoid losing any listeners.
8.5 Tips for Writing an Audio Report. By Linda Lew,

Global Business Journalism Program
Audio reporting, like video, photography and written reports, is a way to tell stories.
Therefore, it should follow the principles of good storytelling but with sound as the
primary consideration. Here are some tips:
1. Set the scene. Unlike video and photography, which are visual, audio reports
need to take care to describe the scene, or the “what” and “where” of the 5Ws.
This can be a brief sentence laying out the interview location or subject for the
audience.
2. Keep it simple. Use short words and sentences, simple sentence structures and
pronounceable words. This will help the audio report be more clear and suitable
for listening.
3. Focus on the dominant theme. Audiences can lose attention quickly if the
audio report is confusing or not straight to the point. That is why it’s important
to focus on the dominant theme you’d like to report on.
4. Create dramatic unity. This dramatic structure allows us to tell a story quickly
and without a significant level of detail. There are three parts: climax, cause and
effect. The climax is the end of the story, the most important or dramatic thing
that happened. That comes first. The cause (why did it happen?) examines the
circumstances under which it occurred. The reporter looks for the facts that can
illuminate the climax and help the reader understand what happened and why.
And the effect explains the outcome or looks into the future. If done success-
fully, this structure of dramatic unity brings your story to a satisfying
conclusion.
8.6 Producing an Audio Report
Now that we’ve talked about the ideas behind an audio report, let’s move on to the
practical side of it. How do we produce one?
To get started, have your equipment in hand and make sure it is in working
order. Is it fully charged? Do you have a back-up in case the batteries run down?
It’s time to choose a subject for the report. Do your background research and
identify interview targets. Set up an appointment, if you are seeking a formal
interview, or head out into the field to interview witnesses to a news event or to get
public reaction (generally known, in the sexist terminology of the past, as
man-on-the-street interviews).
Before you record your audio, think about your storytelling. What is the story
and what part will audio play? Who is the audience? Where will they hear it? How
long will the interview be? How long will the report be?
As you prepare to go into the field, think in advance of natural sound you can
gather. It is always better to get too much ambient sound rather than too little.
Record more ambient sound than you intend to use in your report. It’s always easier
to edit something to make it shorter than to make an extra trip to record sound
because you did not get enough on your first try.
8.7 Interviewing for Audio
You need to be knowledgeable about your interview subject and the story topic.
Before you leave for the interview, you should know the questions you will use to
frame the interview. Sometimes, you will want to script your questions in advance.
But a warning: Be flexible. Don’t just read your pre-written questions. Ask
follow-ups when needed. Go “off-script,” as warranted, to get the most useful and
newsworthy information you can during the interview.
You also need to know how long the interview will be and what will you use it
for. Are you trying to get a quick sound bite? Do you need explanation? Are you
looking for ten seconds of top-quality audio or an extended discussion? Can you get
it “on the run” wherever you can conduct the interview or do you want a stationary
location where you can set up your equipment in advance? For a longer interview,
this approach is preferable.
If you’re conducting an interview, choose a venue for interview that will provide
a comfortable site for discussion and a minimum of aural distractions. Think about
the location of your interview. What kind of background noise will there be? How
can you eliminate distractions? Avoid a street corner, or a bar, or a cafeteria, or
most public locations, if possible.
Finally, think ahead to your editing process. How much time will you have? Will
you be cutting out small distractions—the “ums” and “ahs” of the interview sub-
ject? Or will you need to rush something onto the web or the airwaves? The amount
8.7 Interviewing for Audio 243
of time you have to edit the interview will have an impact on the questions you ask:
a “down-and-dirty” sound bite or a probing line of questioning. As always, it’s
better to have more time to edit. But the modern journalism world isn’t always
willing to wait.
In most ways, an interview for an audio report is the same as any other kind of
interview. But audio is different in a few ways. So here are some tips that can help
you improve your audio interviews:
1. Choose your location carefully, if you have a choice. Be careful of conducting
an interview in a location where you can have interruptions—such as telephone
calls or intercom buzzing—or ambient interference such as street noise, wind,
plates clanging or other people talking. Obviously, a crowded restaurant or
coffee shop is a bad place to conduct an interview. You also want to pick a
location that will make your interview subject comfortable, and therefore more
likely to give you a good interview. An exception to this rule is if your intention
is to make the interview subject uncomfortable. This often happens when you
are conducting an unplanned interview during breaking news or if you are trying
to get a comment from someone who is not enthusiastic about being interviewed
by you.
2. Record ambient sound. Your reports need audio interview, but they usually
often need background sound, too. Always think about ambient sound you can
capture while you are out on interviews. Think about sound that fits naturally
into the report. A piece about a company’s quarterly report might benefit from
background sound from a corporate meeting or audio from the floor of a stock
exchange.
3. Push the record button a few seconds before you start, and let it run a few
seconds after you finish. You want to give yourself some extra time for editing
the interview cleanly. It sounds unprofessional to miss the beginning of a
quotation or cut off the end of a sound bite.
4. Maintain control of the microphone. If you have only one microphone, don’t
allow the interview subject to monopolize it. If that happens, your voice will not
be clearly audible. Arrange in advance to pass the microphone back and forth, or
prepare to use two microphones or a single stationary microphone.
5. Don’t ask closed-ended questions. Ask questions that prompt the interview
subject to answer in descriptive terms. A “yes” or “no” answer sounds terrible in
an audio report.
6. Make the pauses work for you. Short periods of silence can be uncomfortable,
but they often cause the person you are interviewing to say something news-
worthy to end the silence. You also may want to pause for dramatic effect during
your questioning to emphasize certain points.
7. Remember audio levels. You want the sound level to be consistent throughout
the interview. Your voice and the interview subject’s voice should be equally
audible. If you conduct multiple interviews for a story, make sure the audio
levels are comparable. If not, fix this in editing. Inconsistent audio levels are a
major distraction for listeners and are an easy tipoff that you are not a
professional.
“Sound is very important to the enjoyment of the viewer,” Andrew Kirtzman, a
media consultant, author, and former television reporter and host, told the Marquez
Journalism Conference at the University of Pennsylvania. “There is nothing worse
for the viewer than an interview with terrible sound.”
After the interview, transfer the audio to your computer or other editing device.
Use headphones as you listen to audio playback to make the sure the audio quality
is consistent and professional. Mark the best spots in the interview in your note-
book. I use a time system (for example, “1 minute, 15 seconds in”, or “at 3:35.”)
Distractions are not always from background noise. Stuttering or long pauses can
disrupt the flow of your report. Note in your notebook the spots where people utter
“uhs” and “ahs” so you can take them out, if you want to. Time is precious in an
audio report, and taking out unnecessary seconds of silence or verbal tics can give
you time for something far more substantive.
As your final report is taking shape, figure out how much of the interview you
will use in your report and “edit out” questions or sections accordingly. I tend to
take one of two approaches. If I am going to use just one or two quotes from an
interview, I will “copy” them from the interview and paste them into a new audio
file that I have created for the report. If my report is going to be based on the
interview, I copy the interview (so that I keep a complete raw file in case I ever need
to refer to it) and then start editing the interview. I usually take out sections that I
won’t use in the final report first. Then I start editing out specific questions, then
parts of questions, then unnecessary pauses and audio distractions.
8.8 Audio Editing
Audio editing is easier than you may think. It is quite similar to text editing. The
main difference is that it is sounds rather than written words. Once you get used to
it, you’ll be able to do it very quickly.
Your author can vouch for the speed that comes with experience. When he
recorded the first audio podcast for the Houston Chronicle’s Texas on the Potomac
blog, it took eight hours to produce, from recording the audio to completing the
editing and posting it online. Within three years, it took just 20 minutes to produce
a podcast from completion of recording to publishing on the website.
To get started, the first thing you need is an audio editing program. Audacity, a
free program, is highly recommended by journalists. It is surprisingly powerful. It is
easy to use. You can get it here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.
You can cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together easily. There are dozens of
audio effects that you can employ, including changing the speed or pitch of a
recording. These audio effects allow you to include some advanced tools, such as
8.8 Audio Editing 245
fade in and fade out, reverberation, echoes, bird chirping, duck quacking and
musical instrument plucking at the click of a mouse. You also can record audio on
Audacity. If you use it to record voiceovers, you can record the voiceover right into
the audio file you are creating.
>>> Read Mindy McAdams’ “Super-Fast Guide to Audio Editing.”: http://knightpoliti-
calreporting.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Audacity_Guide1.pdf
>>> You will also need to download the LAME encoder file for Audacity. Follow these
instructions to do so: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&i=lame-mp3
Start by downloading and installing Audacity on your computer or mobile

device. You must also down something called the “LAME encoder file,” which you
will then un-compress or unzip. Mindy McAdams reminds you that it is “very
important that you know exactly where you saved the LAME file. Reason: The very
first time you try to export an MP3 file from Audacity, it will ask you: Where is the
LAME encoder file? You must show Audacity where the file is. You will do this
only once.” It is essential to follow these instructions if you want to export MP3
files from Audacity, which you will need to do to share them with the outside
world. As with all programs you download, you need to remember where you save
them on your computer. Be organized!
You’re ready to edit. But to use Audacity, you must convert audio files into the.
wav file format. So you may need to use an online tool such as online-convert.com,
Zamzar, Cloud Convert, or a similar tool that you find via a web search.
Zamzar supports more than 1,200 different conversion formats, and you can
convert files without having to sign up. The catch: Your file must be under 50 MB
in size. You will need a paid account for a larger file size. Cloud Convert requires
you to sign up for a free account, which allows you to convert files up to 1 GB.
Cloud Convert is not quite as versatile, supporting 215 file formats, fewer than
Zamzar.
Audacity can edit WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP2, MP3 or Ogg Vorbis sound files.
To post on the internet, you also need to convert your Audacity files to MP3 or
MP4 files.
As you prepare to edit, have your tape recorder or audio source handy. To
maximize the sound quality, you will want to use headphones. A headset also will
eliminate distractions while you are doing editing, particularly if you are in a room
where other people are working.
You should have the time of key quotes or ambient sounds already marked in your
notebook. Pull those sound bites out of the files and add them to your final report.
Now let’s start editing. To open an audio file in Audacity, go to the File menu
option and choose “open.” You will see a set of icons at the top left and six buttons
to their right. Under these buttons are two sliding scales, one for sound volume and
the other for recording volume. Adjust them as necessary to achieve balance in your
sound.
What do these symbols mean? Well, most are self-explanatory, but if you need
an explanation, you can mouse your cursor over each button or icon and it will
explain its function. The red circle, for example, means “record.” The two blue
vertical rectangles are the “pause” button. The yellow square means “stop.” The
green triangle signifies “play.” The double left arrows take you to the beginning of
the file. The double right arrows take you to the end.
The six tools in the grid at the upper left corner are powerful. Each affects the
relationship between the cursor and the audio track. The tool you are using will
remain in effect until and unless you change it.
The tool that looks like a capital “I” is called the “selection tool” and it permits
you to highlight portions of a track so you can copy them or cut-and-paste them. It
is probably the tool that you will use most often, so try to become comfortable
using it as quickly as you can.
The “envelope tool,” which looks like an hourglass divided by a curving purple
line, “allows you to change the volume of certain portions of the audio track by
visually shrinking it,” as Mindy McAdams writes. “You can use the tool to place
anchor points around the track to guide the sound level.” This is particularly
important as you try to make the sound level of your entire report consistent.
The “time shift tool,” a line with arrows to the left and right, moves segments of
audio within a track. The “drawing tool,” which is a drawing of a pencil in a
rectangle, allows you to zoom in as far as 0.000023 seconds. It is so precise, and
takes so long to execute, that it is rarely used. As a result, the “zoom tool” (the
magnifying glass in a box) is a more user-friendly option for editing out the coughs
and stutters in your report.
The Edit Toolbar is also quite useful. From left to right, the functions are: cut,
copy, paste, trim audio, silence audio, undo, redo, sync lock, and zoom in or zoom
out.
So let’s give Audacity a test run. We can test by recording our own voice. Your
computer probably has a built-in microphone. If not, you will need a good external
microphone. Even if your computer has a built-in microphone, a
professional-quality external microphone might produce higher-quality sound.
Your choice. If you are going to use an external microphone, connect it to the
computer in the “Microphone In” hole. If there is no “Mic In” port, you must get a
USB-compatible microphone or a special audio adapter.
Open Audacity. Under “File,” you can create a new project. Remember to click
on “Save Project” (or Control + S) regularly. If you click “save project,” you can
continue to edit the project. It does not mean that you are ready to save it and export
it. When you are ready to export it, you will click on “export.” Not now.
To begin recording, all you have to do is click on the red “record” button and
start speaking. You can pause whenever you’d like. When you’re done, just click
on the yellow stop button.
Here are a few editing tips:
Mistakes. Any time you make a mistake, you can reverse it by typing Command
(Propeller) Z on a Mac or Control Z on a PC. Remember this. It’s sure to happen to
you, no matter how careful you are.
Deleting. To delete a portion of the audio, make sure your Audacity file is on “stop”
and not “pause.” It’s a three-step process—click, hold and drag—and keep drag-
ging until you have marked the part of the file you want to delete. Press the delete
key on the keyboard to excise the selected sound bite.
Moving. Moving audio is the same as moving text. Just hit Command X on your
Mac, or Control X on your PC. To paste, hit Command V on your Mac, Control V
on your PC. To copy and paste, the process is Command C than Command V on
your Mac, Control C and then Control V on your PC. That allows you to test out
your sound bite in two places in your report. Just remember to delete the one you
end up not using.
Continue the editing process until you finish your report. You’ve cut and cut and
cut, added sound, pasted new sounds in, moved things around and cut some more.
Now you’re finished with the editing process. But remember to listen to your
finished report before sending it for broadcast.
Before you can export the finished file, you need to convert it to an MP3 file. In
most cases, you’ll want to reduce the file size by converting the stereo file you’ve
just edited into a mono file. That cuts the file size in half by cutting the number of
microphones from two to one. Unless you are recording for a radio network that
needs stereo sound, this is generally a good idea because of the massive size of
some audio files.
To convert, click on the track name and then click on Split Stereo Track. There
are two channels. Make sure to change each track to Mono. Select all tracks by
shift-clicking each track until all are highlighted. Then click on Mix and Render
under the Tracks menu (Earlier versions of Audacity may use the term Quick Mix
rather than Mix and Render.).
To export the file, go to the File menu and click on Export As MP3. Now
you’re ready to upload it to the internet on your website or blog.
Congratulations! That was easy, wasn’t it?
>>> Here’s a tutorial for audio gathering and editing: https://ruoj2.wordpress.com/2011/
02/08/tutorial-4-audio-gathering-and-editing/
>>> For more tips on audio editing, read this piece by Hollin Jones: http://www.
musictech.net
Now that you know how to use Audacity, here are a few Audacity tips from
Qiao Rongxuan, a Chinese journalist who entered the Global Business Journalism
master’s degree program at Tsinghua University in 2016:
• Use Audacity for multi-track music recording. Audacity can be used to record
individual tracks and then pull them together as a final piece. Mixing several
tracks together, including narration with background audio, brings an authori-
tative sound to your report.
• It’s very easy to fade-in and fade-out of music or spoken audio. Fading makes
your reports sound more professional.
• It’s a good idea to include a catchy tune in your introduction.
• Be mindful of “snap settings.” If snap settings are switched on and set to a high
value, precise editing becomes difficult. If “snap-to-bar” is switched on, it is
easier to do precision editing. A snap value of 1/16 or finer is helpful to precise
editing. But if your snap value is set at ½, you will have a tough time doing
professional editing. So remember to use a smaller setting.
Professional Advice
Audacity is easy. It can turn any reporter into an audio professional.

—R. G. Ratcliffe, Texas Monthly
R. G. Ratcliffe (Photo reproduced with permission)

Bibliography
Abrahams, M. (2016, April 4). A big data approach to public speaking, gsb.stanford.edu. https://
www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/big-data-approach-public-speaking.
Associated Press (2015). The associated press stylebook. Basic Books. p. 496.
Barnathan, J. (2015, July 24). Rewriting the Rules: The New Voice of Journalism, cjr.org. https://
www.cjr.org/opinion/new_voice_of_journalism.php.
Høgh, K. (2017, April 2), Quoted in Interactive Journalism blog post by Carly Magnotta, West
Virginia University, https://interactivejournalismwvu.wordpress.com/2017/03/30/read-
respond-week-12-audio-2017ws/.
Kern, J. Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production. National Public
Radio, Inc. p. 3.
Knolle, S. (2016, January 4). The Rising Popularity of Podcasts, editorandpublisher.com. http://
www.editorandpublisher.com/feature/the-rising-popularity-of-podcasts/.
McAdams, M. (2009). Reporter’s guide to multimedia proficiency. http://faculty.jou.ufl.edu/
mmcadams/PDFs/RGMPbook.pdf, http://www.jou.ufl.edu/faculty/mmcadams/tutorials/auda-
city_1/audacity_tute_1.html, http://www.jou.ufl.edu/faculty/mmcadams/tutorials/audacity_2/
audacity_tute_2.html.
McAdams, M. (2012, May). Super-fast guide to audio editing. knightpoliticalreporting.syr.edu.
http://knightpoliticalreporting.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Audacity_Guide1.pdf.
Musictech: http://www.musictech.net.
Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (2013, April 18). Misquotation: “Reports of My Death Have
Been Greatly Exaggerated.” oupacademic.tumblr.com. http://oupacademic.tumblr.com/post/
48310773463/misquotation-reports-of-my-death-have-been.
Pathgrams and WLS Radio (1937). Hindenburg Disaster with Sound. archive.org. https://archive.
org/details/SF145.
Stovall, J. (2009, March 6). Audio Journalism II: Forms and Formats. jprof.com. http://www.
jprof.com/2009/03/06/audio-journalism-ii-forms-and-formats/.
Stovall, J. Sound as a reporting tool. jprof.com. http://www.jprof.com/audio-journalism/•-sound-
as-a-reporting-tool/.
SERIAL: http://serialpodcast.org.
Chapter 9
Slideshows with Sound
9.1 Why Combine Still Images and Sound?
Audio journalism has been revived and has made inroads with a new generation.
Podcasts are popping up around the world, and journalists are learning how to tell
stories using sound as the primary element. But there are times when audio sto-
rytelling can use a bit of a boost—by adding still images. “Put the two together –
great audio documentary and great still images – and you have something that is
potentially MORE than great storytelling,” says Benjamin Chesterton of
duckrabbit.
The result of this combination of sound and images is called an audio slide show.
It has the length, depth and breadth of an audio news report. But it has the added
color and drama of still photography. Slide shows with sound are an underappre-
ciated asset in the multimedia journalist’s tool kit. They are used rarely, but when
created skillfully, they can be a valuable way to tell stories.
Audio slide shows are best when they are tautly produced. “The storytelling
must be simple,” says Qiao Rongxuan, a Chinese journalist. “We only have at most
three minutes to show the whole story. So simple storytelling will let audiences get
the information quickly and clearly.”
Perhaps the finest example of audio slide shows is a series of reports produced
by National Public Radio shortly before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Produced for
radio broadcast in America, the reports were transformed by adding still pho-
tographs to what already was an outstanding audio report. The sound track and the
slide show were synchronized, and NPR.org listeners suddenly became viewers,
too. The compelling, dramatic, emotional photographs added a new dimension to a
superb journalistic endeavor. And the modern era of slideshows with sound began.
Today, there are several programs available to help you create slideshows with
sound. Their prices and tools vary, so your choice may depend on your budget and
your tolerance for technological challenges. This chapter discusses a user-friendly

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252 9 Slideshows with Sound
program known as “Soundslides.” It was created in 2005 and was designed by Joe
Weiss, an American photojournalist and digital producer.
Billed by its website as “ridiculously simple storytelling,” Soundslides enables
you to create professional audio slide shows and post them on your digital platform
with ease. Soundslides calls itself “a rapid production tool for still image and audio
web productions,” and it is just that. It runs either on Mac operating systems or
Windows, and can be easily installed on your computer or other mobile device.
Soundslides’ makers boast that the program is “fast and intuitive.” Again, they
are correct. But even the best software can’t do everything for you. You are
responsible for coming up with the idea and the content.
There are various formats for audio slideshow storytelling. You can create a
typical audio news report and add photographs. You can have a single voice, an
interview subject or an expert telling her or his own story, or you can have multiple
voices telling a story without a narrator intruding.
Jonathan Lillie, who studied the use of Soundslides by U.S. newspapers,
recounts the story of Lucila, a journalist at a mid-sized newspaper:
Typically my approach is to put together a short audio piece (between 60 and 90 seconds
sometimes a little more) that includes a primary voice and either a second voice or some
natural sound. I’ve never included my own voice or that of newspaper reporter. It’s always
the voice of the person in the photographs or the voice of a person who is an expert or
knowledgeable about the subject of the photographs. I feel this format/approach does the
best job of enhancing the story (giving reader something beyond the pictures and traditional
written word). I try to take our readers to the place/environment that is the subject of the
slideshow.
Not every story lends itself to audio slideshows. You need to find one that has
exceptional visuals and characters who can drive the story relentlessly forward
through their interviews. You also need time to produce the report, something that
is in short supply in today’s newsrooms. A photographer at a mid-sized newspaper
told Lillie that audio slideshows take three times as long to report and produce as
typical assignments. “It has to be a worthwhile story to make the effort,” the
photographer said.
>>> Best practices:
Touching Hearts, HeraldSun.com
This innovative project tells compelling stories about the healthcare in

Nicaragua. Readers can start the Soundslides presentations by clicking on the
pictures. The photographs are touching and the narration is beautiful. Text gives
the report an added dimension. The Herald Sun’s report is multimedia storytelling
at its best.
>>> Watch the entire report: http://media.soundslides.com/archive/2000/hearts/
9.2 How to Create an Audio Slideshow 253
9.2 How to Create an Audio Slideshow
To prepare for your audio slideshow project, you must first choose a topic and then
refine a storyline, just like you would for any other news report. You should do
your background research, your reporting and your interviews. Because this is an
sound-dependent tool, you should write your report in an audio-friendly style. You
need to gather sound the way you would for an audio report—ambient sound,
interviews, narration, and dubbing of foreign languages. But you also must collect
still images. Since this is a photo gallery, great photographs are the key. If you
want, you also can use graphics to help you explain certain elements in your report.
As you collect the visual elements, it is vitally important to remember that the
photographs must directly correspond to the topics you are discussing in each part
of the audio track. An audio slideshow that does not match sound and images will
create a cognitive dissonance in the mind of the viewer, and you will quickly lose
their attention. So remember to carefully choose photographs or graphic elements
that reinforce and complement the narration.
With that in mind, let’s look at the process of creating slideshows with sound.
You can do it in 13 (relatively) easy steps. Let’s try it out. Here we go.
Step 1: Choose the photographs or graphics you want to use from your collection of
images gathered for consideration.
For Soundslides, the photos must be in the JPG (pronounced “Jay Peg”) format.
That’s the only photo format that Soundslides accepts. If your images are in any
other format you must convert them into JPG format before moving forward with
your project.
How many photos should you use in your presentation? There is no consensus
among journalists and professors about how many photographs is the most optimal
number. Your author recommends between 10 and 30 photos, depending on the
length of your report. The shorter the report, the fewer the number of photos. The
reason: You don’t want images to linger too long on the screen. Viewers will get
distracted or bored. You can’t afford to have the viewer lose interest, even for a
couple of seconds.
You must put the photos in a folder on your computer, so you can import it into
Soundslides. You don’t need the photos to be in any particular order when you import
the folder, because you can edit the order. But it helps if you plan out the order in
advance and have a good idea how the photos and the audio track will match up.
Step 2: Organize the photos in a logic progression
What makes a good Soundslides slide show? You must tell an interesting story with
journalistic value. You need characters and action. You need to evoke emotion,
through both the photos and the audio. Harness the assets of both media. And keep
the report taut. Don’t use too many photographs in one part of the report and too
few for others. Pace your presentation from beginning to end. Always remember the
concept of the dramatic arc in your storytelling. Hook the reader at the beginning
and maintain a logical progression throughout your report as your story unfolds. An
audio slideshow that is just a seemingly random collection of photos connected
haphazardly in your script will be ineffective.
Step 3: Think about what kind of sound you want in your Soundslides presentation.
How much of your audio, if any, will be delivered through a narrator’s voice? How
will you incorporate interviews? Will you include news audio that you gathered
yourself or that you took from other sources (such as a press conference or a
speech)? Have you conducted interviews in a foreign language that need to be
translated and accompanied by an overlaid sound track? Can you do the translation
or do you need to find someone? How much ambient sound will you use? Will it
enhance your report to include commercial music such as a pop song, symphonic
music, traditional ethnic music, jazz, or opera? If so, you need to locate those sound
clips and, if necessary, secure permission to use them. Professional audio journalists
frequently use music for transitions that bridge one section of the report to the next.
Remember to take advantage of the power of sound. After all, sound adds depth.
It helps you create and enliven characters. It can add an authoritative tone. It can
add emotion. It can entertain. It can provide a humorous interlude. It can offer
analysis. But, most of all, sound can bring your audience to the scene of your story.
Step 4: Decide how long your audio slideshow should be.
There is no consensus on the best length for a slideshow with sound. Your author
recommends a wider range—from 90 seconds to 3 minutes—depending on the
quality of your audio and visual material. The key to coming up with the exact time
is how compelling your photographs are and how long it takes to effectively tell
your story. If you have a large number of high-quality photos, your narration should
be longer so that you can show them off to maximum effect. If you have a smaller
number of excellent visual elements, the sound track should be shorter.
If your storytelling takes longer to unfold, make sure you have a commensurate
number of strong photographs to accompany the sound. If your report is brief,
choose the best photos and leave the rest of them on the digital “cutting-room floor.”
Step 5: Match the photos to the sound track.
If necessary, adjust the narration to match the photos. It is very important that the
photograph have some relationship to the audio the viewer is seeing. In
Soundslides, there is a default option that leaves each photo you choose on the
screen for the same amount of time. That is a helpful starting point. But it should
not be the finishing point. All of the slides do not have to be on the screen the same
length of time, as in the default option. A good rule of thumb is display a photo
from 4 to 6 seconds. As with any rule, there are exceptions: for a particularly
compelling photo, or for an infographic, for example.
This synchronization process involves a lot of moving parts, so be flexible and
be prepared to adjust number of photos or order of the photos, if desired. You also
should be ready to adjust the narration to make sure you include every photo you
want to use.
9.2 How to Create an Audio Slideshow 255
As your matching up the photos and narration, keep in mind the dramatic arc of
the story.
Step 6: Prepare an MP3 audio file
Audacity is a good choice, but any good audio editing program is acceptable. Make
sure your volume is good—not too high, not too low. Make sure ambient sound or
music is similar in volume to narration. (Remember: It is critical for you to keep
audio levels consistent in your audio and video reports.)
Next, write a script, and practice the script. Check the time it takes to read your
script, and factor in the time for other audio elements. Is your project too long for
the number of good photographs you have chosen? Is it too short? If you have one
of those problems, revise your script and jettison or add other audio elements.
Now you’re ready to record the script. Measure the time—shorten or extend
narration if necessary. Edit your audio file. Listen to your voice on the recording.
Edit out the “uhs” and “ahs” and the extended pauses. Re-record it, if necessary,
either because of the audio quality or a problem with its length.
Finally, create an MP3 audio file. And get ready to export it.
Step 7: Download Soundslides from the internet.
If you’ve chosen Soundslides as your program and haven’t already installed it, it’s
time to download the free “demonstration version” from the internet. Don’t get
confused when the website asks you to register. Click on “later” and you won’t
have to fill out the information. Of course, if you will be using Soundslides for more
than just this course, you may want to buy it so you can use it anytime. You’re now
ready to get started with your first Soundslides presentation.
Step 8: Create your project.
To create a new Soundslides presentation, click on “new” project. Choose a name
for the project. I recommend that you don’t make it too complicated. And make
sure to save the new file somewhere on your computer where you can later find it.
Your author places the new project on his desktop and later moves it to a folder.
Step 9: Load the photo and audio files.
Click on “JPG” button in the Soundslides program to load your photos. Locate the
folder of photos and click on it. Soundslides can import an entire folder of JPGs at
once. A little advanced planning (the creation of your folder of photos) will make
your life a lot easier. Next, click on “SND” button (for “SOUND”) to import your
MP3 sound file. Locate audio file and click “open.” It will import your sound file.
Now you’re ready for the final editing process.
Step 10: Arrange your photos to fit the audio.
You will notice that the default option has all photos on the screen for the same
time. You don’t want that. Now’s the time to adjust the time each photo will be
visible to match the content of your audio track. Remember not to linger on photos
for too long. It is BOOOORING!
Soundslides gives you an opportunity to get creative by including transitions
between photos if you want them. Menu choices range from stars to a “dissolve”
feature that morphs one photo into the next. Transitions, used wisely, can make
your project look more professional. But using the wrong ones—or using too many
“bells and whistles”—and it will seem profoundly amateurish.
Step 11: Add captions.
You don’t need to have captions in your audio slideshow, but most projects include
some sort of captions. Often, you will want to identify the person or location in a
photo. Sometimes, you want to share the date when an older photo was taken. Many
audio slideshows use captions to introduce new sections of the report. It’s even
possible that you will include a text translation of something being said in a foreign
language.
Step 12: The finishing touches.
You are now ready to wrap up your project and prepare it for publishing. Go to the
“Project Info” tab on Soundslides and make sure to include a headline for your
project (not necessarily the same as the file name), along with a title page and
credits. It is advisable to have a title page for each of your Soundslides projects. It
makes them more professional. And if your project is a collaboration, make sure to
give credit for every person in your group. For example: “Photos by Julie and
Sihan. Ambient sound by Evgenii. Translation by Melody. Captions by Viktoria.”
If you want to record a new audio track, now is your last chance. You can
reimport a new or edited audio track if you want to make changes. But it must be
the same length as the old one.
You’re ready to save the file and export it. Yes, you’re almost done.
Step 13: Publish to web.
Your project folder will contain a number of files. “Publish to Web” is the only file
on the lists of files on your desktop that is vitally import to this process. If you click
on “Publish to Web,” you can preview your slideshow. Once you do that, you can
publish your project, embed it or share it. You have other choices. You can burn
“publish to web” on a compact disc (CD). You can copy “publish to web” onto a
thumb drive. Most important, you can post the Soundslides show to a web page.
You need to follow the usual procedure for uploading files to your own website.
Congratulations! You have just created a multimedia story. As the Soundslides
folks like to say, their program is “built for storytelling.”
9.3 Audio Slideshow Tips from Chinese Journalist Qiao Rongxuan 257
9.3 Audio Slideshow Tips from Chinese Journalist Qiao

Rongxuan
1. Identify a topic and an approach that will resonate with audiences.

2. Although you want to keep your storytelling simple, make sure your storytelling
is always accurate. Don’t oversimplify, mislead or exaggerate.
3. Make sure the photos match the audio. If the storytelling is sad, don’t use photos
that show happiness.
4. Add background music. Audio that is pleasant to people’s ears will make them
want to keep listening.
5. Seek other people’s input before publishing. A good audio slideshow should be
modified many times as a result of other people’s advice. This process perfects
your storytelling.
Professional Advice
Try different things. Don’t be afraid to fail. Keep trying and you’ll get better.
—Ken Herman, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and multimedia innovator
Bibliography
Duckrabbit. (2010, March 24). In praise of the audio slideshow—Kevin Marsh, BBC College of
Journalism. duckrabbit.info. https://www.duckrabbit.info/2010/03/in-praise-of-the-audio-slide-
show-kevin-marsh-bbc-college-of-journalism/.
Escolme, J. (2014, February 28). How to record and produce audio slideshows. scidev.net.
https://www.scidev.net/global/journalism/practical-guide/how-to-record-and-produce-audio-
slideshows.html.
Chapter 10
Video Storytelling
10.1 The Appeal of Digital Video
Video has been a dominant mode of news distribution ever since information
purveyors came up with ways to disseminate it. “Newsreels” screened in movie
theaters informed the public in the United States from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Hitler’s Nazi propaganda machine used video purporting to be news to infect the
minds and hearts of rank-and-file Germans, Austrians and others.
There’s a reason video has been used both to inform and misinform for nearly
nine decades: Moving images appeal to humans on a visceral level, not only
informing but provoking a wide range of emotions. “Great video wins out,” says
Andrew Kirtzman, a TV journalist, author and media consultant. “It’s just a
no-brainer. If you have good video, it’s like gold.”
The human attraction to video is a big reason why TV became the leading source
of news in almost every nation as soon as television ownership skyrocketed in
developed nations in the 1960s and became ubiquitous globally in the 1980s. As
portable electronic devices replace television sets as the main form of information
and entertainment consumption in the second decade of the 21st century, it is
imperative for all news professionals to learn how to produce effective video news
reports. Video storytelling is not limited to those journalists schooled in what was
long known as “broadcast journalism.” It is for everyone. “Video has become a key
component in journalism, public relations and communications in the world of a
digital media,” says Kim Lawton, an award-winning reporter, producer and writer.
“It is an important factor in telling a story.”
Broadcast journalism, by definition, disseminates news broadly—to the widest
possible audience—over public, government-regulated airwaves. With the advent
of cable television, signals for programming went digital. Now, digital news is
consumed not just through wired devices in homes or offices but also through
wireless networks on mobile devices. “Video can be seen everywhere and by

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260 10 Video Storytelling
everybody,” says Zeng Jianlian, director of the Pipeline Department of IBM Greater
China Cloud Computing Group.
Whether you are consuming news at home through traditional methods or dig-
itally on your mobile device, video remains an important source of information.
According to “The State of Video Marketing 2018” report published by Wyzowl,
“the average person watches more than an hour and a half of online video content
per day, with around 15% averaging more than three hours.” That’s a leap of 17%
in a single year. This rapid growth has made video a dominant mobile communi-
cation tool. And an art form. Great video, says Kim Lawton, is “like a puzzle, or a
tapestry. There’s a real art to it because I’m weaving together” a story.
As news consumption rapidly shifts to mobile devices, it is important to learn
how to tell stories visually for screens of all sizes. You must effectively tell video
news stories that people can watch on their mobile devices, whether it is the screen
of a hand-held mobile telephone or an iPad or another tablet device. And that is
quite a shift from the days when “Movietone News” used massive screens in movie
palaces to make people marvel at the march of history in (almost) real time.
As we tell stories for our digital audiences, you need to realize that almost every
breaking news story can benefit from a video component. Even if you are writing
for a traditional “print” news site or a blog, video can add emotion and immediacy,
transporting people from their mobile devices to the scene of breaking news, both
happiness and heartbreak.
Today, almost every traditional news outlet—from local news providers to wire
services to national newspapers—includes a selection of videos to supplement text
stories and photo galleries. The biggest reason media sites do it is not because video
is an effective storytelling medium—though it is—but because video is popular.
People watch videos. People watch videos a lot. People spend more time watching
videos than reading an average text story. People share videos. Videos go viral.
Viral videos can help the bottom line.
The economics of news video is simple: Media companies can charge higher
advertising rates for videos than for most other content. Advertisers seem willing to
pay. The 2018 Wyzowl report found that 81% of businesses said they used video as
a marketing tool, and 85% of those companies said video was an important part of
their marketing strategy. Three years before, the survey found that 66% of busi-
nesses were not using video for marketing purposes.
Part of the attraction of news video is that viewers spend more time on video
than text stories or photo galleries. And digital video consumption has grown
rapidly the 2010s. “If you have video to go along with the print article, you’re going
to have people stay on your website longer,” says Adam Rubin, a former reporter
for ESPN and the New York Daily News.
Video is not the “silver bullet” that will rescue the news business. The video
craze of the mid-2010s, called “pivot to video” by media executives, came with a
significant downside. Much of the video was low quality and very poor journalism.
10.1 The Appeal of Digital Video 261
The result was short-term clicks but long-term alienation of readers. “Publishers
must acknowledge the pivot to video has failed, find out why, and set about to fix
the reckless pivots so that publishers focus on good video,” Heidi Moore, a digital
media strategist, wrote on CJR.com (https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/pivot-
to-video.php) in September 2017. “It should be original, clever, entertaining, and
part of a balanced multimedia approach to digital journalism that includes
well-written, well-reported stories, strong data and graphics, and good art.”
To effectively use video, as Heidi Moore points out, quality is important, but a
logical reason to produce that video is even more important. News organizations
cluster news stories around major events, either breaking news stories such as the
2016 terrorist attacks in Brussels or unfolding news stories such as an American
presidential campaign or a summit meeting between the leaders of China and the
United Kingdom.
Breaking news is a logical choice for video storytelling, particularly if there is
compelling video available. But news organizations appear to remain obsessed with
finding videos that will go viral., even if those stories do little to build a news site’s
audience. On one day, the top videos of the New York Times digital site—a bastion
of traditional journalistic values—included a report on “Coconut Cluster Granola”
and the week’s new movie releases, along with one with the “click-bait” headline,
“So You Want to Do a Handstand?” Yes, this is the New York Times. This is
modern journalism. This is modern video journalism.
The latest iteration of the news industry’s search for clicks is live video. Across the
world, streaming live video has become a new magnet for media companies hoping to
find a new formula for building audiences. “Live video is the most engaging content,
with a proven increase in viewing times compared to on-demand video,” the
Associated Press wrote in mid-2016 (http://discover.ap.org/ap-live?utm_source=in-
sights&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=live). “Statistics demonstrate the
increased adoption of online video streaming with viewers growing at 60% over
12 months, coupled with an increase in advertising revenues when associated with
live video content.”
Associated Press was the first news outlet to stream live video, back in the
pre-mobile year of 2003. Today, however, hundreds of news outlets are experi-
menting with live video. Some, like the New York Times, are streaming videos in
real time via Facebook Live. Viewers can watch amateur-style video as it is hap-
pening. And viewers can interact with the video story as it is being told.
Ching-Ching Ni, the editor in chief of the Chinese language edition of the New
York Times, has experimented extensively with the new concept, from discussing
political and economic issues to creating a half-hour live report on elderly
Beijingers doing their daily exercises in Ritan Park. The reports are then cata-
logued, and viewers unable to watch live can catch the report at their leisure.
The live nature of the video makes these reports more exciting, sometimes
because of the unpredictability of the technology or the subjects of the report. After
finishing her first Facebook Live segment, Ching-Ching Ni declared, “I was really
nervous, because right before we went live everything seemed to be wrong with our
internet connection and my tripod position kept cutting off [New York Times
Beijing bureau chief] Ed [Wong]’s head. But we managed. And heard from so
many readers from around the world.”
Ching-Ching Ni learned something else as she experimented with live video:
“On location” action makes for better news video than talking heads in an office.
“The most successful Facebook Live videos were done with one camera – shaky,
handheld, bad audio, but critically, in the field,” says Yusuf Omar
(@YusufOmarSA) (http://ijnet.org/en/blog/journalist-month-yusuf-omar) of The
Hindustan Times in India. “I think it’s lazy not to be in the field.”
Facebook Live is one of the competitors in the live-video revolution. Leading
the revolution was Snapchat, which launched in 2011 and, by the middle of 2016,
boasted of 200 million users around the world and 10 billion video views a day.
Snapshot, created as a photo- and video-messaging app, caught on because of its
revolutionary concept: All photos and videos last only a brief time before they
vanish forever. Because of its ephemeral nature, Snapchat’s first critics complained
that it would be used for lovers to share naked pictures or for friends to share risqué
moments that they wouldn’t want to remain catalogued forever on sites such as
Facebook or Twitter. (Remember former New York congressman Anthony Weiner,
who was forced to resign after posting photographs of his private parts on Twitter?)
But those fears have not been realized, and Snapchat has become wildly popular in
socially acceptable ways.
The first video sharers to take advantage of the platform were entertainment
celebrities like Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber and former U.S. President Barack
Obama, whose skill in harnessing the power of digital platforms allowed him to
communicate directly with the American people, over the heads of often-skeptical
traditional news outlets and partisan sites dedicated to his political destruction.
Corporations such as Taco Bell restaurants and Acura automobiles took advantage
of Snapchat to launch advertising campaigns aimed at the affluent young audience
that flocked to the site.
Snapchat offers news organizations a chance to expand their ever-shrinking
communities. Its core audience is between 18 and 24 years old, accounting for 45%
of its users, according to Contently. eMarketer reports that seven of every 10
Snapchat users is part of the so-called “Millennial Generation.” That is a group that
watches very little television news and very rarely reads print newspapers. Seventy
percent of Snapchat users are women. Snapchat users are more affluent and are
more likely to use smartphones (18% of Snapchat users have iPhones.).
As Snapchat has evolved, it has remained hip and current. It gives its users the
opportunity to add a caption to their videos or photos, or add a doodle, or send the
videos or pictures to friends. But Snapchat has attracted news organizations with its
ability to publish photos, videos and other content that will last for just 24 hours
Snapchat’s “Discover” channels have become news outlets’ portal to the world of
instant video.
10.1 The Appeal of Digital Video 263
The Washington Post’s Snapchat office (Photo by Rick Dunham)
A few traditional news outlets experimented in the early years of Snapchat.

America’s National Public Radio tried posting “one fact a day you shouldn’t forget
before it disappears!” From Wall Street Journal, with its business reporting, to Al
Jazeera and its global news services, Snapchat has become part of the new “New
Media” toolkit. Evidence of the Snapchat fad—or perhaps old media companies’
desperation to embrace the new—dozens of news organizations changed their
Twitter icons to the Snapchat logo in early 2016, earning the wrath of Twitter, which
did not appreciate the free advertising for a competitor. In May 2016, the upstart
digital news site Vox Media, which includes sites such as Vox.com, Eater, SB
Nation, The Verge and Racked, made global headlines when it announced it would
create “a standalone studio” devoted to creating exclusive content for Snapchat.
Perhaps the most effective use of Snapchat is the Hindustan Times’ series on
sexual abuse in India. As the IJNet website described it, “Behind a Snapchat filter,
victims could anonymously speak to the smartphone’s camera. At the same time,
viewers could still see the victims’ facial expressions and hear their voices. The
result was something more personal and intimate than traditional interviewing could
have allowed, [Yusuf] Omar explained. ‘The reason I get such intimate shots is
because people forget my cellphone is even there,’ he said. ‘Who wants to tell a
story of being raped with a big lens in your face? I really do believe mobile
journalism is the most dignified and authentic way to tell stories.’”
10.2 Not Hollywood-Quality, but Timely
Because versatility is a plus in today’s journalism newsrooms, video storytelling

skills will help your career in news. So what goes into making a good video report?
Let’s start with the expectations game: Your audience does not expect Academy
Award-winning video quality. When you produce video for digital platforms,
perfection is not necessary—unlike your writing for the web, audio for multimedia
projects, or even photos.
The video-viewing audience is generally forgiving of your imperfections.
Indeed, unpolished video can even appear to give your report more authenticity.
But don’t get carried away with the “home movie” feel. A little forgiveness doesn’t
give you an excuse to be undisciplined or unprofessional. You get a little leeway on
the production quality, not on the facts or storytelling.
In exchange for allowing you to publish imperfect video, your audience
demands something in return: Immediacy. That means you are under pressure to
publish digital video sooner rather than later. The tradeoff: You give your viewers a
report with an “it just happened” feel rather than a fully polished product.
Remember that you can go back and improve your report later, by adding facts,
analysis or even-later-breaking news. Or simply produce additional reports that you
package on your digital site.
When there is breaking news, think video. Here are some examples:
• After the Paris terrorist attacks of Nov. 13, 2015, news outlets produced videos
on topics including the latest breaking news, video of the bloody aftermath,
interviews with survivors, profiles of the victims, reaction from French officials
and world leaders, a roundup of global attacks by the group calling itself the
Islamic State, and the latest news on the manhunt for the perpetrators of the
Paris attacks. The video reporting had immediacy, brought the audience to the
scene of crimes, and provided glimpses of humanity amid horror.
• After a husband-and-wife team of Islamic extremists opened fire on an office
holiday party in suburban Los Angeles on Dec. 2, 2015 the Los Angeles Times
published videos in real time chronicling the unfolding events. The magnificent
multimedia reporting won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage and
proved that a traditional print outlet can compete with (and beat) television
networks and native digital products at their own game.
• After the Brussels bombings of March 22, 2016, news outlets produced video
showing the immediate aftermath of the attacks at the airport and a central city
subway station. News organizations rushed to publish closed-circuit television
video showing the bombers calmly walking through an airport terminal shortly
before unleashing chaos. But the rush to publish can result in some poor edi-
torial judgments. Some news sites, forgetting their basic journalistic responsi-
bility to make sure their reports were factual, were tricked into airing fake video
purporting to be of the attack. That hoax video was posted on the social media
and widely shared—without verification that it was real.
• After a slim majority of voters in Great Britain voted on June 23, 2016, to leave
the European Union, news organizations around the world shared video reac-
tions from surprised Brits. The viral videos helped shape the global consensus
that voters in England acted rashly and imprudently, doing something omi-
nously self-destructive. Similar videos chronicled the aftermath of Donald
Trump’s election on Nov. 8, 2016, as the 45th president of the United States,
showing both Americans’ celebrations and protests, and the anxious responses
of citizens around the world.
10.2 Not Hollywood-Quality, but Timely 265
But don’t think that just because you produce a timely video that people will
watch it, like it or share it. “Videos that lack personality, style, voice, or visual
interest don’t attract many viewers,” Heidi Moore cautioned on CJR.com (https://
www.cjr.org/business_of_news/pivot-to-video.php).
10.3 Your Video Equipment
As you prepare to produce a video report, you need to start with a basic question:
What device are you going to use to shoot digital video news?
The answer depends on two things: (1) your budget for purchasing video gear
and (2) what you have with you when news breaks. Here are some of the options:
• A smartphone or a tablet computer. The advantages: Everyone has one (or two
or three), and you almost always have one with you. On the American presi-
dential campaign trail in 2012, iPads were the fad of the year, as reporters
recorded and edited video, wrote stories, recorded audio, posted to social media
and blogs, and even published to their digital sites, all from a single device.
Now, however, smartphone technology has caught up (and screens have gotten
bigger), so reporters can do all of that in the palm of their hands, and store their
equipment in their pocket or pocketbook. Several websites, including the
International Center for Journalists’ invaluable IJNet site, offer tutorials on
creating professional videos on your iPhone.
• A Flip camera. Remember them? Unless you were working as a journalist in the
brief period from 2006 to 2010, you probably don’t remember the Flip camera.
It was the “in” technology for a moment in time. It was a point-and-shoot video
camera that allowed you to send your video to your computer via a USB port
rather than complicated video transfers. The relatively inexpensive tool revo-
lutionized video journalism for a few years, but was quickly overtaken by the
smart phone, particularly the birth of the iPhone in 2008. With the iPhone, you
didn’t even need a USB port. You could send your video by email or WiFi
without any accessories. The Flip camera is a reminder of how quickly things
change in the digital era, and how today’s fad becomes tomorrow’s footnote.
• A digital camera with video capability. If you have a digital camera of most
quality levels, chances are that you have a video feature. It’s a little bit more
complicated to transmit from a digital camera than from an iPhone, but you
usually get higher-quality video. (Of course, there are exceptions. Some
smartphones have high-definition video capability, and some basic digital
cameras have lower-quality video features.)
• A video camera (tourist). There are some low-cost video cameras that are used
by tourists who prefer to take moving pictures to snapshots. These cameras
usually have a “frame grab” capability that will transform a single frame of a
movie into a still photograph. The quality of the video produced by these
cameras is better than most digital cameras with video features. But it is still a
lower quality than video cameras used by professionals in the news business,
communications, politics and corporate world.
• A video camera (professional). If cost is not a barrier, look for a good video
camera. How much do you want to spend? You decide and then compare the
features on some of the high-quality brands. You can choose based on the
features you most want, or you can pick a price range and see how many
“goodies” you can afford.
>>> Check out these IJNet tutorials on mobile video:
https://ijnet.org/en/blog/eight-tips-using-iphone-reporting
https://ijnet.org/en/blog/pro-smartphone-journalism-part-1-four-ways-stabilize-your-camera
https://ijnet.org/en/blog/pro-smartphone-journalism-part-2-hand-held-shooting-tips
10.4 Essential Elements in Quality News Video
So now you have your equipment. What are you looking for in digital video?
The number one “essential” is motion. If there is no action, why use video at all? So
look for activity or movement. It’s one reason that you see so many television feature
stories showing a person walking toward the camera. That sense of motion makes for
more interesting viewing than a person sitting at a desk and talking to the camera.
Digital video also benefits from drama. Dramatic moments captured on video—
an unfolding news event, human interaction, a sports highlight—attract the atten-
tion of your audience. The unexpected and the unpredictable make for good video.
Emotion can be a big plus to video reports. Humans are drawn to authentic
human emotion. You don’t want to manipulate your audience with maudlin content
or inauthentic displays of emotion. You don’t want to interpose yourself into
someone else’s emotional moment. The key is to harness emotion tastefully, with a
minimum of audio commentary by the reporter.
The fourth and final “essential” of digital video is reaction. The reaction might
be from a person you are capturing on video. You might seek a video reaction from
a key character in your story—or from an average person reacting to the central
theme of your story. The reaction might be something that you report that is
calculated to provoke audience response: sadness, joy, outrage, or even deep
thought. A third kind of reaction is wonderment: To convince the viewer that you
have to see what you’ve captured on video to believe it. This is what makes for viral
videos, the kinds shared thousands—or millions—of times. If you produce a video
that is both newsworthy and viral, all the better.
One example of a viral video is “Squeaky the Herding Pig.” who became a
celebrity in Texas when a video featuring the Houston-area animal that herded
cattle was posted on the Houston Chronicle’s website, chron.com. It was the most
popular video on the site for most of a year.
Associated Press, a global leader in news delivery, hosted a master class on live
video in June 2016. Its highlights, from the AP Insights blog (https://insights.ap.
org/industry-trends/how-to-make-live-video-work-for-you):
10.4 Essential Elements in Quality News Video 267
Breaking news—In today’s 24/7 world, audiences have an expectation of

quickly seeing video of breaking news stories, and live where they can. With that in
mind, the audience won’t stay loyal to a brand if they aren’t getting what they want.
Additional content that gives context, such as archive footage, is also driving
engagement.
Anticipation—Live coverage allows viewers to take a front-row seat at an
event. But it also allows them to experience the anticipation that something might
happen. Viewers can be with the crowd in St. Peter’s Square waiting for the white
smoke to appear announcing a new pope, or in the press conference room waiting
for news of a deal in peace talks.
Immersion—Live television has always been about taking people to the scene;
now viewers can see the Vivid festival in Sydney, or experience the bull run in
Pamplona while the bulls are actually running through the streets. These aren’t
traditional news stories that most stations would run live (unless these stories were
happening locally).
Interaction—Live on social means the audience can talk directly to those in
control of the camera.
>>> Here’s a link to the entire master class taught by AP’s Head of International Video
News Derl McCrudden (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/derl-mccrudden-b7b8708) and Director
of International Development and Partnerships Paul Shanley (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/
paulsshanley): https://insights.ap.org/industry-trends/how-to-make-live-video-work-for-
you
10.5 Popular Video News Topics
Now that we’ve discussed the elements that attract viewers to video, let’s delve into
the subjects that people like to watch on video.
In the olden days (the year 2000), it was said of TV news, “If it bleeds, it leads.”
That means that bloody crime video or car crashes attracted viewers. Maybe so. But
crime and car crashes had another benefit: They were quick and cheap to produce.
No in-depth reporting. Easy-to-find video. A quick editing process.
Today’s digital news has its share of crime and car crashes. But in these days of
mobile video, crime and car crashes have their limits—and the public quickly loses
interest in ephemera such as yesterday’s shooting or last week’s automobile pile-up
on the highway. News sites instead want video that is timeless—that people will
share today, tomorrow, next week, next month, maybe even next year.
Today’s cliché is that people can’t get enough of pets, kids and stormy weather.
It’s a cliché, but it contains more than a grain of truth. It’s a reason that many news
sites have competitions to name a cat or seek users’ videos of severe weather. Not
only do many of these kinds of videos have durable appeal, they are inexpensive to
produce (or even free, if it is submitted by a member of the news site’s audience).
“The video that does work online—and drives the thirst among publishers—is
about food, lifestyle, and animals, according to a study of 100 million Facebook
videos,” wrote Heidi Moore (https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/pivot-to-video.
php).
Kids and pets may be cute, but the topic is most compelling in online video is
breaking news. It can be an unfolding story told in video form, from a rapidly
changing stock market, a natural disaster, a trial, a demonstration, a sporting event,
or a crime scene. It can be raw footage of an event, a report including a reporter’s
narration and interviews, or a collection of reaction to a break-news event. The
video can be straight-forward hard news report, or it can provide analysis or
commentary. News video also can be a sidebar to breaking news: reporters dis-
cussing their beats or explaining how they “got that story.”
And don’t forget video as a tool for explanatory journalism: how things hap-
pened, how something is supposed to work, or why something didn’t work the way
it is supposed to. The Seattle Times newspaper in the United States won a Pulitzer
Prize for its coverage of a deadly mudslide. Its multimedia explanatory video was a
key element. Likewise, a National Geographic video explaining the reasons for the
horrific Nepal avalanche in October 2014 was educational, and compelling, and
widely shared. And sometimes news outlets use video taken by amateurs who
happen to be at the right place at the right time. That’s what The Daily Mail in
Britain did when an ex-soldier took video of an earthquake-triggered avalanche on
Mount Everest in April 2015.
>>> See the National Geographic video: Avalanches explained: http://news.natio-
nalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141017-avalanche-explainer-snow-science/
>>> See The Daily Mail’s amateur video of the Mount Everest avalanche: http://www.
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3056573/How-amateur-video-footage-captured-dramatic-
moment-Nepal-earthquake-hit.html
>>> See Seattle Times coverage of the March 2014 Oso mudslide: http://old.seattletimes.
com/flatpages/local/oso-mudslide-coverage.html
Mark Potts, a Pulitzer Prize-winning videographer and digital video editor at the
Los Angeles Times, says he likes to produce two other kinds of video reports that
don’t involve an on-camera correspondent or reporter’s voiceover. One he calls “a
fly on the wall” video, where he shows edited video with only natural sound. No
narration. For example, he shot video of violent protests against Donald Trump the
day before America’s president took office in 2017. The only voices in his L.A.
Times report came from rioters, police and onlookers outside the National Press
Building in downtown Washington. “I wanted to show how chaotic it was,” he
explained. Another approach Potts likes to use is a collection of interviews with
people, where they tell the story through their words and the videographer’s visuals.
When news is breaking, Potts emphasizes that “quick-turnaround” video is
essential. “Get it in [to the newsroom] and out [on the news site] as quickly as
possible,” he says. You can go back and tweak the videos or add more content.
10.6 Case Studies: Videos for Different New Media Platforms 269
10.6 Case Studies: Videos for Different New Media

Platforms
All video is not created equal. And video serves multiple purposes in the news
business. Video can be a social media tease to a report on your mobile app or
website. It can be a separate post for social media—or your mobile app. It can be a
live tool of news dissemination. And it can be used for breaking news stories and
video packages that will live forever on your site. Here are a few examples of the
versatility of video:
CASE STUDY 1: Tailoring video to mobile devices.
BBC. Daily Breaking News.
Dec 22, 2016
Available on mobile version, BBC App
(Screen grabs from BBC.com)
The BBC’s “Videos of the Day” option is available on the mobile version
(app) of the BBC news site. You can easily swipe to the right and watch short
videos (10–30 seconds) from all over the world. In few minutes viewers get a
diverse international news report from one of the most respected media organiza-
tions in the world.
CASE STUDY 2: Storytelling via video report
The Guardian, George Michael—video obituary
Dec 26, 2016
https://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2016/dec/26/george-michael-singer-
songwriter-pop-superstar-dies-aged-53-video-obituary
(Screen grab from TheGuardian.com)
After the George Michael’s death, The Guardian published a video obituary. The
three minute-report was tautly produced and gave its audience a concise, in-depth
view of Michael’s life and his career.
CASE STUDY 3: Using video for social engagement
NBC, Rio—2016. Olympic Games.
http://www.nbcsports.com/search?search_api_views_fulltext=olympic+games
(Screen grab from NBCsports.com)
During the Olympic Games in 2016, the National Broadcasting Company

streamed videos from the competition live on their website, and also catalogued the
videos for audience playback on demand. According to statistics, the number of
views surpassed the TV broadcast viewership for the first time. Helped by an
aggressive social media marketing campaign and a smart social media strategy
during the competition, NBC directed potential viewers to whatever videos might
interest them. This case study demonstrates the role of digital video in enhancing
social engagement and building audience interest.
10.7 The A-B-C of Digital Video 271
10.7 The A-B-C of Digital Video
If you are producing a video report that includes more than simply raw footage,
there is a time-tested, step-by-step approach to video storytelling. Call it Professor
Dunham’s A-B-C of online video:
A is the “A-roll,” an old-fashioned term for video of the central subject (or main
subjects) of your report.
B is for “B-roll,” or “background roll.” It adds depth or color to your story. It can
be background video of the person or place you are covering, historical video, or
video that gives your audience a better sense of the central subject of your story.
This video may not be taken at the same time as the news event. As you are
covering breaking news, always think of “B-roll” that you can capture as you are on
the scene of the story, or background information you might want to find in your
news organization’s archives or the internet. Remember, however, that you must
have publication rights before using someone else’s video or photographs.
C stands for “creative elements” in your video report, such as graphics, still
photographs, blocks of text (quotations or subheads) you want to display on the
screen, polling data, or other multimedia extras you might want to include in your
report.
A storyboard, just like Hollywood moviemakers use, can help you organize your
video report. On the storyboard, you should map out the “A-roll,” identify the
background information you need for your “B-roll,” and list the creative elements
you may want to include in the report.
As you plan your report, it’s important to remember that digital video stories are
still stories. You must tell a story. Stories on digital video should be as short as
possible to tell the story. Include the bare minimum to tell the story clearly, between
50 seconds and two minutes. If your story is more complex, you might think of
creating a “mini-documentary” of between five and 20 minutes. But just like with a
text story, make sure your report is written tightly and has a good pace. Put your best
material at the beginning of your web video reports. You need “a hook” to capture
your audience’s attention. Let people know quickly why the story is interesting and/
or important. And despite the self-indulgent work of some veteran broadcasters,
remember that the story is not about you. Let the subjects of your report tell their own
story. The less your audience sees of you on the digital screen, the better.
In-depth television reports can takes days or weeks—even months—to produce.
But in today’s world of instant information, we don’t always have an extended
amount of time to create our digital video reports. So how do you decide how long
to take to prepare your report? If you are covering breaking news, you want to
publish your report sooner rather than later. Produce it as quickly as you can while
ensuring the accuracy of your reporting and your journalism standards. If you are
working on an “enterprise” project, you want to make sure you have a complete and
flawless story. Take as long as you need—but not longer. You may have a specific
deadline. If so, you may need to narrow the focus of your report to meet the
deadline. If you are operating in a competitive environment, be aware of the danger
of other journalists beating you to publication. Maintain a sense of urgency, but

remember that accuracy can’t be sacrificed in the pursuit of a scoop.
How long should your video report be? Most video reports can be told in 60 to
90 seconds, says Mark Potts of the Los Angeles Times. More in-depth reports can
keep an audience’s attention for three to four minutes, he adds. High-quality reports
can run six minutes or longer, if it has value to the viewers. “If something’s good
enough,” Potts says, “people will watch it.”
10.8 Shooting Video
Often, video is not the centerpiece of your multimedia project. If that’s the case, you
should ask these questions as you decide how much time and energy to devote to
your video:
• How many people will see it—a few hundred or hundreds of thousands?
• How much help do you have to produce and edit it? Are you doing it solo? Or
do you have a substantial team to work with you?
• What’s your deadline? As soon as possible, a week from now, or whenever you
can finish it?
The less time you have, the smaller your audience and the less help you have, the
less time you should spend on the video. In today’s world of rapid-fire news stories,
you can’t afford to be self-indulgent and spend a disproportionate amount of time
on stories that lack significant news value or widespread interest.
Once you set a timetable for your report, here are six steps you can follow to
shoot effective digital video:
1. Vary your shots. Most of your video will be shot at a “medium” distance, but
include some “tight” shots of the subject’s face, some “wide” shots of a broader
scene, and some “over-the-shoulder” shots from behind the subject.
2. As you are recording video, hold the record button down for at least ten seconds.
This “10-second rule” doesn’t mean that you have to use all of that video. It just
gives you some wiggle room in the editing process. You want the camera to be
recording before you start, and you want to be able to complete your shot
comfortably to give you a natural transition to your next shot rather than an
amateurish, abrupt transition. As University of Florida journalism professor
Mindy McAdams writes (https://www.jou.ufl.edu/faculty/mmcadams/video/
five_shot.html), “You should literally count to 10, silently, after you begin
recording the shot. A shot starts when you press ‘Record’ and ends when you
pause or stop the recording. Do not stop shooting just because you reach 10.
Often you will need to hold the shot longer than 10 seconds to capture the action
you need to tell the story. The 10-second rule is a minimum.”
3. Frame and compose the shots. Your video shots should be composed just as
creatively as still photographs. With that in mind, remember the photographic
rule of thirds, that invisible grid over a photograph where the eye is drawn to four
10.8 Shooting Video 273
intersection spots. If you are not shooting an interview with a person straight on,
you should think about placing them off-center according to the rule of thirds.
4. Get good audio. There is no substitute for good sound. Even if you have
compelling visuals, bad sound can ruin a video report.
5. Be silent while you are shooting someone else. Your audience is not there to
hear your commentary. The story is not about you.
6. Mix in still images and/or graphics. Graphics or historical photos make a video
report more visually varied, and often add depth.
Some award-winning video producers use a technique they call “the five-shot
sequence” to make their reports more compelling. “Always get five shots for a
sequence,” insists Mindy McAdams. This is a formula that usually produces varied
and interesting images. Here is the British Broadcasting Corporation’s five-shot
sequence, with analysis by leading international experts:
1. A close-up shot on the person’s hands. This can be a person you are inter-
viewing or, as Mindy McAdams writes, “a subject who is working with his or
her hands and staying in one place.” According to American University jour-
nalism professor Andrew Lih, “about 50% of the frame should be hands.” The
close-up of the hands shows “WHAT is happening,” he explains.
2. A close-up on the face. Let us see the person you are highlighting. This is the
face that accompanies the hands. In Professor Lih’s words, “WHO is doing it?”
3. A wide shot of the scene. This explains “WHERE it is happening,” Professor
Lih says. “Get context, environment, mood and location information of the
subject and surroundings.”
4. An over-the-shoulder shot. This provides a visual “point of view” and serves the
purpose of “linking together the previous three concepts,” Professor Lih says.
5. A “creative” shot at an interesting angle. Professor Lih says to do something
“unusual” to provide “story-specific context” that will be “particular to your
location or story.” A creative shot can bring a touch of art to your storytelling.
“This is often the best shot, in my experience,” McAdams says. “It forces you to
think creatively.”
As a general rule, you should follow the five-shot sequence. But that does not
mean there are not exceptions. You might produce a good video report with just
three or four of these elements. But the five-shot sequence has been remarkably
effective for news professionals. So learn it, and use it when it suits your purposes.
Just as I have suggested six steps to shoot effective video, I have six things to
avoid when shooting your digital video. They are:
1. Panoramic shots. Your video often will be seen on small screens. (Think
smartphones or tablets.) If your shot has too wide an angle, it may be hard for
your audience to see what you’re hoping they will focus on. Online video is a
close-up dominated medium.
2. Zooming and panning. If you zoom in and out with your lens, it can give
viewers an out-of-focus feeling. If you want to move in closer, experts rec-
ommend walking toward the action. In other words: “zoom in with your feet.”
Panning is equally risky. By quickly showing the action move from left to right,
right to left, top to bottom, or bottom up, you are likely to leave your audience
queasy, sort of the visual equivalent of seasickness.
3. Audio or video distractions. Beware the “photo bombers”—other people in your
frame who will distract viewers from your subject. These could be people
waving, jumping up and down or yelling, for innocent fun or with malicious
intent. To avoid potential “photo bombs,” think before you shoot. Avoid
background action like buses or pedestrians that could attract viewers’ eyes.
And don’t have audio distractions, such as car horns, people yelling, plates
clinking in a restaurant, or background conversations.
4. Bad lighting. Like bad audio, a poorly lit video can ruin its impact. Avoid
shooting into the sun, advises Shirley Zilberstein, a senior editor at MSNBC.
Avoid “backlighting,” or light sources such as the sun glaring into your frame.
“Cloudy days are better than sunny,” notes Zilberstein. And even the appearance
of the background can affect the lighting quality. “If you stand outside with a
brick wall behind you, it looks better than a white wall,” she says.
5. Audio level inconsistencies. Quality audio is important. “Sound is very
important to the enjoyment of the viewer,” says Andrew Kirtzman, a media
consultant, author, former television reporter and host.” There is nothing worse
for the viewer than an interview with terrible sound.”
6. Awkward cuts or other editing errors. Do not cut to another shot before a
quotation is finished. Do not cut in mid-action. Remember the 10-second rule. It
will help you avoid embarrassment.
A few video-specific interview tips can help you out. Start by choosing an
interview location that complements your story, if you have a choice of location.
Try to pick a location where your subject is comfortable. Write out your questions,
and go over them in advance—but don’t read them on camera. You want to be
familiar with your subject matter and have a plan for the interview, but you don’t
want to sound robotic or scripted. Try to make eye contact, says Ben Geldon, a
senior producer at CNN’s “Inside Politics” program. Don’t just look into your
notebook. “You can never go wrong looking at the person,” he says.
Be aware of your surroundings. Don’t conduct an interview in a location where
you will be interrupted by ambient sound like autos or other people’s conversations
or clanging of dishes. If your audio is interrupted by ambient sound, it is acceptable
to ask the question again (or to ask the interviewee to start the answer over). It is
OK to tell the interview subject you can cut pauses—it may make them more
comfortable. “You can say, ‘We’re just on tape. I’m not going to take you out of
context. If you flub it, you can start over,’” says Geldon, a former Bloomberg TV
producer. “It just lowers the tension.”
During the interview, make lulls in the conversation work for you, as former
CNN journalist Mike Chinoy says. A pause during the interview could prompt your
interview subject to blurt out something particularly interesting to break the silence.
But if you are having trouble getting somebody to deliver the perfect sound bite, try
to ask the same question in several different ways. In video journalism, it’s more
important to get that “money quote.” You can’t paraphrase your interviewee the
way you can in a text story.
10.8 Shooting Video 275
Be conscious of your own words during the interview. Never interject words or
phrases like “yes”, “ah,” “uh,” “I understand,” “you’re right,” “good answer,” or
“interesting.” And, with the 10-second rule in mind, leave a bit of padding at the
beginning and the end of interviews. Good editing makes for better interviews.
10.9 Tips on Shooting Compelling Video

from a Pulitzer-Prize Winning Videographer. By
Mark Potts, Los Angeles Times
1. Create emotion. Certain angles can convey a certain emotion. Certain light can
convey a certain emotion. I shot video of a white supremacist. Half of his face
was in the shadows. It gave the sense of light and dark, good and evil.
2. Show their world. I look for the best way to show the world that my subject is
living in. I call it world-building. You want to see people in their natural
surroundings. You want to show that something’s happening.
3. Disappear. You want people to forget you’re there.
4. Don’t interfere. I do my best not to direct anyone. I never tell them, “Can you
say that line differently?” I never say, “React this way. Look at him this way.”
That’s not journalism. That’s filmmaking.
5. Be your own toughest critic. I judge pretty harshly on video length. You never
want the video to be too long.
6. Watch. I watch a lot of video content. I watch what the New York Times and
Washington Post do. I enjoy watching bad movies.
7. Practice, practice, practice. You want to learn to make good videos quickly.
To learn, you need to shoot stuff. Lots of stuff. You need to make videos.
When I was in college, I created a “Crazy Squirrel” series, one video a week.
I shot five to 10 minutes of video and edited it down to 30 seconds. I made a lot
of videos and learned from my mistakes.
10.10 Editing Video
Taking video is the easy part. The quality of your editing often makes the difference
between a mediocre and a good video report. Unless you are sharing raw video with
your audience, the goal of editing is to make your report more focused. The edited
video often will include narration from an unseen correspondent or a “stand-up”
appearance by the reporter, who talks into the camera.
As you prepare for video editing, you’ll need an editing program and some basic
skills. iMovie is available if you own an Apple product. Another basic program
available for non-Apple computers is Microsoft’s Windows Movie Maker.
(Download it at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14220/windows-movie-
maker-download.) You can buy professional programs including Adobe Premiere
Pro. Indeed, that’s become the favorite of digital journalists. The International
Center for Journalists concluded, after embedding journalism professors in five
news outlets that “newsrooms are moving to Adobe Premiere for video editing.
Newsrooms like its drag-and-drop editing and greater flexibility.”
Once you have found a video editing program, here are the skills you’ll need to
learn:
• Importing the video for your report
• Editing your video
• Grabbing video clips for your report, and moving video from one part of your
report to another
• Adding a voice-over to your report
• Combining different audio tracks on your video report
• Adjusting and equalizing the sound on your report
• Separating audio and video in the material you recorded
• Creating titles, captions, text blocks, transitions and final credits.
One point that can’t be repeated often enough: When you’re editing video, make
sure the sound quality is high, and consistent throughout your report. “I think audio is
at least two-thirds of the effectiveness of most video,” says Paul Riggs, a veteran video
journalist at KDAF TV in Dallas, Texas. Sound editing takes time. “Fixing the audio is
never easy,” says Charlotte-Anne Lucas, a journalism educator and multimedia
practitioner based in San Antonio, Texas. “And if the audio sucks, the video sucks.”
Here are some useful tutorials on video editing that could help you learn these
skills:
• http://www.mediacollege.com/video/editing/tutorial/
• http://lifehacker.com/5785558/the-basics-of-video-editing-the-complete-guide
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg8-83heFRM
• https://www.lynda.com/Video-Editing-training-tutorials/82-0.html
• http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/15-premiere-pro-tutorials-every-video-edi-
tor-watch/.
This should get you started with video editing. Try it. And try it again. You’ll get
better—quickly.
10.11 Writing Tips for Video News
The basics for writing video news reports are no different than any other multimedia
platform: Be clear, be concise, be conversational. Keep your words short. Get your
facts straight and your grammar correct. As a general rule, write in the active voice
and the present tense. Try to use vivid verbs that connote action rather than forms of
“to be,” “to do,” or “to get.” Avoid using words that sound the same but have more
than one meaning—You need to “hook” viewers at the beginning of the report,
certainly within the first 15 seconds, with compelling images and/or words. Your
writing should be minimalist and should complement the images, rather than
10.11 Writing Tips for Video News 277
dominating the report. And the writing must be consistently interesting, or viewers
will tune out.
Be conscious of the relationship of words and images. Your script must include
the video clips you are including in the report. However, you don’t want to use
words to describe the images on the screen. Viewers can see it for themselves. Use
the words to make another point and to move the story along. All video used in the
story should be relevant to the topic you are discussing. Graphics also can help to
explain complex subjects, and they will save valuable time in your report, since you
do not have to describe the information in words. People already will have seen it.
The beginning of the script must illustrate the main point of the story. “If you’re
not sure, tell it to a friend—what’s the first thing you say to them?” notes Huw
Edwards, a BBC newsreader. “That’s a good guide to the most interesting part of a
story and will probably be the start of your story.” You usually follow up with a
sentence or two that add context or additional key information to your first line.
After you chart out the beginning of your story, think of where you want to go in
the middle of the story. It may include sweeping or dramatic video that brings the
viewer to the central location of your story. It may be the voices of witnesses or
analysts or newsmakers. It often will a one-on-one interview you have conducted
with a key figure in the story. “The middle of your report may well be the best parts
of your interview, so review the material and pick out the best answers,” Edwards
says. Choose your best sound bites and your best visuals and arrange them in the
way that has the greatest impact.
If the opening of your script describes your theme, the closing provides a “take
away” point you want to leave the viewer thinking about. Think of how you will
end in a way that is dramatic and wraps up all of your main points. In most video
news stories, a reporter will appear on camera. Try to pick the most appropriate
place for that reporter to be, a location that is appropriate to the story.
Once you are finished with your writing, start fact-checking your report. There is
no room for error. Your story must be tight, but it also must be accurate and it must
be fair. Are both sides (or all sides) reflected when reporting on an issue?
Video news reports generally are shorter than comparable reports in print or
audio. That underscores the importance of short words and compact sentences. Pick
the key facts. Don’t overload the viewer with information. Simplify complex
thoughts. Of course, you should do this in your news writing for any medium, but it
is particularly import when writing video news reports. Most news reports are
limited to 75 seconds or less. You can’t afford to waste even a few seconds. “Make
your report too long and your audience will switch off,” warns Edwards.
>>> Here are writing tips from the BBC’s Huw Edwards: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/
bsp/hi/pdfs/071011huw_writing_news_key_points.pdf
>>> More tips from Huw Edwards: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/
071011huw_writing_news.pdf
>>> Script writing tips from the BBC’s Jim Taylor: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/
pdfs/scriptwritingmasterclasskeypoints220714.pdf
>>> More script writing tips: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-write-a-news-
script-for-tv-news-2315281
10.12 Best Practices: A Case Study. Molly Harbarger

of the Oregonian
It takes versatility to be a successful reporter for a daily newspaper in most

American cities. Molly Harbarger of the Oregonian in Portland, Oregon, is one of
those multimedia whizzes. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of
Journalism, she worked for your author as an intern at the Houston Chronicle/
Hearst Newspapers Washington Bureau before landing her post-collegiate job in
Portland.
As part of her job covering a local county government, she covered a program to
expand and improve recreational activities on off-road bicycle paths known as the
Sandy Ridge Mountain Biking System. To accompany a print article on the
mountain biking system published November 27, 2013, (http://www.oregonlive.
com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2013/11/sandy_ridge_mountain_biking_tr.html),
she prepared multimedia elements including a photographic slide show (http://
www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2013/11/sandy_ridge_mountain_
biking_tr.html), locator maps and an online video (http://video-embed.oregonlive.
com/services/player/bcpid1949055967001?bctid=2871289761001&bckey=AQ**,
AAAAPLpuSqE*,a1DdoZJH5WQo4iWaJj1w_CktvJfhQVVG).
Here is her explanation of the lessons she learned about online video by pro-
ducing the video:
Molly Harbarger: Learning advanced multimedia skills on the job (Screen grab from OregonLive.
com)
10.12 Best Practices: A Case Study. Molly Harbarger of the Oregonian 279
These days, reporters are expected to be competent photographers and videog-

raphers. I take advantage of any opportunity to improve my multimedia abilities,
including data and coding classes. So, when I started working on a couple of stories
about the increase in summertime tourism revenues around Mount Hood, I knew I
needed a way to make the story visual.
I am not naturally a visual person. But often a video, graphic or compelling
photos draw people into stories that they might pass over without the visual
component. I think the idea that Clackamas County has invested in summer tourism
opportunities so heavily and the commissioners’ efforts are paying off is an inter-
esting story. But, let’s be real, not everyone is going to click that headline.
My approach to multimedia is “value-added.” I don’t want to rehash what the
print story says, I want to add to it. Why would someone read your story when they
could get the digest in video form? I work hard on my written stories, and video is a
way to capture a reader’s attention and interest them enough to read the story.
Conversely, if someone read the story first, they want more information in the
video, not to hear the same thing they just read.
So I thought awhile about what was most interesting in the story and what is
most visual. The Sandy Ridge story is one part of a two-part story I did about
summer tourism revenues around Mount Hood.
I knew I needed to go to Sandy Ridge to take photos, and I’d have to get on the
trails to get the best shots, so I decided that I’d do one better and take a video. Since
the mountain bike rental program was part of both written stories I was working on,
it seemed perfect to show readers the process of renting a bike and riding the trail.
I used a Nikon D5100 to shoot the video and photos. I recruited my friend,
Andrew Anderson, to help me because he is the only person I knew who had
mountain-biked before. My vague idea for the video would be Andrew going
through the process of renting a bike and then shots of Andrew biking the trail.
I mountain biked with Andrew, riding ahead of him, stopping on the side of the
trail, setting up the shot and then yelling to him to ride down. We did lots of shots
like this. I also figured out a way to strap the camera to my chest, in a slightly
dangerous way, after realizing the camera was too heavy to affix it to my handlebars
with the gorilla tripod I was using.
Here are three lessons from the experience:
Takeaway 1: Talk to a video expert before trying something new with video.
I think the video turned out well, but it could have been much smoother if I bounced
my ideas off someone with more experience first. For instance, I was using a nice
camera that I bought myself. In hindsight, I would have preferred to use an
Oregonian camera, possibly a GoPro that can attach to helmets.
Takeaway 2: Always be prepared with pen and paper, even if you think you are
only working on visuals. I know to bring a pad and paper with me when shooting
video so I can take down names and ages. However, I didn’t think about it this time
because I thought I would just focus on Andrew. When that expanded, I had to take
notes on my phone, which later didn’t save properly, and I had to return to Sandy
Ridge later to get more anecdotes for the story.
Takeaway 3: If you are having fun making the video, and it is still informa-
tional, you are probably on the right track. Clearly, you don’t want to make a video
as light-hearted as this one for a story about tragedy. But think about what you are
likely to click on, and aim for that. Truthfully, I hardly ever watch videos online,
including The Oregonian’s. But the ones I do promise a new angle on the story I
just read, and good quality in terms of production and editing.
Professional Advice
The best way to serve the public is to provide accurate, unbiased information. Don’t look
for information to confirm what you think. Look for information to disprove it.
—Kelli Arena, former CNN reporter covering business and national security, and former
executive director, Sam Houston State University Center for Journalism and Democracy
10.12 Best Practices: A Case Study. Molly Harbarger of the Oregonian 281

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to save dozens stranded on Everest—As terrifying video emerges of the moment Giant
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3056573/How-amateur-video-footage-captured-dramatic-moment-Nepal-earthquake-hit.html.
Berkhead, S. (2016, January 9). Journalist of the month: Yusuf Omar. ijnet.org. https://ijnet.org/zh-
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Berkhead, S. (2016, September 1). Journalist of the month: Yusuf Omar. ijnet.org. https://ijnet.org/
en/blog/journalist-month-yusuf-omar.
Harbarger, M. (2013, December 2). Sandy Ridge Mountain biking trail becomes a draw for
Oregon and International Riders. oregonlive.com. http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamas-
county/index.ssf/2013/11/sandy_ridge_mountain_biking_tr.html.
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Kreinberg, J. (2016, June 28). How to make live video work for you. insights.ap.org. https://
insights.ap.org/industry-trends/how-to-make-live-video-work-for-you.
Lih, A. (2011, October 28). Teaching visual storytelling: The five-shot method and beyond.
slideshare.net. https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/fuzheado/teaching-visual-storytelling-the-
five-shot-method-and-beyond.
McAdams, M. (2009), Reporter’s guide to multimedia proficiency. http://faculty.jou.ufl.edu/
mmcadams/PDFs/RGMPbook.pdf.
Mulinblog. (2015, February 6). Five shot sequence: Tutorial and example. mulinblog.com. http://
www.mulinblog.com/five-shot-sequence-tutorial-and-example/.
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lympic+games.
Moore, H. (2017, September 26). The secret cost of pivoting to video. cjr.org. https://www.cjr.org/
business_of_news/pivot-to-video.php.
Packer, L. (2015, August 6). Pro smartphone journalism part 1: Four ways to stabilize your
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Chapter 11
Interactive Graphics
11.1 Taking Graphics to a New Level
Informational graphics are a critical component in multimedia journalism story-

telling. In Chap. 7 of this textbook, you learned about different ways to tell stories
using news graphics. To quickly review, news graphics can give readers more
information, tell a story in a different way, simplify complex information, make an
important point, and tell a story in an attractive way.
We’ve talked about “static” graphics already—meaning graphics that you can
look at but not click on, hover over or otherwise interact with. We’ve studied charts
and graphs, maps, illustrations, photo illustrations, timelines, and Word Clouds.
Now it’s time to learn about more advanced graphics that help us with more
advanced storytelling. Sometimes, readers can manipulate these “interactives” by
reordering rows and columns. Other times, the graphics allow readers to click
through to other pages or platforms. These graphics sometimes also are multimedia
—meaning that they use multiple media in the graphic, such as illustrations, photos,
embedded documents, videos or databases.
There is no “perfect” type of interactive graphic that can be used for all purposes.
You must use your judgment and your journalism skills to determine which kind of
interactive graphic is the most effective way to tell the piece of the story you are
using it to tell.
The best way to become comfortable with the decision-making process is to try
different kinds of interactives and learn for yourselves when to use one kind and not
another. Don’t panic. It’s not as hard as you may think. “Interactive graphics have
become much easier than they used to be,” says longtime business reporter Susan
Chandler, who has taught Global Business Journalism at Tsinghua University.
“People don’t need to learn coding anymore.”

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_11
284 11 Interactive Graphics
Of course, a little coding experience doesn’t hurt. But even a novice can create
an interactive graphic with ease. The ready-to-use templates have prompted some
young graphic artists to get carried away with the artistic side of the graphic at the
expense of the informational side. Never do that, warns Alberto Cairo. “Don’t
sacrifice any of your accuracy or clarity to make it look good,” he says.
The choices for multimedia graphics are many and varied. Let’s sample them as
we begin our tour of interactive tools …
11.2 Sortable Tables
Sortable charts and graphs are a valuable tool for your journalism audience. They
offer readers an opportunity to interact with your data and to reorganize your data
set in a way that is most useful to them.
Sortable tables allow readers to sort the data based on their selection of columns.
The columns can be arranged from largest to smallest, or least to most. They can be
arranged in alphabetical order, or reverse alphabetical order. You can sort by date,
from oldest to most recent, or from most recent to oldest.
Your author has used sortable tables in many of his stories involving the impact
of money in American politics. For example, one sortable graphic allowed readers
to examine political campaign contributions based on each state in the United
States, by political campaign donor, by date of contribution to a candidate, by the
size of the donation, by the recipient of the donation, or by the political party
(Democrat or Republican) of the recipient. The interactivity in the sortable chart
empowers readers to study the data with ease and draw their own conclusions.
It is not difficult to create sortable tables. Excel offers a good online primer at http://
office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/basic-tasks-in-excel-2013-HA102813812.aspx.
Here are three examples of a sortable table, taken from Wikipedia. This inter-
active allows you to sort its columns several different ways, including by population
and by alphabetical order. The columns can be sorted in ascending or descending
order, so you can order the world’s nations alphabetically from A to Z or Z to A,
and you can sort from most populous country to least populous country, and vice
versa.
11.2 Sortable Tables 285
Sorted by population: largest to smallest (Source Wikipedia Commons)
Sorted by population, smallest to largest (Source Wikipedia Commons)

Sorted in alphabetical order of each country’s name, A to Z (Source Wikipedia Commons)
11.3 Interactive Charts and Graphs
You have many choices when you seek to build an interactive chart or graph.
Sometimes, when you click on (or mouse over) a section of the graphic, additional
data appears. Sometimes, you click on one part of the graphic to take you some-
where else. Sometimes, you can use your mouse or track pad to shift the graphic up
or down, left or right, to zoom in, or to zoom out.
Interactive charts and graphs can immerse readers in data. They allow readers to
become reporters or investigators by following the data where it may lead them.
Interactives can take readers from one data set to another, or they may allow readers
to dig deep into a single database.
11.3 Interactive Charts and Graphs 287
>>> How-To: Sites to use

Professional tips from former Washington Post graphic artist Pamela Tobey
Infogr.am is a nice interactive graphics creation site. It charges a fee, although there
is a free, limited option.
>>> Here’s the link: https://infogr.am
Infogr.am is an easy-to-use site for attractive interactive graphics (Screen grab from website)

Piktochart is an easy-to-use website for creating many different types of info-
graphics. Not as useful for complex data visualizations but good for more basic
graphic presentations. Their free account is good, and they have paid accounts that
have access to more templates and features.
>>> Here’s the link: http://piktochart.com
Piktochart offers many free templates for interactive graphics (Screen grab from website)

Juice Analytics has an interactive chart tool that let the user filter based on what
they are searching for that will suggest the chart form to use. Then the user can
choose between PowerPoint or Excel, download the template for the software, and
add their own data.
>>> Here’s the link: http://www.juicelabs.comly
11.4 Tab Graphics 289
(Screen grab from website)
11.4 Tab Graphics
Tab graphics combine multiple interactive graphics in a single graphic using tabs
that you click on to choose which information you see at one time. Most frequently,
the tab takes the form of a series of circles that offers you a different ways to analyze
data related to a single question. For example, the tab could offer you the same data
set, but at different times, such as the percentage of China’s gross domestic product
that comes from manufacturing, agriculture and services. Or each tab could rep-
resent a demographic or geographic unit. For example, in the graphic below from
Texas on the Potomac, your author analyzed the support in the state of Texas for
expanded background checks on potential gun purchasers based on party affiliation
—Democrats, Republicans and Independents, plus all Texans. A similar tab graphic
might look at the wealth and income data for China’s five largest cities, with a tab
for each city containing data on family income, disposable income, real estate
values, unemployment rates and poverty rates.
This tab interactive, created on Infogr.am, allows the reader to review the overall survey results or
to examine the “cross-tabs” for Democrats, Republicans and Independent voters (Graphic by Rick
Dunham)
Another type of tab graphic uses the tabs in a different way. Instead of using the
tabs for demographic or geographic “cross-tabs,” this sort of interactive uses tabs to
nest multiple interactives in the space of a single graphic. The tabs all take you to
related subjects, but these sub-graphics might be in different formats. For example,
the Los Angeles Times created an interactive informational graphic on a shooting
inside Los Angeles International Airport. One tab, called “Inside the Terminal,”
provided a cross-sectional map of the site of the gunman’s rampage inside Terminal
3. A second tab highlighted “Key Locations” during the incident, while a third tab
offered a “Witness Account” of the scene.
11.4 Tab Graphics 291
>>> Click on the URL for the L.A. Times interactive: http://graphics.latimes.com/story-
board-shooting-LAX-airport/
Bloomberg News created a tab interactive for a story about pollution in China.
Each tab visualized different data, such as the 20 most polluted cities in China or
regional differences. Readers could easily navigate between the different data
visualizations. But the interactive was just part of the Bloomberg project. The
multimedia package also included a comprehensive main story in text format.
>>> Read the Bloomberg story: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-06/china-out-
sourcing-smog-to-west-region-stirs-protest.html
>>> Read the Bloomberg interactive graphic: http://www.bloomberg.com/infographics/
2014-03-07/china-air-pollution-heads-west.html
11.5 Interactive Maps
Maps are “a natural” for interactive graphics. In static form, a map is most useful as
a locator. But add interactivity to it, and you can zoom in to any point on a
map. You can see a part of a town, even view a street where news is happening.
You can visualize states in a nation, counties in a state or province, or provinces in a
country. You can visualize every nation in the world, or every planet in the solar
system. And you can interact with them.
Interactive maps can serve as locators, showing you where a news event took
place and allowing you to click on the map to get further information. One good
example of this was Caixin magazine’s interactive map of a 2013 pipeline explo-
sion in the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao. Caixin’s map of Qingdao, created
using the simple Google Maps template, contained “pins” that guided viewers to the
sites of damage. If the viewer clicked on a pin, it contained further information,
stories, photographs or video.
Maps can be much more, too. For example, it would be easy to create an
interactive map indicating the states in the United States that voted for Democrat
Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump in 2016. The states in red favored
Trump, the blue-colored states chose Clinton. You can add depth to your visual-
ization by using shades of color. The darker the red, the higher the percentage won
by Trump. By hovering over a state, you could see in-depth information on the final
election results and even links to news stories.
Global maps are very useful in economic or geopolitical stories. Which nations
have the largest GDPs? Which have the highest balance of trade? Or trade deficit?
Which nations have the highest or lowest unemployment rates? You can map
something for one year. Or, using tabs, create a time progression. The possibilities
are limited only by your imagination and the available data.
>>> Best practices: Zeit magazine (Germany)

German Reunification: A divided nation
ZeitOnline produced one of my favorite interactive maps. It studied economic changes in
Germany 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and national reunification. The maps
told the story: the areas in the former East Germany (with the exception of Berlin) had
lower standards of living than territory of the former West Germany, and they had grown
less than former West German areas.
>>> Read the article: http://zeit.de/feature/german-unification-a-nation-divided
One of five tabs in the interactive map illustrating different facets of economic change in Germany
since reunification (Screen grab from zeit.de)

Datawrapper is an easy-to-use chart creator that allows informational “rollovers.” It
has a basic, free level and subscription levels for more power. It is open source,
which means the code can be downloaded and customized by individuals and
organizations. The Washington Post has its version that customizes the charts and is
used by Post bloggers and reporters to create simple charts to accompany their
stories and by the graphics team to create more complex graphics.
>>> Here’s the link: https://datawrapper.de
11.6 Interactive Timelines 293
Datawrapper is a German product that is easy to customize (Screen grab from website)
11.6 Interactive Timelines
Timelines are a valuable piece of most multimedia journalism packages, and

interactive timelines add value by allowing readers to further explore the data you
are sharing. Your timeline might allow them to click on previous stories or videos
or slideshows. An interactive timeline allows you to save space by compressing the
amount of size used by descriptive information and replacing text blocks with
“pins” that allow you to access additional information if you click on them or
mouse over them.
There are a number of free programs available to create attractive and
user-friendly timelines. Try a couple of them out and see which one best suits your
purposes.
>>> Want to experiment with timelines? Read this MediaBistro article first: http://www.
mediabistro.com/10000words/7-eye-popping-interactive-timelines-and_b249

Sources for interactive timelines
• Dipity
• http://www.dipity.com
Dipity uses information from the internet, including social media and searches,
and aggregates them into a user-friendly platform. “Our mission is to organize the
web’s content by date and time,” the creators note. “Users can create, share, embed
and collaborate on interactive, visually engaging timelines that integrate video,
audio, images, text, links, social media, location and timestamps.” A basic package
including up to three timelines is free. There are various subscription fees
depending on how frequently you want to take advantage of Dipity’s tools.
>>> More information on Dipity: https://edshelf.com/tool/dipity/
>>> Here are two Dipity tutorials via YouTube videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ngcUjUAqZE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvc2Ok6ouq4
• Timetoast
• http://www.timetoast.com
Timetoast’s slogan is a play on its name: “Delicious timelines, easy as toast.” It
is easy to use. Its simplicity is also its limitation. It prioritizes text over images and
doesn’t allow divergence from the template. There is a basic free plan, with limited
features, and more advanced subscription options. For a basic timeline, Timetoast
will never burn you.
>>> Check out popular Timetoast timelines here: https://www.timetoast.com/popular
>>> Here is a Timetoast tutorial via YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Rk9fcBDVMd4
>>> Read a review of Timetoast on CommonSense.org: https://www.commonsense.org/
education/website/timetoast
>>> Best practices: The New York Times: How the U.S. financial market crisis unfolded:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/09/15/business/
20080915_TURMOIL_TIMELINE.html
As global financial markets melted down in September 2008, the New York
Times created an interactive timeline that helped readers understand the complex
web of economic news that caused an international recession. By clicking on points
along the interactive timeline, readers can read previous Times stories, look at data,
hear audio reports, see photo galleries and watch video reports. The narrative
framework of a timeline helped make a very complicated story much more
digestible to business news consumers.
11.6 Interactive Timelines 295
>>> Best practices: The Washington Post, President Barack Obama responds to mass
shootings: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/06/18/a-timeline-of-
president-obamas-numerous-responses-to-shooting-incidents/
It was a frequent refrain during the presidency of Barack Obama: A mass murder
caused by firearms, followed by a presidential response to reassure a grieving
nation. The Washington Post charted every large mass shooting during the Obama
presidency and displayed his response. The person was the same, but the reader
could see him grow older and increasingly weary as his presidency drew to a close.
>>> Best practices: Nelson Mandela timeline
http://elearningexamples.com/nelson-mandela-centre-of-memory-interactive-timeline/
http://www.nelsonmandela.org/interactive-timeline
The Nelson Mandela Centre created an attractive, informative and simple

timeline of the South African statesman’s life, from his early years to his period of
imprisonment to his leadership of the new South Africa. This timeline is effective
both as an educational and a journalistic tool.
11.7 Interactive Images
As your knowledge of interactive graphics increases, you will come to realize that
you can create an interactive graphic out of any image, not just something with
pre-set points in a computer program, like a map, a line chart or a bar chart. One of
the most creative ways to make an interactive more engaging for readers is to use
images (either photographic likenesses or illustrations). When your readers interact
with the image, they will get additional information (often by hovering over the
image) or be taken to another page (usually by clicking on the image) containing a
profile, photo gallery or other news content.
The downside is that interactive image graphics require coding skills, so a
beginner will need to take an online course or tutorial before experimenting with
this tool.
One best-practices example comes from The Guardian’s “NSA Files Decoded”
feature on the American spy agency’s leaked intelligence files. One of the most
useful multimedia elements in the award-winning package is a “cast of characters.”
If you mouse over the photo of each key player in the political drama, you find out
what role they play in the bigger story. It is an extremely complex story, and this
interactive image graphic makes it much easier to follow.
These are some of the key people referred to in the Guardian’s multimedia report. This image
interactive helps to simplify a complex global web of intrigue (Screen grab from TheGuardian.com)
>>> The Guardian interactive feature: NSA Files Decoded

Follow the link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-
files-surveillance-revelations-decoded
11.8 Image-Comparison Sliders
A “slider” is a dynamic tool to compare “before” and “after” images of a location. It

is sometimes called an “image-comparison slider” and sometimes either an
“overlay” or “overlaid” slider, because a second image is superimposed over a first
image to give you a comparison of the scene depicted in the “before” and “after”
images.
The slider is “a way to showcase the visual differences between two images,”
says Zurb.com. In many graphics presentations, “folks tend to typically place two
images next to each other in hopes that it’ll be clear exactly what changed,” the
article continued. “But we knew there had to be an even better way to highlight the
differences between two images.”
That way is the image-comparison slider. This tool is often used to illustrate
natural or man-made disasters such as deadly mudslides in Oregon, the Berlin Wall,
or the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Usually, the “before” image is on the
left and the “after” image is on the right. By sliding a small navigation box to the
left or right, you can make the image look more like the current view or the former
look.
11.8 Image-Comparison Sliders 297
The image-comparison slider “can be manipulated, can be dragged by the user to

show less of the before image and more of the after image, and vice versa,” notes
the Hongkiat.com website. “It’s the perfect way for certain scenarios such as
viewing the harsh effects of Mars’ atmosphere or how city landscapes change over a
half of a century.”
Sliders are particularly effective where major change is visible—whether it is in
the center of Berlin or a neighborhood in the Philippines wiped out by a typhoon.
But they are a dynamic tool for stories that involve historical comparisons, as well
as reports on disasters.
“It’s ideal for highlighting then/now stories that explain slow changes over time
(growth of a city skyline, regrowth of a forest, etc.) or before/after stories that show
the impact of single dramatic events (natural disasters, protests, wars, etc.),” says
Northwestern University’s Knight Lab, host of the “Juxtapose” slider tool.
>>> Best practices: The Wall Street Journal, The Berlin Wall: Then and Now
http://graphics.wsj.com/berlin-wall-then-and-now/
Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Wall Street Journal took
readers on a tour of some of the famous sites that are now lost to history. They
included the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Potsdamer Platz, and the
memorial to the East German man Peter Fechter, who was killed in 1962 while
trying to flee to the West. The “after” photos showed just how much the capital of
the reunited Germany had changed since the end of the Cold War. This “slider”
show was a powerful way to capture that change.
>>> Best practices: The Washington Post, The Pentagon recovers from September 11
attacks: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/local/an-altered-capital/
Ten years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, a visitor to the Pentagon outside of
Washington, D.C., would have little idea of where the jumbo jet rammed into the
United States’ largest government building. Although a memorial marked the spot
outside of the military headquarters, the building looked the same as it had a decade
before. The Washington Post, using slider technology, allowed its readers to relive
the horrific day of the al Qaeda attacks.
The Pentagon: Immediately after the September 11 attacks and 10 years later. This graphic was
created by the Washington Post (Screen grab from WashingtonPost.com)
These image-comparison sliders are powerful storytelling devices, but you’ll

need at least some basic coding experience to create them. It’s easier than you may
think. Here are some sites you can visit to learn more about the kind of coding
needed to create sliders:
Sources for sliders
Free tools:
>>> Juxtapose (Knight Lab): https://juxtapose.knightlab.com
>>> Twenty-Twenty: http://zurb.com/playground/twentytwenty
>>> Image Comparison Slider: https://github.com/CodyHouse/image-comparison-slider
>>> imgSlider: https://github.com/kavyasukumar/imgSlider
>>> Cocoen: https://github.com/koenoe/cocoen
>>> Cato.js: https://github.com/slamcode/cato.js
>>> Before-After: https://github.com/jotform/before-after.js
>>> HTML5 Before-and-After Comparison Slider: http://codepen.io/dudleystorey/pen/
EIKzk
11.8 Image-Comparison Sliders 299
Tool as part of membership package:

>>> WordPress Comparison Slider: https://wordpress.org/plugins/image-comparison-sli-
der/
Finally, here are some articles with more information on using sliders. Feel free
to read them if you’re interested in improving your slider skills.
>>> The basics of overlaying content: http://www.dwuser.com/education/content/the-
basics-of-overlaying-content/
>>> Design resources: https://policyviz.com/better-presentations/design-resources/
>>> Five free image-comparison slider scripts: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/js-image-
comparison-sliders/
11.9 Multimedia Graphics
Multimedia is a combination of different media forms, such as video, text, ani-

mation, and infographics. Different multimedia stories use different combinations of
visuals. You should always remember Jane Stevens’ advice to use the media form
that presents the story in “the most compelling and informative way.” Compelling
and informative. Here are some examples of best practices from the top profes-
sionals in the news business.
>>> Best practices: The New York Times: A Game of Shark and Minnow
http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/10/27/south-china-sea/
(Screen grab from NYTimes.com)

>>> Best practices: Sina News: Chinese government’s anti-corruption battle: http://news.
sina.com.cn/pc/2014-03-06/326/3077.html
• Sina News illustrated a year in the life of China’s anti-corruption efforts. The
interactive showed, in chronological order, the investigations of 19 State-level
officials, 142 Department-level officials, and 36 Business executives.
• Related news stories were sorted by month. Mousing over the boxes gener-
ates headlines from the original stories.
Bar chart combined with timeline (Screen grab sina.com.cn)

Sources for multimedia graphics
Prezi
www.prezi.com
Prezi allows a user to create a free account and to publish his or her project on this
website. It has many free templates that are good enough to embed images or any
video from YouTube or other sources. Its easy-to-navigate format makes it stand
out, and the types of animation it allows you to do are remarkable. It maintains your
audience’s interest because of its interactive dimension.
For a journalist who is facing an imminent deadline and does not have time to
create a complicated interactive, Prezi can help you produce a strong multimedia
element quickly and embed it in the story.
11.9 Multimedia Graphics 301
Tableau Public
http://www.tableau.com/public
>>> Best practices: “A Short History of the Highrise,” by the New York Times http://
www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/high-rise/
This remarkable project uses a sophisticated, integrated multimedia storytelling

approach to engage the reader through a combination of videos, animation, music,
text, and photos. This approach makes a complex and potentially boring historical
story comprehensible to audiences. If a reader does not understand something or
wants to dig deeper for more information, he or she can do it by using a simple
scroll down button. A sidebar story gives readers an opportunity to switch between
different parts of the story as they are reading it, or to share the project with others.
>>> Best practices: “Of the People: Americans share their hopes, fears and frustrations in
interviews from the election campaign trail, 2016,” by the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/portraits/voters-of-the-people
This project’s easy-to-navigate approach captures the reader’s eye and focuses
the reader’s attention. Its casual writing style makes it easy to relate to the
day-to-day lives of the people who are highlighted. Its simple combination of text
and photos, as well as its clean, clear layout, makes it easy for audiences to absorb
information. Its design gives the audience room to breathe and digest information.
11.10 Data Visualization
The goal of visualizing data is to simplify a mass of information so it is understandable

to the reader. When you are creating interactive infographics, your goal is also make
the information easy to navigate. That allows the reader to become a reporter, as well,
interacting with the data to discover additional information and insights.
Data visualizations can be simple and they can be complex. A good example of a
simple data visualization is the Texas Tribune’s analysis of all legislation pending
before the Texas legislature. The Tribune broke down the proposed laws into issue
categories, and then subdivided them by the number and topic of the bill. By
clicking on each bill, the reader can find out the status of the proposal. This is a true
public service, and helps demystify the legislative process.
(Screen grab from TexasTribune.org)

11.10 Data Visualization 303
>>> Original URL for the Texas Tribune’s interactive (not active now): http://www.
texastribune.org/session/83R/bills/
Data visualization also can be more complex, plotting multiple factors at the
same time but presenting it in a logical, easy-to-follow way. That was the author’s
goal when he created an interactive map in 2013 depicting political contributions
flowing into Texas from the 49 other states and the District of Columbia. He hoped
to show which states were the most interested in Texas candidates, whether
Democrats or Republicans were the chief beneficiaries of out-of-state contributions,
and which cities were the most generous. To do this, he used the Tableau Public
platform and created a two-tab interactive. The first was a map of the United States
showing all 50 states. Each state where individuals had donated to Texas candidates
was coded for the level of contribution. The darker the color, the greater the total
amount of contributions. Each of these states also had a pie chart, with blue rep-
resenting contributions to Democrats and red representing contributions to
Republicans. If you mouse over a state, you can see the precise amount of money
donated to Texas candidates—and the partisan breakdown of the contributions.
The second tab was a heat map with the largest dots reflecting the greatest
intensity of contributions. Not surprisingly, these out-of-state donor concentrations
included New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay
area.
(Interactive graphic by Rick Dunham)

(Interactive graphic by Rick Dunham)
>>> Read Rick Dunham’s interactive map charting outside money in Texas politics:
http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2013/05/interactive-graphic-which-states-donate-the-
most-to-texas-congressional-candidates/
The Texas Tribune is known for its data visualizations, both simple and com-
plex. One of the most valuable was a complex interactive map showing the impact
of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”)—a process to extract shale oil from rock
formations. The process has rapidly expanded in the early years of the 21st century,
and has meant profits for energy producers but an increase in pollution and
earthquakes related to the disruptions caused by the fracking process. The Tribune
mapped the sites of disposal wells in Texas. It was a roadmap to the environmental
cost of cutting-edge energy technology.
(Screen grab from TexasTribune.org)

11.10 Data Visualization 305
>>> Explore the Texas Tribune’s “Fracking in Texas” interactive: http://www.texas-

tribune.org/series/water-for-fracking/map/

Easel.ly: http://www.easel.ly
A free site for creating infographics that has many templates. Its drawback is that
templates are cluttered with places for bits of information that don’t make good data
visualizations. Make sure you are presenting your data in the best format for what
you want to show. You can upload your own images to create infographics. This
site is best for simpler data sets.
University of Washington Interactive Data Lab:
http://idl.cs.washington.edu/projects/lyra/
A group at the University of Washington tackles data projects to “enhance

people’s ability to understand and communicate data through the design of new
interactive systems for data visualization and analysis.” It includes new languages,
design tools for interactives and visual analysis programs. One project is Lyra, an
application designed to create interactive data visualizations that is open source and
free to try. It is still a beta program, meaning is still being developed.
11.11 Embedded Documents
Embedded documents are one of the most underutilized tools available in the
multimedia tool kit. With the help of an easy-to-use program called Scribd, any
journalist can embed legal documents, reports, letters, maps, legislative proposals,
treaties, trade pacts … anything you can convert into a PDF or a Word document.
Readers can explore the embedded documents at their leisure. They can dig deep
into the story, if they want to. They can skim the documents, if they want to. Or
they can skip over them.
Embedded documents are valuable for several reasons:
• Embedded documents bolster your reporting by allowing readers to examine the
evidence you used in your reporting. The embedded documents enhance your
credibility by providing transparency.
• They turn readers into reporters. Readers can explore the documents and come
up with new angles on your multimedia package. Or they can understand why
you reached the conclusions you did.
• The documents turn readers into witnesses. It takes them behind closed doors at
a legal deposition, or inside the U.S. Supreme Court, or to an exchange of letters
between two sides in a dispute. It is authentic. And it is immediate.
• Embedded documents complement other material in your multimedia report. If
you embed an entire report, you only need to quote the highlights in your other
stories. You can link to the embedded document and let the reader explore it in
detail if she or he so desires.
Here is an example of how the author used Scribd to embed a letter on Texas on
the Potomac. In 2011, a Texas state senator faced allegations that he had been
hospitalized for mental instability in the past. The candidate, Dan Patrick, formerly
known as Dan Goeb, authorized his psychiatrist to write a letter detailing the
treatment and discussing his prognosis for the future. By reading the embedded
letter, voters could reach their own conclusions based on first-hand research, not
just social media sensationalism. (By the way, Patrick was elected lieutenant
governor.)
Embedded documents
>>> http://www.scribd.com
>>> Read the Scribd post referenced above: http://www.scribd.com/doc/224455150/Dr-
Kramer-Letter-11-07-25
11.11 Embedded Documents 307
>>> Best practices

“V is for Vegetarian,” a Global Business Journalism Program multimedia project by
Marium Nasir, Xu Jia, and Liu Yinglun, December 2016
http://rickproj.wixsite.com/vforvegetarian/
As part of a 2016 story called “V for Vegetarian: The life and struggles of
vegetarian students at Tsinghua,” Tsinghua University multimedia journalism stu-
dents used Scribd to embed letters documenting the attempts of Tsinghua’s club for
vegetarian students to seek a vegan food station at one of the university’s canteens.
The students’ letter, and the response from the university administration, added a
powerful element to an innovative multimedia report. It increased the story’s
credibility because of the documents underscored the theme of the multimedia
project: the difficulty vegetarian students face in a country where very few vege-
tarian options are available for dining.
11.12 GIFs
GIFs made the transition from social media mainstay to journalism tool in the
mid-2010s, when news organizations discovered that moving images on social
media posts drew more readers to the original story than a still photograph. All of a
sudden, journalists (and not just students and young people) were joining the GIF
revolution.
GIF is an acronym meaning “Graphic Interchange Format.” A GIF can be a still
photo, like a JPG, or it can be a moving image, formally called an animated GIF.
Today, GIFs are almost always short videos (usually one to three seconds) that
repeat over and over on a video loop.
The biggest debate over GIFs is how to pronounce the acronym. Many people
incorrectly pronounce the word with a “hard” G sound, like “gift.” But the creators
of the GIF, Bob Berry and Steve Wilhite, insist that it should be pronounced with a
“soft” G sound, like “gymnasium.” The reason for that is that they chose the
acronym GIF to honor a peanut butter brand named “Jif.” The slogan of Jif peanut
butter was “choosy mothers choose Jif.” Berry and Wilhite believed that choosy
artists would choose GIF.
>>> Read the definition of GIF in the Urban Dictionary online: http://www.urbandic-
tionary.com/define.php?term=GIF
Most animated GIFs consist of short videos, but they also can be made up of still
photographs combined in a rapid-fire (but very brief) slideshow. GIFs also can be
animated images—an extra short cartoon of one to three seconds that repeats over
and over and over and over.
Journalists use GIFs to capture many kinds of action. They can underscore the
importance of a moment in time or a person’s personality. In 2011, when Texas
Governor Rick Perry was running for the Republican presidential nomination, he
infamously forgot one of the three U.S. government agencies he had promised to
abolish. His “oops” moment—the word he used when he made the mistake—at a
presidential debate went viral on social media and became an instant classic. Perry’s
presidential campaign never recovered from the ridicule, accentuated (and accel-
erated) by the popularity of the GIFs.
“Oops.” (GIF screen grab by Rick Dunham)
GIFs are often used for parody or ridicule. American presidents are frequent
targets of critics who use unflattering photographs to demonize or mock them. An
addition to the GIF repertoire is the cartoon. Chinese state media has embraced this
form of GIF to publicize stories about President Xi Jinping. Most of these animated
cartoon GIFs have three or four illustrations that, when presented in rapid
11.12 GIFs 309
succession, create the look of a cartoon. Animated GIFs also are useful to show
changes in economic data over time by turning a series of static images of economic
statistics at one point in time and turning them into a “moving picture.”
It’s easy to create your own GIF. There are several free templates available on
the internet, and you can pay to buy programs with a bit more power and/or privacy.
Try it. You just might like it.
>>> To create a GIF via imgflip’s GIF Maker, follow this link: http://imgflip.com
imgflip makes making GIFs easy and fun (Screen grab from imgflip)
>>> For a tutorial on creating GIFs from Buzzfeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/katieno-

topoulos/how-to-make-a-gif-without-photoshop
>>> Here’s Gizmodo’s five-step tutorial for GIF-making:
http://gizmodo.com/5941436/how-to-make-a-gif-in-five-easy-steps
11.13 Animation
Animation was once a skill reserved for cartoon craftsman who spent their lives
drawing still images that would come to life when the thousands of “cells” that they
drew where animated to become a movie or television program. Now, animation
has been digitized, and even the least-artistic of us can create at least passable
animation for a journalism project. With training and a hefty budget (to buy
high-quality animation programs), you can become a professional animator.
Animation has slowly become part of the journalism landscape in the 2010s.
News organizations have created a “30-second explainer” or “60-second explainer”
in which a cartoon character explains complicated concepts in a user-friendly way.
A major breakthrough came in 2016 when the Boston Globe published an ani-
mation showing the damage caused to the human body by assault weapons that are
readily available in American cities and towns.
>>> See the Boston Globe’s animated editorial on gun violence: http://apps.bostonglobe.
com/graphics/2016/06/make-it-stop/
Simple animations can be created on your laptop if you have the PowerPoint
program. Click on the “animations” tab, then go to “motion” and create a path.
That’s what students of mine did when they were creating a multimedia project on
the economic ties between Germany and China.
Global Business Journalism Program students created animations illustrating the flow of
automobiles, as well as students, from Germany to Beijing
While advanced animation programs can be very expensive, Sparkol’s

VideoScribe offers a program at a moderate cost that helps you create a variety of
animations for news stories. There are how-to videos and detailed instructions, so
you could become a pro in a relatively short period.
11.13 Animation 311
>>> To watch an animation training video, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/

playlist?list=PL941uNyvzPSFVX7Turb-DCTikB4FwLL55
Animation though Macromedia Flash 8

You can now animate using Macromedia Flash 8. Journalists who are looking to tell
stories in an entertaining way can benefit from its illustration style. It has been
dubbed the future of new media for conveying factual content.
>>> You can learn how to animate using Flash 8 though this link: http://www.tea-
cherclick.com/flash8/
Important tips for using Macromedia Flash 8

Be mindful of how to manage your timeline on Macromedia Flash 8. Just like any
other video or animation software, it gives you a timeline to experiment with. But it
is tricky to inserting keys. Remember that you can use the F6 key to insert the same
frame again. Moreover, this software works best if you do separate animations
through creating graphic symbols.
>>> This tutorial for creating symbols, tweens, key frames, and more will help you learn
animation: https://www.ytpak.com/watch?v=mD-TCX2LWls
Animation using Adobe After Effects CS6

After Effects CS6 is the foundation of pre- and post-production of many animations,
especially for the most-used 3D animation software in Hollywood such as
Autodesk. After Effects can make a simple video into a powerful one by supple-
menting a regular video with other multimedia elements like text, interactive
graphics, and tracking. It is also good for 2D animation.
>>> You can download After Effects first for a 30-day free trial, then pay a fee based on
different plans it offers from this website: https://creative.adobe.com/plans
Like other software, it has layers and a timeline for animators to use. What sets it
apart from other available software is its depth of field creation even in simple
animation of images through its built-in camera.
>>> You can learn after effects from adobe’s channel, adobe, tv https://helpx.adobe.com/
after-effects/tutorials.html. It allows to choose tutorials according to your existing skill set.
Professional Advice
It’s only a fail if you don’t learn.

—Charlotte-Anne Lucas, American journalism educator and multimedia practitioner
Charlotte-Anne Lucas and Bill Waldrop (Photo reproduced with permission)
11.13 Animation 313
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Part III
Organizing a Multimedia Project
Chapter 12
Creating a Multimedia Project
12.1 Your Multimedia Tool Kit
Now that you have built your “tool kit” of multimedia skills, you’re ready to apply
your knowledge. It’s time to put your storytelling skills to the test by planning and
executing a multimedia project.
A multimedia project can use any or all of the multimedia platforms you’ve
already learned. Among them:
• Text (stories, commentary, analysis, blocs of text pulled out of the story for
emphasis)
• Still photographs
• Photo galleries or slideshows
• Audio clips or reports
• Embedded video
• Soundslides presentations
• Graphics, static or interactive
• GIFs
• Animation
• Original documents and other embedded material.
It doesn’t have to use all of them. But you should use a variety of media
platforms. After all, that’s what multimedia means. “Multimedia is not more
media,” Fred Ritchin, dean at the International Center of Photography, once
explained, “but the employment of various kinds of media (and hybrid media) for
what they each offer to advance the narrative.”
A warning as you prepare to launch your project: Not all journalism stories lend
themselves to multimedia packaging.
Failed multimedia projects are often too dependent on one media element, such
as text (augmented by photo galleries), video (augmented by still photos) or
graphics (with minimal context). Multimedia packages without depth are really

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_12
318 12 Creating a Multimedia Project
one-medium stories with a modicum of variety. These unsuccessful packages signal

that the author is not comfortable with multimedia storytelling or that the editor
does not understand how to tell a story in multiple media.
On the other hand, some multimedia projects have too many elements. The
package becomes redundant and repetitious and repetitive and repeating. Well, you
get the idea. You want different multimedia elements to complement one another—
not to repeat one another. If you have an interview with a key figure in your story,
you might want to include it as a video, an audio element or a text Q&A. You don’t
want to do it more than once. Likewise, don’t repeat large blocs of copy in more
than one story. If you include key parts of an interview in one story, don’t repeat the
same quotations in another. Duplication is a turnoff to your audience.
Clarity of purpose is essential to successful multimedia projects. You must
master the subject matter you are covering. And you create a logical structure to
present your findings. As Mark Hamrick, Washington bureau chief for Bankrate.
com puts it: “You can’t write a story that you yourself do not understand.”
12.2 What Stories Work Best in Multimedia?
Here are seven keys to making stories work in multimedia format:

1. Multiple dimensions
A good multimedia project is not overly reliant on a single medium or element.
It works best with an element anchoring the report, usually text or video. But it
needs additional dimensions to be effective. Graphics, particularly if they are
interactive or explanatory, add depth, as do timelines. Other strong elements that
deepen your project include profiles of major people or places in the project,
casts of characters, interviews with key figures, or organizational charts. As
Reuben Stern, deputy director of the Futures Lab at the University of Missouri
School of Journalism, points out, “Multimedia storytelling tools (photo, video,
audio) are best suited to capturing specific important moments or to transporting
viewers/listeners to the place where something interesting is happening.”
2. Great visual or audio elements
Recall the earlier advice that dramatic moments, moments of motion and
emotion, can be best captured in video. Sometimes, audio does the same thing
and also transports listeners to a time or place in their imagination. Photos,
photo galleries and slide shows with sound can keep your audience engaged
with your storytelling. Good graphics can add depth and understanding, clarify
complex issues, and explain key elements in your project.
3. Simplification
It’s important to organize a multi-faceted story effectively. You want to simplify
your presentation to make sense of a complex web of elements. Make sure each
12.2 What Stories Work Best in Multimedia? 319
element of the project clearly reflects that simple theme. Ideally, your project
will include a mix of linear and non-linear elements. For example, an analytical
story (non-linear) could be accompanied by a timeline or a photo gallery with
the images arranged in chronological order (linear).
4. Explanation
To be valuable to your audience, your multimedia project needs to do more than
just recite information that everyone already knows. You want to explain
something. That could mean explaining the significance of a situation, providing
context behind a news story they are familiar with, explaining why a cer-
tain situation may not be the way that people think it is, or explaining the
importance of a story that nobody else has told. You add value for your readers
through your expertise and explanation.
5. Analysis
You want to go beyond the news to offer your readers wisdom. That means
delving beneath the surface to explain the “why,” the “how” something hap-
pened, the “how” something works (or doesn’t work), the “what” it really
means, the “so what,” or the “what’s next.”
6. Timing
You should always consider the timing of the publication of your project.
Sometimes it is driven by external considerations, such as breaking news or a
scheduled event. Other times it is driven by internal considerations, such as the
time it takes you to complete an exclusive project. One way or another, you
want to plan carefully for maximum impact. If your project is pegged to a
breaking news event, you want to publish it at the time of greatest reader
interest. When you are tying your project to a scheduled event—such as an
international summit or the release of a company’s earnings statement—you
need to plan carefully to make sure you finish it in time. If your project is an
exclusive report that is not tied to an external event, you should create interest in
it through social media and community-building outreach. You need to find a
way to attract people to your news platform. Otherwise, your outstanding
journalism will remain unknown and unappreciated.
7. Complementary elements
Do not repeat the same basic information in multiple media. For each story
element, use the medium that tells the story best. Don’t do a video interview and
then post a Q&A of the same interview in text form. Don’t do a text sidebar that
repeats the same theme of your interactive graphic. It is OK—even advisable—
to “flick” to various multimedia elements of your project in the main story. You
should not, however, repeat quotations or complete sections of stories.
No matter how hard you try, you will not succeed every time to conceptualize a
multimedia project. “Embrace your mistakes,” writes Michael Hernandez,
Cinematic Arts and Broadcast Journalism teacher in Los Angeles. “There will be
plenty of them, so learn from each one and make the next project better.”
By trying and making mistakes during the production process, you can make
your project better. Tsinghua University journalism graduate student Jessie Xu
described her efforts to perfect a multimedia team project: “As our group worked on
the final project, we were obsessed with videos and animations at first. However,
some of them were merely duplicating the text or were not necessary at all. After
several attempts, we asked ourselves, ‘Do we really need this multimedia element?
What value does it add to our story?’ before posting photos or editing videos.”
12.3 Packaging Your Multimedia Project
Journalistic substance is just the beginning to good multimedia storytelling. You

also have to present your content in an attractive and easy-to-follow, user-friendly
way.
Packaging your multimedia project skillfully is vital. Your audience can’t read,
watch, listen to, or interact with your report if they can’t find it on the internet or
navigate through it on their mobile device.
Your project’s home page, or “landing page,” is the visual roadmap to your
project. Among the elements it provides can be: background information on the
topic, databases, other interactive features, timelines, informational boxes, lists, lists
of other stories on the subject, links to resources to help your readers understand the
topic, a schedule of online chats that you are participating in, or a piece describing
how the story was compiled. You need to plan a robust social media presence, both
on your news organization’s social media platforms and your own.
If you are using an integrated multimedia storytelling format, the content that the
viewer sees on the first screen (whether it is on a mobile device or a computer), is
vital to capturing their interest and making them want to read more. In this kind of
format, an engaging video image, or a riveting still photo, is a key component in
your project.
Please take time to think about how you will package your report as you are
developing it. Don’t wait until the end, when your content is finalized, to think
about how you are going to present it and “push it out” to the public via social
media or other digital means.
It’s always useful to look at “best practices” examples to guide your thinking as
you plan your own multimedia projects. Here are three case studies: one a sched-
uled event (the 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama), one a breaking
news story of local import (the 2013 Washington Navy Yard shootings), and one a
breaking news story of global import (the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks).
12.4 Best Practices in Multimedia Planning 321
12.4 Best Practices in Multimedia Planning
Here are some examples of planning multimedia projects. We start with a scheduled
event that gave the journalists plenty of time to plan the project. We follow it up
with two breaking news stories that tested the package planners’ flexibility, news
judgment and creativity.
>>> Case study of a pre-planned multimedia project: Hearst Newspapers’ cov-

erage of 2009 Obama inauguration
By Rick Dunham
Following the historic election of Barack Obama as the first American president of
African descent, I was assigned by the editors-in-chief of Hearst Newspapers’ 15
daily newspapers to coordinate coverage of Obama’s January 20, 2009, inaugu-
ration for the print newspapers and the news organization’s websites. As a bit of
background, Hearst at the time published six newspapers in Texas, including the
Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express News, five in Connecticut, the Albany
Times-Union in New York’s capital city, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
I saw this as an opportunity—early in the age of digital and interactive media—
to show the power of multimedia journalism. I assigned a wide variety of stories,
some tailored for specific Hearst newspapers (in Texas or California, for example)
and some written for all 15 news outlets. Here are some of the stories we produced.
I note whether the stories were national in scope or tailored to the local market. All
contained multimedia elements.
• Live video of the Obama inaugural address, followed by a transcript (national)
• Live online chat during the ceremony (national)
• Breaking news: Barack Obama becomes president (national)
• Breaking news: George Bush’s final day as president (national, Texas)
• Analysis: George W. Bush’s place in history (national)
• Analysis: The Bush presidency evaluated by the numbers (national)
• Pomp and color from inauguration day (national)
• Photo galleries of news events (national, local)
• Local reaction for each paper (local)
• Reaction from civil rights leaders in each paper’s market (local, with a national
story for the Hearst News Service)
• The inaugural balls and celebrations (local, with a national story for the Hearst
News Service)
• Obama’s team of advisers (national, with local stories for Texas, California)
• A timeline on key historical events in civil rights struggle (national)
• Most memorable inaugurations in U.S. history (national)
• Top Ten presidential inauguration speeches, with video and complete texts
(national).
You can see from the story selection that we wanted to be a “one-stop shopping
experience” for our readers, to guarantee them all the important information they
needed in the days leading up to the inauguration and then on inauguration day.
We also wanted to provide information and stories that our readers could not find
anywhere else. We hoped to provide historical context for the events, as well as
share the excitement of history being made. We took advantage of multimedia
elements such as timelines, photo galleries, interactive graphics and live chats to
engage our audience and to broaden the reach of our normal Washington bureau
coverage.
>>> Case study of a breaking news story of great local interest: The Washington
Post multimedia project on Washington Navy Yard shootings
A disgruntled worker went on a shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard in
the American capital city in October 2013. The Washington Post responded
immediately with a logically presented, comprehensive package of multimedia
stories. The Post, which is famous for its informational graphics, combined print
and video reports with superb illustrations. The stories included:
• A main print story summarizing the most important news

• A graphic describing the attack minute by minute, with detailed illustrations of
buildings where the shootings took place
• A photo gallery of the victims
• A report on the shooter
• A graphic on what to do if you are caught in a shootout—something important
to readers in a national capital where terrorist attacks could happen at almost
any time
• Video interviews with witnesses that brought you to the scene of the crime
• Video of President Obama’s reaction to the attacks.
The Post expanded its coverage in subsequent days, but always kept two things
in mind: (1) It wanted to present a well-organized group of stories that set the tone
for national coverage of the attack and (2) It thought in terms of multiple media, not
simply print coverage.
>>> Case study of a breaking news story of international significance: Washington
Post coverage of the terrorist attacks on Bataclan night club and other locations in
Paris in November 2015
When gunmen opened fire in a crowded Paris nightclub, top news organizations
around the world sprung into action. Even before the terrorist group Islamic State
(or ISIS or ISIL) claimed credit for the attack, news organizations quickly created
multimedia packages focusing on the terrorist ties to the deadly assault. When the
key suspects were identified, news organizations were ready with multimedia sto-
ries about the perpetrators of the assault that was condemned by governments
around the world.
Washington Post coverage was comprehensive and creative (Screen grab from WashingtonPost.
com)
Once again, the Washington Post mobilized its staff to create the most varied
and compelling international multimedia coverage of a major news story.
The Post did not have the biggest staff of the news organizations covering the
event, nor did it have the most reporters on the ground in Paris. What it had was a
creative group of editors in Washington, a superb staff of interactive graphics
specialists, and a nimble team of reporters who quickly executed a complex mul-
timedia plan.
Among the reporting elements:
• Live reports from the scene
• An interactive graphic showing the times and places of the coordinated attacks
• A report on the Bataclan theatre, “the epicenter of the terror attacks in Paris”
• An eyewitness report from a 22-year-old survivor of the Bataclan bloodbath
• Follow-up reports on police raids of suspected terrorist cells across Europe
• Video of remarks by French President Hollande responding to the attacks

• An interactive graphic featuring reaction from world leaders
• Reports on French retaliatory airstrikes against ISIS in Syria
• A photo gallery of the victims
• An interactive graphic on the suspects
• A photo gallery on one of the attackers taken from his own social media posts
• A video posted by the terrorist group explaining its rationale for the murderous
spree and promising to “attack America at its center”
• An analysis of the significance of the attacks: “new chapter in terrorism”
• A timeline of radical Islamic attacks across Western Europe since 1970
• A timeline of radical Islamic attacks globally in the previous year
• Analysis: How the Paris attacks “combined more than a decade of terrorist
tactics in a single night”
• The search for the Belgian mastermind of the attacks
• A map of the manhunt
• A profile of the attack’s planner: “He is a barbaric man”
• A video on the manhunt for the mastermind
• A profile of the Belgian neighborhood where the attack’s planners lived and its
ties to radical jihadis
• A profile of the neighborhood where the deadliest attacks took place, an area
known for its tolerance and diversity: “We are everything they hate”.
The Post employed the power of links embedded in the story text to allow
readers to get further background on key characters, locations and issues. It also
smartly re-packaged some of its previous multimedia projects that were relevant to
this story, proving that high-quality multimedia journalism can be durable and not
information ephemera. Among them:
• Foreign fighters flow into Iraq, Syria—a map showing how many jihadis have
come to fight with ISIS in Syria from each country and region in the world
• The growing web of conflict in Syria—an interactive explanation of a civil war
that has metastasized into an international crisis
• The Islamic State’s inroads into America—an analysis of the slow increase in
the number of radical Islamic sympathizers in the United States
• Remembering the victims of the Paris attacks—the stories of many of the 120
victims of the Paris terror.
Planning a multimedia enterprise project

12.5 Choosing a Topic for Your Multimedia Project
Not every multimedia project is a breaking news story. To stand out in a crowded
journalism marketplace, you must create your own multimedia content on original
topics of your own choosing. The goal is to provide journalism stories on your
platform that nobody else has. That means using the skills you’ve learned from
these best-practices examples and applying them to projects you come up with
yourself. This kind of “enterprise” journalism—coming up with exclusive projects
—is at the heart of successful modern journalism. But it’s not easy to execute well.
How should you proceed?
It takes a lot of planning to conceptualize and execute an enterprise project. Start
by picking a topic that you want to examine. It could be broad—GDP growth rates
around the world, or growing wealth inequality. It could be more narrow—the
Chinese stock markets. Whichever direction you choose, the topic of your story is
how you answer your friend’s question: What are you working on?
The next step—and it is crucial to the success of your project—is to pick a
storyline for your project. This is where you move from the generality of a topic to
the specificity of a thesis. Pick a thesis for your project, and maybe a working title.
These will answer your friend’s question: What is the story about?
Using the examples from above, you might go from a story about GDP growth
rates around the world to one examining why GDP growth rates in Asia have
increased so much more rapidly than GDP growth rates in Europe, America or
Africa. You might examine why some Asian countries’ growth rates are increasing
rapidly and others, like Japan, are barely changing. You might compare GDP
growth rates in the developing world versus the developed world, or study why
certain European countries, like Germany, are experiencing continued growth,
while others, like Greece, Russia and Great Britain, are facing serious challenges.
If your topic is global income inequality, you might focus your project to look at
inequality in rapidly developing nations, or growing inequality in wealthy countries
such as the United States, or inequality by gender or among racial and ethnic
minorities. The key here is to move from a general subject that is widely covered to
a specific storyline that gives you an opportunity to say something new, interesting
and important.
After you sharpen your topic, you need to come up with a thesis that you will
test with your reporting. It might be the reason why women in developing nations
are falling further behind as those countries become wealthier. Could it be that
deep-rooted gender bias makes it harder for women to progress? Could Germany’s
economic successes of the past decade be a result of innovation, high quality and an
embrace of globalization that other European nations cannot match? The more
specific your thesis is, the easier it will be to test it through your hands-on reporting.
A working title—the tentative name for your project—is important because it is
a tool to “market” your journalism exclusive to the rest of the world. A catchy title
can broaden the appeal of your project. That headline on your project’s homepage
also tells fellow journalists that you are both creative and that you take your
12.5 Choosing a Topic for Your Multimedia Project 333
assignment seriously. “If you can’t summarize your article in a headline, there’s
something wrong with the article,” says Yochi Dreazen, managing editor for news
at Foreign Policy magazine.
Next, begin to conceptualize the multimedia elements in your project. Are you
going to have a main story, or will several elements be equally important. If you have
a main story, will it be text, video or audio? What elements would work best as video
or audio? Are there any obvious photo galleries or maps? What informational
graphics would add value for your audience? Do you want to embed any documents?
Identify your best data sources. Where can you get the information to prove (or
disprove) the thesis of your project? Are there any databases you want to import or
build yourself? Data is more plentiful than ever, but remember to be careful with
data. Some data sets are more reliable than others. Treat data like all other sources.
It must pass the test of being a trusted source before you use it.
Now the time has come to do preliminary research to determine whether the facts
back up your thesis and that there is enough “meat”—evidence, data, expert
interviews, eyewitness testimony—to build a strong project that is worth a major
commitment of time and energy. If your thesis is faulty, you either want to tweak it
(in minor ways), revise it (in major ways), or start again. It is not a journalistic sin to
abandon a project. It is better to “pull the plug” on a bad project and let it die than to
complete it and have it be a journalistic embarrassment to you and your team.
12.6 Packaging Your Multimedia Project
Let’s assume you have done preliminary reporting and know you have enough
good stuff to create a strong multimedia package. It’s time to begin to think seri-
ously about the packaging of your project. What are the most useful elements?
Which are best covered by text stories, graphics, videos, audio, databases, or other
formats? How will you present the final product to your audience? In today’s media
world, where most people consume news on electronic devices, it is absolutely
crucial to think mobile when you are thinking of packaging. From the beginning of
your project, think of how someone would read your project on a smart phone, a
tablet, or a laptop computer. You can’t afford to alienate half of your potential
audience by making your work inaccessible to them.
The packaging of your project begins with a process known as storyboarding.
A storyboard is a rough sketch of your project’s organization. Put simply, it is a list
of its contents. The term storyboard comes from the movie world. In Hollywood, a
storyboard is the drawing that shows each camera shot in a movie. It organizes the
motion picture and tells the director what the moviegoer will see on the screen.
A journalism storyboard serves the same function. It allows the organizer of a
multimedia project to explain what the reader will see in the final project.
The storyboard helps to define the parameters of the story within available time
and resources (human and financial). It effectively sets limits on the story to keep
you disciplined and avoid irrelevant and duplicative content. It helps you focus your
work. It makes you think about which medium (text, video, graphics, etc.) is best
for which element of your story. And it forces you to make practical decisions: Do
you have the time or money to execute certain elements?
Always take the issue of feasibility into account. A virtual reality element might
be nice, but you have no budget to pay for the equipment. Or it might be nice to fly
to 10 countries in Europe for your project on income inequality, but it would take
too long and cost too much.
What are some of the elements you might want to include in your project? Here
are some tips from journalism trainer Jane Stevens’ multimedia tutorial at the
University of California at Berkeley:
• The lead and “nut” paragraph: Why the story is important and worth someone’s
time
• A profile of the main person (or people) or organization in the piece
• A list of the major players or characters in the story
• A description of the event being covered or the situation being examined
• An explanation of how something works or the process that is involved
• A history of the event or situation
• “Pros and cons” of some key element in the story
• Other issues raised by the story
• What comes next
• Prescriptions for change.
That’s a pretty good start, but here are a few additions to the list:
• Would maps add value to the project?
• Would timelines add scope or depth to your story?
• What kind of informational graphics would help explain the story and make its
conclusions more powerful?
• What kinds of photo galleries or slide shows would engage the reader?
• What form should the audio or video components take?
– A profile
– An interview
– An explanatory element
– A case study
• What data might give your story more power or scope?
>>> Read Jane Stevens’ “start-to-finish” multimedia project tutorial: https://multimedia.
journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/starttofinish/
>>> Read Jane Stevens’ complete storyboarding tutorial: http://multimedia.journalism.
berkeley.edu/tutorials/starttofinish/storyboarding/
>>> Read a tutorial on storyboarding from FilmmakerIQ.com: http://filmmakeriq.com/
2010/10/500-storyboard-tutorials-resources/
12.6 Packaging Your Multimedia Project 335
>>> Best practices: Examples from Multimedia Business Reporting classes at

Tsinghua University
Students in the Global Business Journalism Program at Tsinghua University have
been producing professional-level multimedia news reports for the past decade.
Here are some examples of storyboards that they have produced:
>>> Example #1: Confucius: Then and Now
>>> Example #2: Changing China’s One-Child Policy

>>> Example #3: The life of a vegetarian at Tsinghua
>>> Example #4: Deliverance: Food Delivery at Tsinghua

12.7 Prioritizing Each Medium
As you are deciding which medium to use in your multimedia project, you should
consider the inherent assets of each medium.
Text is the most effective way to explain something in a memorable way, and to
explain why something is important. It is particularly good for providing depth and
context. Text is a vital storytelling device because it helps you structure your report.
It’s the best way to tell a narrative story, a tale that starts at “Point A” and ends at
“Point Z.” Words are a powerful tool of persuasion, and those words, used effec-
tively, can point readers toward a conclusion. It may be a need for change, or for a
particular solution.
Video can provide drama and raw emotion that words cannot match. The action
it depicts, the motion and emotion it captures, can be more interesting than words.
Video can take the news consumer to the heart of the story, to see and assess the
central characters. It engages the heart more than the mind.
Photos emphasize emotion—love, hate, ecstasy, agony, joy, pain, loss, reunion.
They capture a moment and create a mood in the minds of the reader. They deepen
readers’ impressions of your story. Great photos reveal gradations of personality
that are impossible to match with words. Like great videos, they evoke strong
reactions among readers. But photographs have an advantage over video: The
images people remember longest are still photographs rather than video. The
emotional impact of photos can become even more powerful with a good
slideshow.
Audio creates a mood. Like photography, audio is an emotional medium that
can immerse the reader in a location or character. But its advantage over photog-
raphy is that the sounds of voices can reveal insights into the characters of key
players. The way they speak—their confidence, hesitation, authoritativeness or
disconnection from reality—are invaluable in telling some stories. In addition,
audio reports can easily be packaged with other stories, because audio links are
simple to embed and take up relatively little space on a digital screen.
Graphics are not only attractive, but they are excellent explanatory tools and the
best way to simplify complex concepts. In our multimedia packages, they are
invaluable because they engage readers and allow the audience to interact with the
story. There is no better way to display numbers than a good graphic. Stories that
are stuffed full with numbers or long lists can become boring to the readers, as are
numbers-heavy television reports. Graphics allow you to slice, dice and display
numbers without overloading the minds of the readers.
Graphics help you explain how things work (or don’t work). They can show
changes over time (particularly if your storytelling is not linear). They can explain
an organization’s structure. Maps are invaluable, whether to pinpoint a location or
to organize information. And they are a good way to list key elements of your story.
12.7 Prioritizing Each Medium 341
Now that you’ve weighed the pros and cons of each major medium, it’s time to
ask yourself six questions that can guide you in structuring your project:
1. Which elements belong in text?
• A narrative, either biographical or chronological
• Historical background or context
• An explanation of a process that is critical to your report
• First-person accounts
• A Q&A with a key figure
• The story behind the story
2. How should we package the project?
3. Have I done everything I can to avoid repetition among various elements in the
project?
4. Is each multimedia element adding some value for the audience?
5. Are we using enough interactive elements?
6. Should we plan online forums or chats in conjunction with the launch of the
project?
While your project is being created in multimedia form, it is important to
remember that good writing is essential across media. “Writing is the core skill of
any multimedia project,” writes Michael Hernandez, “including interview ques-
tions, story structure, and voiceovers.”
12.8 Fifteen Steps to a Completed Multimedia Project
You’re almost ready to move forward with your project. If you’re not operating on
an immediate deadline with breaking news, here’s a recommendation for how to
most efficiently use your time for the hard work ahead. The amount of time in
between these steps may vary based on the difficulty of your reporting, the amount
of time you are given by your bosses (or professors). Please note the importance of
getting regular feedback—from your team members, from peers, and from super-
visors. This feedback can help solve problems. It also can give you some new ideas
that lift the project to a higher level. When you receive regular feedback, you
become clearer about the direction in which you should proceed.
Here is a road map for a seven-week project:
1. Create your storyboard with a first list of potential multimedia elements
(Week 1)
2. Plan equipment, personnel, time needed for fieldwork (Week 1)
3. Create a modified storyboard, tweak the list of multimedia elements (Week 2)
4. Complete the basic reporting on your project (Week 3)
5. Start producing multimedia elements (Week 3)
6. Assess your project and decide if you need to do any additional reporting or
change your storyline (Week 3)
7. Finish your first draft of the text elements and create your multimedia elements
(Week 4)
8. Seek feedback from team members and editor (or team members and professor)
9. Edit the content, both text and multimedia (Week 5)
10. Assemble a “rough cut” of your package (Week 5)
11. Seek “peer review” from colleagues and supervisor’s review from editor (or
professor) (Week 5)
12. Tweak and improve the package (Week 6)
13. Prepare a “soft launch” of your website to work out any “bugs” (Week 6)
14. Get feedback from peers, supervisors and beta-testing readers (Week 6)
15. Prepare the final cut … and publish! (Week 7).
Professional Advice
Be fair, just and honorable. Get it right. Always. Look beyond the obvious. Find the details
you think impossible. They are not. And believe that you can do it.
—Jacquee Petchel, journalism professor, Arizona State University, former editor, Houston
Chronicle, Pulitzer Prize winner, Miami Herald
12.8 Fifteen Steps to a Completed Multimedia Project 343

Bibliography
Hartwig, D. (2010, October 15). 500 storyboard tutorials & resources. filmmakeriq.com. http://
filmmakeriq.com/2010/10/500-storyboard-tutorials-resources/.
Hernandez, M. (2015, September 16). Empowering students through mulitimedia storytelling.
edutopia.org. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/empowering-students-through-multimedia-story-
telling-michael-hernandez.
Instructional Media Lab. (2013, March 8). 10 tips for successful multimedia assignments. blogs.
umass.edu. https://blogs.umass.edu/instruct/2013/03/08/10-tips-for-successful-multimedia-
assignments/.
Lybarger, J. (2013, July 18). Can photojournalism survive in the Instagram era? motherjones.-
com. https://www.motherjones.com/media/2013/07/bending-the-frame-fred-ritchin-photo-
journalism-instagram/2/.
Miller, E. (2013, January 16). Advice to next generation Journos: Be fair, just & honorable.
knightfoundation.org. https://knightfoundation.org/articles/advice-next-generation-journos-be-
fair-just-honorable.
Ryan, M., Mufson, S., & Faiola, A. (2015, November 16). Raids spread across France and
Belgium Amid Manhunt for suspects. washingtonpost.com. https://www.washingtonpost.com/
world/europe/french-police-raid-sites-across-country-official-warns-of-possibility-of-more-
attacks-across-paris/2015/11/16/4a5564bc-8bd1-11e5-934c-a369c80822c2_story.html?utm_-
term=.cf4f1daed8d5.
Stern, R. (2013, August 28). Multimedia Lesson #1: Forget what you know about “stories”.
convergence.journalism.missouri.edu. https://convergence.journalism.missouri.edu/?p=11268.
Stevens, J. Tutorial: Multimedia storytelling: Learn the secrets from experts. multimedia.
journalism.berkeley.edu. https://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/starttofinish/.
Stevens, J. Storyboarding. University of California, Berkely, multimedia journalism website.
http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/starttofinish/storyboarding/.
Chapter 13
Completing a Multimedia Project
13.1 Division of Labor
You are making progress on your multimedia project. You’ve picked a topic.
You’ve identified a storyline. You have a working title … or maybe a final title.
You’ve created storyboards, and revised them.
What comes next?
If you are working on a group project, make sure to divide up responsibilities, if
you haven’t done it already. It is important for everyone to know their specific roles
in the project, what precisely is expected of them, and what their deadlines are for
completing their contributions. Everyone has different skill sets, interests and
passions, so try to divide up responsibilities to maximize the talent of each indi-
vidual. It’s important that everybody pitch in. If you have a slacker in your midst, it
means more work for everybody else. In the end, if one or more people on your
team let you down, your entire project is going to suffer. So will your personal
relationships.
If you are working on a solo project, make sure to set timetables. Try to stick to
them. If you fall behind, it becomes harder and harder to make up for lost time.
You’ll never be able to squeeze seven weeks of work into three weeks and produce
a high-quality product, even if you pull a few all-nighters.
After you have divided up responsibilities, it’s time to complete the in-depth
reporting and data collection needed for the story. Take the photographs that are
critical to your homepage, and work to finish photo collection for slideshows and
Soundslides presentations. This also is the time to shoot raw video. You may use
some of it as raw video, but, more likely, you are going to edit it into video
packages and news reports.
University of Missouri Professor Reuben Stern believes “your goal as a multi-
media storyteller is to give the audience a chance to experience that place or activity
or situation virtually—through your multimedia.”

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_13
346 13 Completing a Multimedia Project
When you have collected a critical mass of video, still photographs, audio and
data to tell the story, you should decide which multimedia elements to complete and
which to change or eliminate. You also might want to add multimedia elements.
You never know what you’ll come up with until you do the research. “What you
thought the story was may not be what the story becomes,” says veteran business
journalist and educator Susan Chandler. “You will change your mind when you get
out there and report and learn new things.”
After finishing these tasks, you can revise your storyboards for a third and final
time, if necessary, or just follow the outline you’ve already created. Then you’re
ready to produce the “rough cut” of your project.
13.2 The Rough Cut
What’s a rough cut? Like the “rough cut” of a movie, the rough cut of a multimedia
project is a not-quite-final product that gives the audience the feel of your com-
pleted project without the polish.
By the time you produce your rough cut, most of the work should have been
completed. All of your primary interviews are done. The reporting assignments that
you divided among the group are complete. All of the information you need has
been gathered for graphics. All photographs you assigned have been taken. You
have identified platforms for multimedia storytelling.
Teamwork is essential for completing a successful multimedia project (Photo by Rick Dunham)
13.2 The Rough Cut 347
You should have a rough draft of all text elements, and a sketch of all graphic
elements, if they are not yet complete. You want to have rough versions of the
video and audio elements—maybe raw video, or a first cut of the packaged report.
You want to be able to show your rough cut to your colleagues and your editor (or
professor) to get feedback and to determine where the holes are in your reporting.
Make sure you have written a first draft of the main story … if you have a main
story. Make sure your writing is taut and compelling. “People don’t have the time
or attention span to read long, boring stories,” Susan Chandler reminds us. “They
will read long, interesting stories.”
If you are relying on a visual central element, make sure the main multimedia
report is ready for review and feedback. This is the time to create all audio, video
and graphic elements that you plan to use for your final project. Finish at least a
rough draft of your videos, even if they are not the main story in your package. The
videos do not have to be perfect, but they should give a viewer (or reviewer) an idea
of what you are trying to say.
The process of creating a multimedia project requires perseverance and a will-
ingness to try and try again until you get it right. The rough cut gives you an
opportunity to see how much progress you’ve made and how much you still need to
do, before it’s too late to make the needed improvements.
The feedback you receive will help you answer this important question: Do we
need to adjust the storyline to reflect our reporting? Now you’re ready to put
together a final list of multimedia elements for your story. Remember to make sure
that all of the elements are complementary, meaning that they each add some
journalistic value to the project and do not repeat each other. Identify “holes” in
your reporting, and do any necessary additional reporting. Make sure to resolve
conflicting information or quotations that you have gathered, and search for addi-
tional data you might need to finalize your graphics or databases.
13.3 Finishing Up
The input you receive from others could help you finalize the title for the project,
making it something catchy that reflects the journalistic points you have success-
fully made. Then comes the polishing and perfecting. Your project by now should
be a “diamond in the rough.” You want to polish your gem and make it truly shine.
By this point, you should have completed the main story and all text elements.
Ask yourself:
• Are you confident about your stories structures?
• Have you copy-edited everything to avoid sloppy mistakes, grammatical errors
and stylistic inconsistencies?
• Have you fact-checked information gleaned from your interviews or from

websites?
• Have you double-checked your numbers and your math?
Make sure your theme is stated clearly in your main report, whether it is text or
video. You must be able to identify the main focus on your project in the main
story. You must tell your audience why the story is important and why they should
care about your project. As you complete complementary elements, remember that
all should reflect some aspect of the program’s overall theme. The elements are
discreet, but the theme units the parts of the whole.
Don’t spend too much time setting up your theme. The beginning of your main
element—whether text or video—should introduce the theme of the project. It is the
foundation upon which your package is built. The secondary material explains and
elaborates on the main idea. This secondary material should be organized in
descending order of importance. Your writing should link different parts of story
with smooth transitions and strong topic sentences. Your main story should touch
on—but not dwell upon—the other elements in your package. You want to avoid
unnecessary duplication, but you should preview key points that are made in other,
complementary stories in your project.
When you finish with your main project element, it’s time to review your
graphics. Is the information in them correct? Do you have good headlines that move
your storytelling forward rather than simply summarizing the data? Is all the
information complete and correct? Is there any way to make them look better?
Should you convert any of your static graphics into interactive ones? Are there any
maps you could add to help the reader understand the themes and central location of
your project?
When it comes to photos, are you using too few? Or too many? Have you picked
the best photos and left out the rest? If you don’t yet have a photo gallery, would it
help your project to add one now? Or do more photos offer little additional value?
On your audio and video elements, are the volume levels consistent? Are the
reports carefully edited to avoid errors or abrupt transitions and endings? Are your
captions grammatically correct and punctuated properly? Are the captions free of
typographical errors, mistaken prepositions and incorrect capitalization?
The next step is the “soft launch” of your final project. The “soft launch” means
that you will have created a website or mobile platform for the project that looks
like the final product. The navigation elements are complete. It looks done. All that
you need to do is to get feedback and perfect the final report.
13.3 Finishing Up 349
Your soft launch should have all elements in place, even if the content is not completed (Photo by
Rick Dunham)
Your first task is to improve your main story. (Stories always can be improved.)
Make sure you have explained, documented and amplified the main idea. Check the
A-B-Cs of the story: accuracy, brevity and clarity. Check your grammar, word
usage and style. Non-native English speakers should be particularly careful about
remember the articles (a, an and the), prepositions and tenses. And remember to get
your numbers straight.
One tip when you are editing the main piece of your project is to put like things
together. As you go through your main piece, group everything about the same
subject together. Don’t jump back and forth in your storytelling. Each paragraph
should explain one idea. If data, a quote or other information is extraneous to the
main point of the paragraph, it belongs in a different paragraph. Make sure you
follow the correct style for quotations. The Associated Press and Bloomberg News
styles prefer that complete quotations belong in a separate paragraph. (Partial
quotations can be part of a longer paragraph.)
When you edit, remember that your writing should go from the general to the
specific. As you develop your arguments, make general statements about the subject
first. Follow the general with specifics that back it up or demonstrate it. It is always
better to show (with evidence) than tell (with your own assertions and opinions).
A week after your soft launch, you should be ready for the “final cut.” Like a
Hollywood production, it’s the one the public will see. And it’s the one that will get
reviewed. Make sure you get rave reviews instead of producing a box-office
disappointment.
Professional Advice
Every story has a weakness. Be aware of yours.

—Leigh Cuen, Journalist in Tel Aviv, Co-Organizer, ONA Jerusalem, IJNet Journalist of
the Month 2014
https://ijnet.org/en/blog/top-advice-year-our-journalists-month.
Leigh Cuen
Bibliography 351
Bibliography
IJNet (2014, December 30). Top advice of the year from our journalists of the month. Ijnet.org.
https://ijnet.org/en/blog/top-advice-year-our-journalists-month.
Stern, R. (2013, August 28). Multimedia Lesson #1: Forget what you know about “stories”.
Convergence.journalism.missouri.edu. https://convergence.journalism.missouri.edu/?p=11268.
Part IV
The Future of Multimedia
Chapter 14
Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality
and Computer-Driven Storytelling
14.1 Reality
News reflects reality. We tell the public what has happened. We explain why it
happened. We tell our audience what may happen next. We visualize what hap-
pened. Through words, sounds and images, we transport them to the place where it
happened.
That’s reality.
A journalist’s duty is to reflect reality, to explain reality, and to analyze what
really happened.
The duty of journalists: to reflect reality (Screen grab from CGTN)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_14
356 14 Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Computer-Driven …
But sometimes reality is not so clear. We must try to assess what is real from
what is political “spin” from public officials, think-tank scholars or corporate public
relations teams. Social media can reflect the reality of what just happened, or it can
exaggerate or concoct an alternate reality for artistic or political reasons.
In reality, the news media does not only reflect reality. Journalists interpret
reality. Reporters try to tell their audience “the truth” when numerous versions of
the truth are offered from competing interests. Journalists are, to use the language of
sport, referees, trying to separate truth from spin and outright fiction, to call fouls
and to try to keep the “game” fair.
One case study is the Trump presidency. Covering the 45th U.S. president has
been a difficult challenge for American reporters. Faced with a president prone to
inventing “facts,” the American news media has struggled with being fair to the
unorthodox politician who accuses them of being “fake news” purveyors.
But how should journalists deal with a president who, according to The
Washington Post, uttered more than 10,000 lies or misleading statements during his
first 27 months in office. Is it the duty of the news media to share what Trump says
and leave it to the people to decide what is “true” and what is “fake”? Is it the
media’s responsibility to accuse the president of a nation of being a liar and a racist,
prompting counterattacks from Trump supporters, who believe the media is prej-
udiced against their champion?
In reality, the media interprets reality. What is going to happen next on Wall
Street? Will the Chinese Ren Min Bi strengthen or weaken against the dollar? What
is the relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin really like? Some
things we can’t know. Some things we just don’t know. We can’t predict the future
with certainty. But we are expected to do our best to report what we do know and to
let the public know what we don’t know.
One reality is that we live in a digital media world. Most people want to receive
news, information and entertainment on a mobile device. Sometimes, the lines
between news and entertainment blur. Welcome to the world of reality and virtual
reality. Virtual reality—also known as immersive multimedia—is a new kind of
reality we must reckon with in the news world. What is this new phenomenon?
First of all, it’s not all that new. It’s been around since 2011, though mostly in
the labs and in early stages. Its premiere on news websites can slowly and tenta-
tively in 2014 and 2015. Now it’s here to stay.
Wen Jiangtao, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and
Technology at Tsinghua University, predicts that the 2020s will provide “a
multi-sensor, information-rich environment” for media consumers. “In such a
multi-sensor environment, our experience is immersive,” he predicts. “Everything
and everyone in the world casts an information shadow. Increasingly, the web is the
world.”
That reality sometimes is “virtual.” Sometimes, it is artificial.
14.2 Artificial Intelligence and Journalism 357
14.2 Artificial Intelligence and Journalism
Artificial intelligence, in the form of computers, has been around for more than
seven decades. Artificial intelligence, in the form of news stories, is a trend of the
late 2010s.
Artificial intelligence—AI, as it is better known—has become a tool that news
organizations use to create stories written by computers via algorithms. Powered by
a story template and programmed to respond certain ways to certain sets of facts,
computers can write basic news stories involving numbers. These are most often
sporting events or financial stories including stock market changes, the release of
new economic indicators, quarterly reports from corporations and corporate profits
reports.
Automated Insights, an American company based in Durham, North Carolina, in
2007 created a product called Wordsmith. This innovation empowered news
organizations to generate unlimited pieces of content from a single story structure
and data set. In the decade that followed, Automated Insights’ clients have included
the Associated Press, Yahoo and Samsung. Automated Insights now produces
billions of computer-generated stories for its news and corporate customers.
The philosophy behind AI journalism is computers can create mindless, repe-
titious stories based on data, while reporters’ time can be better used on value-added
reporting and writing. “The 20th century was all about automating repetitive
physical tasks,” AI CEO Robbie Allen told Talking Business News. “The 21st
century is going to be all about automating repetitive intellectual tasks.”
Case in point: The Associated Press hired Automated Insights to produce
automated stories about corporate earnings statements. When AP hired the AI
trailblazer, its reporters were covering only 300 stories per quarter, according to
Talking Business News. That increased to roughly 3,700 automated earnings stories
per quarter after AP began using AI.
AI-generated news has generated controversy because some experts believe it
will lead some news organizations to replace human journalists with lower-cost
technological robot journalists (or bots). “I think that smart news organizations
should find ways to use computers to increase their reach and lower their costs,”
said Ryan Thornburg, an associate professor of journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill and
data journalism expert. “That is going to come with some human costs, just like it
has come with the automotive industry and grocery store clerks, where jobs are
replaced.”
>>> Read more about AI and journalism on Talking Business News: http://talk-
ingbiznews.com/2/how-computers-are-now-writing-business-news-stories/
There are some clear limits to AI-generated stories. Some aspects of journalism
cannot be replaced by a computer. Authoritative analysis, for example. Interviews
and other human reporting, as well. But AI can give reporters more time to produce
business news or sports analysis rather than just mindlessly reciting numbers.
Aware of these limitations, some news organizations use AI programs that

automate most (but not all) of stories, leaving room for quotations, analysis and
other human touches. And most AI-adopting news agencies avoid using bots for the
most sensitive stories involving the biggest companies they cover, such as Apple,
Amazon or Google.
Examples of AI in journalism are encouraging. Quartz.com has effectively used
AI to target its business and economic news content to the platforms used most
often by its readers. The result has been a much more rewarding experience for
Quartz fans, and a more efficient use of Quartz’s staff.
Bloomberg news uses AI to help it quickly publish in-depth stories when eco-
nomic news breaks involving currency announcements by central banks around the
world. By pre-programming its AI assistants with analysis of the various decisions
that might be made by the central banks, Bloomberg can produce a sophisticated
story more rapidly than its competitors. AI plugs in the data that has been
announced and uses the analysis that has been pre-written. In the hyper-competitive
world of financial journalism, where time means money, it is invaluable for a news
outlet to save time in publishing stories.
Virtual reality on exhibit at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Rick Dunham)
14.3 The Birth of Virtual Reality 359
14.3 The Birth of Virtual Reality
Another reality of today’s journalism is virtual reality. It’s a computer-simulated

environment where digital technology takes the viewer to the scene of news. It has
its roots in the video game world.
Robert Hernandez, a journalism professor at the University of Southern
California, describes virtual reality as “a computer-simulated environment that can
simulate physical presence in places in the real world or imagined worlds. Virtual
reality can recreate sensory experiences, which include virtual taste, sight, smell,
sound, and touch.”
To experience this VR world, the viewer must wear a pair of specially built
goggles or by slipping a smartphone into a special mask. The earliest goggles sold
for hundreds of dollars—or could be constructed for free using cardboard and
plastic. When attached to a smartphone, the goggles transport the viewer into virtual
world, making you feel like “you are there” were the news is happening. VR brings
viewers to places they might otherwise be unable to go, such as war zones, other
planets, or sensitive, closed-door diplomatic negotiations. It is an immersive,
interactive experience, where the viewer decides which way to look and what to pay
attention to (or ignore).
Among the early makers of VR headsets were Oculus, Sony, HTC and
MergeVR. Google led the way with a low-cost (and lower-quality) alternative using
simple ingredients such as cardboard, magnets, velcro and a rubber band. Whether
expensive or cheap, VR headsets are widely available to potential consumers now.
But when will they buy in? Amy Webb, founder of the Future Today Institute,
predicted in 2016 that “we probably won’t see it reach critical mass for a few more
years.” At the end of the decade, that critical mass still seems years away.
According to Webb, the industries leading the way with VR experimentation are
movies, news, documentarians, government diplomats, military trainers and
financial services companies. The journalism industry in the Americas and Europe,
struggling mightily to maintain profitability in the digital age, expects VR to change
their viewers’ habits and hopes it will be a breakthrough that will help news
organizations find a sustainable business model. A few years ago, journalism
industry publications wrote breathless stories about our VR future with headlines
like: “Virtual reality is journalism’s next frontier” and “Viewing the future?” But
that kind of cheerleader journalism is much less frequent now.
Tsinghua University students produced a virtual tour of campus (Photo by Rick Dunham)
14.3 The Birth of Virtual Reality 361
A key moment for VR came when Nonny de la Pena presented a report entitled
“Hunger in Los Angeles” at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012. The report
was a journalistic-style documentary. According to the Newseum, a news museum
in Washington, D.C., “viewers experience[d] the film using VR goggles designed
and duct-taped together by de la Pena’s 19-year-old intern, Palmer Luckey. At a
dramatic moment in the report, the VR technology transports its audience onto the
street outside a California food bank when a man suffers a diabetic attack. It was
debuted at a film festival, raising the question: Was it a movie or was it traditional
journalism?
Despite the great hopes and great expectations, the journalistic value of virtual
reality is still being debated, with progress slow and unsteady. The University of
Southern California and Tsinghua University have been encouraging VR produc-
tions to see how the new technology can be used to tell stories and attract audiences,
particularly new, younger audiences. In November 2015 the New York Times
distributed more than 1.2 million Google Cardboard VR goggles to its print sub-
scribers so they could immerse themselves in the newspaper’s VR app, known as
NYTVR. The Times is a rare newspaper that has devoted significant resources to
VR content. Still, a few news outlets continue to experiment. “Our reporters go to
places where few venture or get inside,” says Raney Aronson-Rath, deputy exec-
utive producer at Frontline. “I’ve long held a curiosity about how we might take our
viewers with us in a more visceral way, so that they can feel what it’s like to
actually be there.”
14.4 Other Immersive Reality Tools
VR’s horizons expanded rapidly and now there are several different kinds of virtual
reality storytelling. Augmented reality—sometimes called “AR”—is an altered
form of the reality that, Hernandez says, “starts with the real world and overlays
virtual objects and information.” In an example cited by Hernandez, a woman in a
virtual reality studio is transformed into a mythical hairy beast through digital
technology. That’s the kind of “augmented” reality that VR storytellers can create.
Walk-around VR combines a virtual reality headset with hand controls and
allows a viewer to simulate the experience of walking around a virtual environment.
Walk-around VR, launched in April 2016 through the HTV Vive system, combines
earlier VR technology with video gaming technology. It remains relatively rare in
the news business.
Spherical reality—better known as “360-degree video”—takes viewers to the
scene of action, whether real (such as a war zone) or imagined (such as a planet in
the solar system). Viewers are transported to that scene and respond, through their
goggles, like they would in real life. They can look up or down, they can look side
to side. They can swivel around and see what is behind them in a 360-degree
sphere. They can move down a street, or on the surface of the moon. It has become
widely popular among those experimenting with VR for news. In the news busi-
ness, the experiments are endless, including tests of 3-D photography.
>>> Best practices in 360-degree VR: Al Jazeera Balkans: Sarajevo under Siege
The Balkan unit of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network did an impressive job
of storytelling in its multimedia project on the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo 25 years
after Serb troops encircled the city and killed tens of thousands of civilians in a
yearlong siege. One element of it was a 360-degree VR gallery where viewers were
transported into the deadly “Sniper’s Alley,” where Bosnians were killed on an
almost daily basis by Serb sharpshooters in the hills above Sarajevo. You can
understand the helplessness—and, to some, hopelessness—of living in a modern
city that was threatened 24 hours a day by terrorists who held the high ground.
>>> View the Al Jazeera Balkans project: Sarajaveo 25 years after the seige: http://www.
sarajevopodopsadom.com/#sarajevoNow
The Sarajevo project (Screen grab from sarajevopodopsadom.com)
>>> Best practices in virtual reality storytelling: The Des Moines Register and
Gannett Digital: Harvest of Change
The Des Moines (Iowa) Register won numerous awards for its September 2014
multimedia project on the modern realities of farm life. The newspaper used tra-
ditional text storytelling, but also cutting edge technology to bring the experience of
farm life to an audience around the world. One element of the project—Explore the
Farm in Virtual Reality—took viewers on a virtual tour of an Iowa family’s farm in
a way that earlier video reports could never do.
14.5 The Growth of Virtual Reality 363
14.5 The Growth of Virtual Reality
That was just the beginning. Across the world, the future is now for VR storytelling,
both for breaking news and news features. Some examples:
• ABC News gave viewers a 360-degree view of a military parade from North
Korea and a virtual tour of Syrian historical artifacts threatened by the Islamic
State terror group in the ongoing civil war.
• The New York Times, shortly after it distributed the cardboard VR viewers to its
Sunday print subscribers, created a spherical video news report in November
2015 about displaced refugees from Syria, South Sudan and Ukraine. It also
brought readers into 2016 presidential campaign events.
• The Los Angeles Times created a virtual reality news app that made people feel
like they were landing next to a crater on Mars.
• USA Today Network VR took app users on an auto tour of Old Havana in a
bright pink 1957 Ford. USA Today also let its audience ride in the futurist car
from the movie “Back to the Future.” In March 2016, USA Today announced
plans to develop regular programmed called “Virtually There” to tell news,
entertainment, sports and business stories in VR.
• CNN took VR experiments to a new level in October 2015 by livestreaming a
Democratic presidential campaign debate in VR. The network said it was the
first time a live event had been streamed in virtual reality to a wide audience.
“These efforts are part of an initial foray into determining whether VR is a
feasible way to present news,” according to a report by the Knight Foundation.
What’s coming now is “a period of further testing and careful monitoring of
potential growth in the use of virtual reality among consumers.”
>>> Read the entire Knight Foundation report on Medium: https://medium.com/viewing-
the-future-virtual-reality-in-journalism/a-key-moment-b08ca82f2dab#.fjwo7cwty
It’s not just traditional news outlets breaking ground with VR reporting. In the
United States, Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism at PBS’s
Frontline teamed up to produce a 2015 documentary on the Ebola crisis. The
University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts produced “Project
Syria,” which gave placed viewers at the scene of a bombing and then allowed them
to tour a Syrian civil war refugee camp. In China, Tsinghua students produced a
virtual reality video taking its audience on a tour of the campus. In the U.S., a
private VR content producer, the Emblematic Group, followed a woman walking
through angry anti-abortion demonstrators at a family planning clinic.
14.6 The Limits of VR for Journalists
While virtual reality has great potential for journalism, it also has its limitations.
Economic challenges for news organizations include receiving accurate metrics for
VR usage and monetizing that usage through advertisements or user payments.
The top challenge, in its earliest years, is its cost and the difficulty of producing
VR reports. “Technology is rapidly evolving in terms of cameras, postproduction
tools and viewers, but the time and effort of telling stories in VR remains pro-
hibitive for many small and medium-sized news organizations,” according to a
Knight Foundation report on the emerging technology. “Harvest of Change” cost an
estimated $50,000—a substantial cost for most news organizations. Xu Xian,
deputy president of WhaleyVR, says the production costs for an 80-minute docu-
mentary can run as high as $1.5 million, making VR journalism an economic
challenge. “There is a bottleneck in the market for VR videos because it is truly
very difficult to produce VR video and to provide financial returns.” As a result of
its high cost, VR for journalism is dominated by a few large news organizations.
There are technological and journalistic challenges, too. Headsets are still not
widely available, and the audience for VR headsets is still relatively small. Public
acceptance of VR technology also has been slowed by the low quality of some early
content, both technological and journalistic. Early VR products have been plagued
by low quality, malfunctioning equipment and quality-control problems. Whaley
VR’s Xu Xian noted in 2016 that customer satisfaction levels lagged as low as
10%.
Example: Fox Sports offered virtual reality viewers a peek at American college
football in September 2016 and got harshly negative reviews. “I just watched
football in VR—and I hated it,” screamed the headline of Jeff Grubb’s
VentureBeat.com post. He began his article this way: “Every since I put on a VR
headset, I’ve wanted to use one to watch live sporting events. Well, that tech is here
now, and it’s a miserable experience.”
>>> Read Jeff Grubb’s complete review of Fox VR sports: http://venturebeat.com/2016/
09/18/i-just-watched-football-in-vr-and-i-hated-it/
VR developers remind us that they’re still a long way from becoming a mature
industry. “VR development is still in its infant stage,” says Xu Xian. “What is the
biggest problem? We have to improve the quality of the content.” Others in the
industry say the viewing experience is still lacking. “The resolution for the hard-
ware is not good,” says Xiang Yuqiu, director of Munsun Asset Management (Asia)
Ltd. “Once we have the higher-quality products, more people will buy.”
When they buy, many experts believe, virtual reality will gain in importance. But
some analysts worry that VR has potential to be misused by governments, corpo-
rations or others seeking to reshape reality and produce propaganda reports. After
all, the “facts” incorporated into the reports are selected by the producers of the
projects. By leaving out certain facts, or by inserting half-truths or misinformation,
a VR producer could create a fictional world that viewers might interpret as reality.
14.6 The Limits of VR for Journalists 365
“Journalism is—after all—about telling the truth. But VR provides the platform,
and therefore the ambiguity, of presenting a number of truths, some of them directly
contradictory,” Steven Rosenbaum writes on Forbes.com.
>>> Read Steven Rosenbaum’s complete report: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenro-
senbaum/2016/02/09/virtual-reality-and-journalism-can-they-get-along/#158ba5cf374b
As it turns out, virtual reality is just another way to interpret reality. The viewers’
responses to your VR report depends largely on what information you give them—
and what you leave out. In many ways, those are the same editorial choices
involved in writing a news report in text format. In the same way, a skillful
propagandist can include certain information and leave out other facts to point you
toward a certain conclusion.
“There is no such thing as a neutral observer,” concluded a Stanford University
report, “The Storyteller’s Guide to the Virtual Reality Audience,” produced by
Stanford University d.school. “Storytellers have to behave like a matador, waving
the red cape in the direction they want the audience to run, knowing that the power
ultimately lies in the audiences hands to see what they want to see, hear what they
want to hear and form their own stories about what they have experienced.”
It’s too early to tell whether people’s news consumption habits will change to
embrace immersive behavior. Even if people embrace VR, the news industry faces
stiff competition in the marketplace from video gamers and the entertainment
industry. Xu hopes that VR can be “a way to revive the media and elevate it to a
new level.” Today, however, “the usership is still very narrow,” he admits.
In the news industry, technology leaders are not ready to give up. “Virtual reality
journalism is with us to stay, and will become even more realistic and immersive as
technology improves,” wrote Tom Kent, the standards editor for the Associated
Press standards editor and a lecturer at Columbia Journalism School. “Already,
virtual reality headsets and vivid soundtracks can put a viewer into stunning,
360-degree scenes of a bombed-out town in Syria. They can drop him onto a dark
street in Sanford, Florida, as George Zimmerman surveils Trayvon Martin [the
Florida youth killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida].”
>>> Read Tom Kent’s entire article: https://medium.com/@tjrkent/an-ethical-reality-
check-for-virtual-reality-journalism-8e5230673507#.gfrykaj74
Professional Advice
The best prep for a career in journalism is curiosity and a plan to harness that curiosity. The
best reporters are those with lots of questions they are curious about learning the answers to
and who don’t give up until they learn the answers.
—Tracee Evans, veteran radio reporter and communications professional, Houston, Texas
Tracee Evans (Photo reproduced with permission)
14.6 The Limits of VR for Journalists 367
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Des Moines Register. Harvest of change. desmoinesregister.com. https://www.desmoinesregister.
com/pages/interactives/harvest-of-change/.
Grubb, J. (2016, September 18). I just watched football in VR- and I hate it. venturebeat.com.
http://venturebeat.com/2016/09/18/i-just-watched-football-in-vr-and-i-hated-it/.
Kent, T. (2015, August 31). An ethical reality check for virtual reality journalism. medium.com.
https://medium.com/@tjrkent/an-ethical-reality-check-for-virtual-reality-journalism-8e523067-
3507#.gfrykaj74.
Knight Foundation (2016, March 13). Journalism underwent a flurry of virtual reality content
creation, production and distribution starting in the final months of 2015. medium.com. https://
medium.com/viewing-the-future-virtual-reality-in-journalism/a-key-moment-b08ca82f2dab#.
fjwo7cwty.
Knight Foundation (2016, March 13). Where it started, where it’s headed. medium.com. https://
medium.com/viewing-the-future-virtual-reality-in-journalism/virtual-reality-news-99a7f999c227.
Newton, K., & Soukup, K. (2016, April 7). The storyteller’s guide to the virtual reality audience.
medium.com. https://medium.com/stanford-d-school/the-storyteller-s-guide-to-the-virtual-rea-
lity-audience-19e92da57497.
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cjr.org/innovations/virtual_reality_journalism.php.
Rosenbaum, S. (2016, February 9). Virtual reality and journalism—Can they GetAlong? forbes.
com. http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenrosenbaum/2016/02/09/virtual-reality-and-journalism-
can-they-get-along/#158ba5cf374b.
The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (2014, January 31). Create a
virtual Syria. cinema.usc.edu. https://cinema.usc.edu/news/article.cfm?id=14051.
Webb, A. (2016). 2016 trend report. punzhupuzzles.files.wordpress.com. https://punzhupuzzles.
files.wordpress.com/2016/10/webmediatrends2016.pdf.
Chapter 15
Using Social Media for Reporting
Screen grab from @paulhelmick, Twitter

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_15
370 15 Using Social Media for Reporting
15.1 The Social Media Revolution
Where do the most people in the world live?

China, you say.
You are wrong.
More people live in the virtual land of Facebook than in the world’s most populous
nation. The Facebook community numbers billions of active users each day. That’s
far more than the 1.37 billion people who call China their home.
As social media expert Paul Helmick points out, if you re-ordered the global
population to include social media networks, Facebook would be the largest
country in the world, followed by China, Tencent, India, What’s App and the
United States. Seven of the ten most populous nations in the world would be social
networks.
Twenty years ago, none of these social media networks existed. By definition,
that’s proof of how they’ve changed the world—and our individual worlds.
In much of the world, citizens spend more time consuming social media than
television, movies, music, books, newspapers or any other form of media. Forty
years ago, CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite was known as “America’s
Uncle” because he was a guest in tens of millions of people’s homes every
weeknight. Today, Facebook or Twitter or WeChat or WhatsApp or Weibo plays
the same role. They are ubiquitous. They are sources of news, information and
gossip. Among adults under the age of 25, 33% cite social media as a main source
of news, according to a global 2017 report from the Reuters Institute at the
University of Oxford. That’s almost as many as television (25%), print newspapers
(5%) and radio (4%) combined.
Because social media posts are consumed everywhere, all the time, they are
important for students of journalism to study. “We actually trust social media more
than we trust traditional media,” says Maria Ressa, founder of the Rappler.com
digital media site and a longtime CNN correspondent in Asia. “Social media is your
family and friends on steroids.”
Social media started out slowly in the news business. When your author first
started using Twitter in 2008, skeptical journalism colleagues joked that nobody
would ever read Twitter because its feed was a bunch of computer geeks posting
what they’d eaten for breakfast.
That was happening, of course. But it was a lot more. In that campaign, the last
of the “pre-Twitter” era, your author was one of the first reporters to “live tweet”
presidential debates and the election. With the help of tech-savvy Houston
Chronicle colleagues like Dwight Silverman and Dean Betz, his digital journalism
team collected the tweets of trusted experts and offered their readers their first taste
of live analysis via curated content.
15.1 The Social Media Revolution 371
A decade into the social media revolution, that doesn’t seem extraordinary, but
change comes slowly before it comes quickly, and many in authority resist change
before they find resistance to be futile and they embrace it.
Social media became a platform, first, for celebrities, and then, after the advent
of smartphones, for selfies. Today, social media is much more. It’s a must-go place
for information on politics and policy. Donald Trump captured the American
presidency in 2016 in large part because of his ability to use his own celebrity
Twitter following to bypass the media elites. He used his ability to both share
information and to entertain to rewrite the playbook for American presidential
campaigns.
From a business journalist’s standpoint, social media posts have power over
global capital. They can move markets. After Trump’s 2016 election, he tweeted
harsh criticism of the American aviation and military corporation Boeing. Although
media fact-checkers declared that Trump’s statements were false, Boeing stock
dropped, costing the company (and its shareholders) millions of dollars in value.
Social media has power in today’s world because, as Bloomberg News founding
editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler said at Tsinghua University in 2016, “people are
more likely to believe anything they read on digital platforms, not mainstream”
news outlets.
Donald Trump has proven that tweets have consequences … and can cost his corporate targets
millions of dollars (Screen grab from @postpolitics, Twitter)
As Trump’s election success and the 2016 victory of Brexit forces in Great
Britain showed, social media is the place where news breaks, even before you see it
on news sites. And it’s the place people share information. Sometimes, they share
rumors or malicious falsehoods posted by people or groups for their own
destructive reasons. In recent years, Russian internet bots and “fake news” factories
have manufactured false stories to disrupt and influence elections in the United
States, France, Germany, Britain and elsewhere. Whether you are an average citizen
or a journalist, this warning is important if you are sharing social media posts:
“Make sure they are vetted and screened and accurate,” says Ging Reyes of
ABS-CBN News in Manila.
Social networks have shaken up the journalism world. “Just when you thought
you had got used to Web 2.0 here comes the next leap forwards,” the London
School of Economics’ Polis blog declared in 2009, when social media was early in
its ascent. “And it is not really about technology. It is social networking. Facebook
is not a website – it is a platform. Media and communications in general is [sic]
moving into social networks – journalism has to go there too.”
>>> Read the entire Polis blog post: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2009/04/03/supermedia-in-
italia-perugia-festival-of-journalism/
Social media has transformed journalism so quickly that some journalism stu-
dents now ask the question, “What did we do before Weibo, WeChat or Facebook?”
We did have short news bulletins on wire services and television—like the ones
announcing the death of Chairman Mao, the surrender of Nazi Germany and the
murder of music superstar John Lennon. But today, news breaks in real time, on
social media, and sometimes live via news video. Just think about the 2014 riots in
the American town of Ferguson, Missouri, after an unarmed black teenager was
killed by a white police officer. The world watched live on their mobile devices as a
global news story unfolded.
Is social media journalism? That’s a question for other academics to ponder
Social media is used by journalists as their new “first draft of history.” The Los
Angeles Times won the Pulitzer Prize for its 2015 coverage of a massacre at a
holiday party committed by a self-radicalized Muslim extremist in the Southern
California city of San Bernardino. The story unfolded on social media, and the
social media content was seamlessly integrated into the Times’ website coverage
and then its traditional print product.
Hailey Branson-Potts was one of the Los Angeles Times reporters to cover a holiday party
massacre in real time on social media
Hailey Branson-Potts posted her own news updates and shared other relevant and reliable
information. (Screen grabs from @haileybranson, Twitter)
Today, almost every breaking news story told on digital platforms contains a
combination of traditional text storytelling, embedded social media posts, videos
designed to be shared on social media, and crowdsourcing requests seeking
user-generated content for the news site. One good example of social media-driven
storytelling is a New York Times account of a mass shooting at the airport in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida. The Times used social media to seek witnesses and reaction. It
became an integral part of the journalism storytelling.
Journalists are not the only people who have discovered the new power of social
media. It is used by corporations and celebrities and governments to shape their
own images, This practice is also known as public relations or propaganda.

Non-journalists use journalism techniques more and more frequently for journalistic
purposes.
Remember “the Rolex Chronicles” in China? Netizens posted photos of
prominent government officials wearing extremely expensive watches—watches
they clear could not afford on their government salaries. Numerous officials lost
their jobs as citizen journalists shared relevant information with fellow citizens.
Watching the watches (Screen grab from Chinese social media)
Even when news is breaking, it’s not just traditional news outlets breaking news
on social media. The Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013 were first
reported by bystanders. “Uh, explosions in Boston,” declared one timely tweet. The
Boston police department released verified information on its own website. “Boston
Police confirming explosion at marathon finish line with injuries,” the
@Boston_Police account posted. “#tweetfromthebeat by @CherylFiandaca.”
That day, government agencies became reliable sources of information amid a

sea of rumors and false posts—some written out of malice toward Muslims, other
written hastily as unverified rumors spread and were confused with confirmed facts.
When news is breaking, news organizations often organize social media posts
into stories of their own. But local citizens can do that, as well. If non-journalists act
ethically and share information accurately, it is a big benefit to society. But dark
forces across the world have planted false stories for their own purposes. In Syria,
various factions in the civil war have released fake video purporting to show
massacres committed by one side or the other. In China, rumor-mongers have
spread false information about companies and celebrities in attempts to damage
their reputations. Thirteen Russians have been indicted in the United States for their
role in what American prosecutors describe as a plot to tilt the U.S. presidential
election to Republican Donald Trump.
As a result of the global publicity over Russian interference in the U.S. election,
citizens are starting to get wise to the dark forces. According to the Reuters
“Tomorrow’s News 2017” report, 83% of global respondents now “check the
accuracy of shared news from other sources.”
In a world of false news and social media rumors, it’s important to remember
that we—as journalists—have the power and responsibility to commit the best
quality journalism we can. We have no power over the creation of “fake news,” but
we can counteract its corrosive effect—and we can improve real news. Trustworthy
content was, far and away, the most important reason readers cite in their choice of
online news brands. The Reuters report found that 85% of global respondents only
share news stories from news brands they trust.
>>> Read the complete Reuters “Tomorrow’s News 2017” report: https://agency.reuters.
com/content/dam/openweb/documents/pdf/news-agency/report/reuters-tomorrows-news-
2017.pdf
“The fake news mania misses that broader context and potentially complicates
the way forward …,” David Uberti wrote in Columbia Journalism Review in
January 2017. “The unfair reality is that the press needs to do better. A more
affirmative case to trust us, not them—through sharp reporting that recognizes its
own faults—is in order. While fake news and bad reporting both threaten the
accuracy of information that reaches the public, journalists have real power to affect
just one of the two.”
>>> Read David Uberti’s full article on fake news and real news: http://www.cjr.org/
criticism/bad_journalism_fake_news.php
Social media can be a valuable source of information in our

instant-communication world, but it must be used with caution. “It’s a tool, not an
end in itself,” Margaret Sullivan, a former New York Times public editor, reminded
readers in one post. Journalists always must keep that end—serving the readers—in
mind.
“We are the guardians of last resort, but we should move up that priority. We
absolutely have to get it into our heads that we can trust nothing at first glance.
Nothing,” says Dan Gillmor, director of the Knight Center for Digital Media
Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of
Journalism.
“But we have to use judgment – checking other sources and, especially, waiting
for some verification from other credible sources. The torrent of misinformation
after the Boston bombings testified to the need for this more robust method. I call it
a ‘slow news’ approach.”
It seems like a contradiction, but modern multimedia journalism calls for both
speed and caution. Fast news and slow news.
>>> Read Margaret Sullivan’s “Everything I know about journalism in 395 words”:
http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/everything-i-know-about-journalism-in-
395-words/?_r=1
15.2 A New News-Delivery Model
Since the advent of the cable television as a news source, the traditional model of
news delivery has changed significantly. Evolutionary at first, the changes caused
first by cable news and then by internet news, information and gossip became
revolutionary with the popularity of social media, beginning in 2008.
Once upon a time, traditional media sources such as network television, wire
services, local newspapers and prominent national print outlets were the trusted
news sources that set the news agenda in much of the world. In today’s world, the
sources of news delivery are many and varied. Many are not even news outlets.
Some are not even news. (See fake news, above.)
Media analysts use analogies involving water to explain the changes in news
delivery. The traditional news-delivery method, they say, is like a water bottle. The
media oligopoly filled the bottle with water, and you drank whatever they put in the
bottle. But now, instead of a water bottle, we have a waterfall. The information
(water) flows through a stream at the top of the waterfall, but then it goes every
which way as it goes over the falls. You might scoop up your water in any number
of places, all of which are a bit different than the other sources of water below the
waterfall.
To dispense with the water analogy, let us turn to CUNY Professor Jeff Jarvis
for analysis. In the old media information monopoly, the media elite decided
what is news, told you what was important and what you should be interested in.
You may have had to work hard to seek out alternative viewpoints or sources of
reliable information.
Now, we face a world of information cacophony, where various sources of
information compete for your attention. Some are objective sources of unbiased
information, others share information with government or corporate or ideological
biases. With fewer filters, there is more pressure on you—the news consumer—to
determine what information is reliable, timely and important. The news media is
just one source in these circles of influence, along with governments, companies,
think tanks, observers, and commentators. Witnesses to breaking news—the
so-called “citizen journalists” or just plain citizens—can share information with the
touch of a finger. These sources often interact with each other as news is breaking,
sometimes in concert, sometimes in conflict. What is the truth? It’s up to you, as a
news consumer, to decide. You need to assess the reliability of each of these varied
sources.
There also is information available on the internet that was very hard to find in
the pre-digital world. Data compiled and published by governments,
non-government organizations, media outlets, think tanks and international bodies
is there for your consumption. So are archives of past news stories, government
reports and other information dating back to pre-digital days.
In this new information universe, everyone has a voice. The traditional media’s
information oligopoly is gone. The old “gatekeepers” have less influence, with a
few trusted sources maintaining (or even gaining) in influence while most of the old
gatekeepers fade into obscurity. You decide what’s news, what’s important, what’s
interesting, what’s worth reading.
The traditional media—and even some digital-only outlets—have learned that
the future of news involves integrating the audience into the process of creating and
reporting news. Through “crowdsourcing,” media outlets can reach out to the
audience for information, reaction and commentary on breaking news. The BBC is
a world leader in crowdsourcing. Whenever major news breaks around the world,
the BBC posts a form on its website and apps asking witnesses (the “crowd”) to
contribute first-hand accounts of the events that are taking place. This “crowd”
becomes the source of news in locations where the BBC does not have a reporter on
the scene. The crowd allows news outlets to get to the scene of breaking news
sooner. And even when the BBC is able to send its journalists to report on the
events, the crowd-sourced reports supplement the journalists’ own reporting.
When American high school students walked out of classes on March 14, 2018,
to protest the lack of government response to repeated incidents of mass killings of
students by gunmen with weapons of war, New York Times reporter Alan Blinder
took to Twitter. He posted: “Are you a student participating in the National School
Walkout? Please tweet your pictures, videos and stories. We’d love to see them and
hear from you.” In Washington, middle school student Taylor Keane saw the tweet
and sent several compelling photos from pro-gun-control demonstrations in
Washington. She was among dozens of young people who helped Alan Blinder
craft a compelling story with examples from across the country.
News organizations, by interacting with their audience, can tighten the bonds
between journalist and reader. Likewise, creating interactive databases, embedded
documents and multimedia graphics empowers the audience by allowing readers to
decide which information streams to follow. (Think about the waterfall analogy.)
“In fact, storytelling and the involvement of the audience is today’s emerging
dichotomy: the engagement supports the audience in a deeper understanding of
15.2 A New News-Delivery Model 379
information,” concluded participants at the 2016 journalism festival in Perugia,

Italy.
>>> More highlights from the International Journalism Festival: http://www.journal-
ismfestival.com/news/tell-engage-ijf16-day-2/
The BBC’s crowdsourcing form (Screen grab from BBC News)

This new world of information dissemination has created a “democratization” of

information, where “the people” have more power over their sources of information
and the old elites have less. It is harder for governments or media elites to control
what information gets to the people. Information spreads more rapidly, and it is
often easier for people to learn what is happening in a timely manner. But there is a
dark side to this new information democratization. It is harder for people to know
what information is true or false and harder for people to know the motives behind
the social media information disseminators. It is riskier for anyone—reporter or
average citizen—to share information. What if you spread rumors or lies? In many
parts of the world, you can be held legally liable for spreading false information. In
the United States, for example, some media companies have paid settlements to
individuals who claimed they were harmed by false social media posts that were
cited on traditional media platforms. In China, a 2013 law authorizes prosecution of
individuals who post false reports that are shared by more than 500 people. So
whether it is a civil or criminal penalty, there is a risk to posting false information
that goes beyond damage to your professional reputation.
Because of the deep impact of social media on global news today, it is hard to
believe that social media has only recently become an important information
source. The change dates to January 2009, when the day a U.S. Airways jumbo jet
lost power in its engines after taking off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport and
was guided to a safe landing in the Hudson River a few hundred meters from
densely populated Manhattan. Nobody aboard the plane died, and no one was
seriously injured. A photo of the doomed jet resting on the river surface was
captured by a passerby with a smartphone and shared on the social media network
Twitter. The news spread immediately around the globe through social media
“shares” and became the first “viral” news event. The world found out about what
became known as “the Miracle on the Hudson” via social media, and the news
world was changed forever. It was hailed on news industry analysts as social
media’s breakthrough moment, and soon, traditional media outlets began using
social media as a reporting tool to find news stories where they had no reporter, or
witnesses to news events anywhere in the world.
Now, we are accustomed to citizens posting breaking news photographs on
social media. But why did people believe it back in 2009, when it was a new thing?
The famous was tweeted by a nobody, not a professional news organization, but
people tend to believe what they see on social media, then and now. Another reason
people believed it was that other people shared it or commented on it, providing
validation for the original post. In addition, the incident was quickly verified by city
authorities and the traditional journalism outlets soon arrived on the scene, verified
it, and followed up with additional reporting and eyewitness accounts.
News is broken on social media all the time now. In 2013 Xinhua News Agency
was the first to report about a vehicle driving into a crowd of tourists in Beijing’s
Tian’anmen Square on its Twitter account. Global news organizations immediately
reported the story based on the Xinhua tweet. Global news organizations then sent
reporters and news crews to cover the story. Photos and videos shared on social
media became a major source of information for global news reports and for
Chinese citizens.
Again, we should ask the question: Why did people believe it? For one thing, it
was tweeted by the official Chinese state news agency. Other people retweeted it or
commented on it, so people believe the original tweet was validated. Although the
incident was not officially verified by authorities for several hours, it was quickly
confirmed by international media sources. Other media outlets quickly followed up
with additional reporting and eyewitness accounts. Chinese “citizen journalists”
continued to report with social media posts and photos.
We are getting so accustomed to news breaking on social media that false
information sometimes goes viral. This was a news flash on June 3, 2015: a British
Broadcasting Corp. reporter, Ahmen Khawaja, tweeted that the Queen of England
had died, attributing it to BBCWorld Twitter’s handle.
The tweet was not true. It turns out that it was accidentally published when a
BBC staffer hit the wrong button during a practice session preparing BBC social
media strategy for the eventual death of the 90-something-year-old monarch. But
the false news was quickly shared by Britons. “May God be with her,” one sad-
dened citizen tweeted. A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace, the Queen’s resi-
dence, felt compelled to issue a statement that she was, indeed, still alive. “I can
confirm that the Queen this morning attended her annual medical check-up at the
King Edward VII’s Hospital in London,” said the statement, as quoted in the
London Evening Standard. “This was a routine, pre-scheduled appointment, the
Queen has now left hospital.”
The tweet was false. Then why did so many people believe it? First, because it
was tweeted by a staffer at a trusted news organization, the BBC, and citizens are
more likely to believe social media posts from people or organizations they trust.
Second, people they trust shared it or commented on it. People were mourning the
Queen’s demise before they learned she was still alive. And third, it sounded like it
could be true. After all, the Queen was more than 90 years old and has looked
increasingly frail. By the time the BBC staffer tweeted “false alarm” and told her
followers that she had “deleted previous tweets!!” hundreds of people had gone on
an emotional rollercoaster.
The BBC staffer’s error was an innocent mistake. But it shows the power of
social media to spread false information. With increasing frequency, malevolent
forces are spreading malicious rumors and outright falsehoods on social media for
their own political or economic benefit, to make money or to damage someone’s
reputation. On April 23, 2013, the Associated Press’ official Twitter account
declared “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is
injured.” The impact of the social media message was instantaneous. Within sec-
onds, the U.S. stock markets plunged.
(Screen grab from @AP Twitter feed)
The tweet was not true. The AP’s Twitter feed had been hijacked by unknown
hackers, and it took about a half-hour for the news agency to regain control of its
feed. However, other news outlets and the White House quickly corrected the
falsehood, and AP officials confirmed that the tweet was published by unauthorized
individuals. Within an hour, the Dow Jones stock index regained its lost ground, AP
regained control of its Twitter account, and the world returned to normal.
Why did so many people believe it? It appeared to be tweeted by a trusted news
organization, the Associated Press, and, as I have already noted, citizens are more
likely to believe social media posts from people or organizations they trust. Like the
tweet about the Queen’s death, people they trust shared it or commented on it, in
this case, nearly 1,500 people in a half-hour. What’s more, it sounded like it could
be true in our terrorism-crazed world.
Welcome to the new world of news. Our news world is now a combination of
social media and traditional media reporting. News often breaks on social media,
then is followed up on websites, then expanded upon on traditional news platforms
such as television or print. To exist as a traditional media reporter in the current
world (or as a social media specialist), you have to learn how to use social media for
reporting—and how (and when) not to use it.
>>> Best practices
Houston Chronicle coverage of the 2015 runoff election for mayor of Houston
The largest newspaper in the Southern states of the United States offered readers
live coverage of the election of the city’s next leader through a collection of social
media posts updated every few minutes. The coverage included photographs,
videos, reports from Chronicle staffers, social media posts by candidates and
consultants, and reaction from average voters. The social media posts were lively,
timely, comprehensive and informative. Voters got up-to-the-minute numbers and
breaking news on a story that was not being covered by the national cable news
networks. By harnessing the power of social media, Chronicle reporters Mike
Morris, Rebecca Elliott and their teammates kept their readers informed about a
major news story in real time.
Screen grabs of the Houston Chronicle mayoral election coverage
The Chronicle’s fine work reflects the new world of news: A culture of sharing
rather than the industry’s longstanding culture of competition. News organizations,
often struggling financially, are concentrating their resources on subjects most
important to their audience. Jeff Jarvis, the City University of New York journalism
professor, commentator and blogger, sums up the new news philosophy this way:
“Do what you do best and link to the rest.”
The new reality, says New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen:
“The people formerly known as ‘the audience’ know more than we do.” As Jeff
Jarvis notes, we must add value to our social-media savvy readers’ lives and tell
them things they don’t already know.
15.3 Social Media as a Reporting Tool
The life of a reporter is different in the new social media world. We use social
media to find story ideas, information for our stories, and quotations. Many of us
conduct interviews on social media, or seek the participation of cybercitizens
through “crowdsourcing.” News reporting via social media consists of two models:
the active participant and the passive participant.
As an active participant, you can disseminate news by reporting breaking news
you have witnessed, sharing photographs or video you have shot, or crowdsourcing.
As an observer or analyst, you can locate information for your stories by curating
public resources during a breaking news event. The information could come from
digital sources such as updates on official websites or the official social media feeds
of government agencies, public officials, institutions, businesses, or company
executives.
There are many ways you can use the information you uncover through social
media. You can quote or embedding social media content from witnesses to an
event. You can quote or embed social media content from analysts commenting on
an event. You can quote or embed public reaction to news events curated from
social media. You can locate and share photographs and videos of new events. And
you can use social media sites to do research for feature stories or projects.
>>> Case study: An active participant via social media
A Chilean journalist covers an earthquake in the middle of the night
Former Global Business Journalism Program Co-Director James Breiner offers this
timeline of technology blogger Leo Prieto’s response to a 2010 earthquake in Chile.
Prieto is founder of Fayerwayer (http://www.fayerwayer.com), a respected blog
about technology in Latin America.
• 3:34 a.m.: Leo Prieto is shaken awake, in total darkness

• He tweets “what the heck was that”
• He begins to re-tweet (or “RT”) other information on the emergency
• He uses a hashtag (#) to make it easier to follow his re-tweets
• RTs where bridges are down and other dangerous areas
• RTs where people are trapped, injured, or need help
• Within 20 minutes he emerges as a de facto news hub in Chile
• CNN headquarters in Atlanta tweets him: ‘send us your phone no.’
• 4:04 a.m.: CNN Worldwide interviews him live on the air
• At same time, the Chilean national TV News was reporting, “There has been a
major earthquake. We have no further information at this time.”
15.3 Social Media as a Reporting Tool 387
Prieto had become a worldwide source of reliable information without leaving

his apartment. He had collected information much more rapidly than major news
organizations in his country. All it took was smarts, superb reportorial instincts,
and, especially, social media savvy.
>>> Case study: President Obama changes his policy on same-sex marriage
Texas on the Potomac covers the breaking news through social media updates
In 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama reversed his position on same-sex marriage.
As a presidential candidate in 2008, he opposed what is known as marriage
equality. But after several important U.S. court decisions overturning state bans on
same-sex marriage, the president decided that his position on the high-profile social
issue had changed.
President Obama, the first president to have a Facebook page, Twitter handle and
YouTube account, used social media to make the announcement. Instead of holding
a press conference, making a speech or even issuing a press release, the American
leader revealed his new view through his @POTUS Twitter account. “‘Same-sex
couples should be able to get married’—President Obama,” the tweet declared. And
with that, the first major social policy shift to be announced on social media came to
pass.
The tweet was timed to coincide with an interview Obama had recorded with
ABC News reporter Robin Roberts. In the interview, Obama explained the evo-
lution of his position and why he had reversed his previous opposition. In the past, a
president might have chosen to give a friendly interviewer like Roberts the big
scoop. Instead, it became the second piece of a social media puzzle. ABC News
posted the video of the interview to its website, and instantly, the social media
sphere was posting videos of the remarks.
As Washington bureau chief of the Houston Chronicle, your author thought it
would be appropriate to cover this story the way it was breaking—by collecting
social media posts from key participants and average people, and combining them
into a story. Using the Storify platform, he began his story with the president’s
tweet—“The news came with a tweet …”—and then followed it up with a video of
the Roberts-Obama interview. After that, he collected partisan reaction from top
Democrats and Republicans, from gay rights supporters and opponents, and from
Texas officials. The mayor of Houston, a lesbian who had strongly backed same-sex
marriage, tweeted that she had received a personal call from Obama letting her
know what he was going to do. In 140 characters, she expressed her amazement at
the historic moment.
By using the geolocation information available on Twitter, he was able to review
all tweets on the subject posted within a 50-mile radius of my newspaper’s home
base. He chose some of the most colorful, emotional and intelligent ones to illus-
trate the deeply divided feelings of our readers.
He continued to update the post throughout the day as more information became
available. On a parallel track, he coordinated coverage for the daily newspaper that
would be published the next day. A decade earlier, he would just have been
working on that single news story. Five years earlier, he would have written a
breaking news story for the Chronicle’s website and then turned around a story for
the next day’s print newspaper. But because of the importance of social media in
the story, he told the story in a different way—a way he thought would be the most
appropriate to tell this specific story.
15.4 Using LinkedIn as a Reporting Resource 389
(Screen grab of Texas on the Potomac coverage of the same-sex marriage story, Storify)
15.4 Using LinkedIn as a Reporting Resource
Most social media platforms, from Instagram to Twitter, WeChat to Weibo, are
primarily used for, as the name suggests, social purposes. But there is one social
network that is most often used for professional purposes and, as a result, is
exceptionally helpful to journalists. That platform is LinkedIn.
Because LinkedIn is used for professional networking, job recruiting and pro-
fessional image-building, it is a treasure trove of information for a reporter seeking
background about characters in stories and much more. LinkedIn contains bio-
graphical information submitted by the account holder. It’s always interesting to see
what part of a person’s life he or she chooses to highlight, so it is advisable to check
LinkedIn biographies against other publicly available biographies. In one case, your
author noticed that a Texas congressman did not include in his biography that he
once was a reporter.
LinkedIn has contact information for each person, so you always have at least a
small chance to contact even the most difficult-to-reach person. You can search
each person’s networks such as university, previous jobs or clubs. This information
can help you find people you might be able to interview about the person you are
profiling or otherwise writing about. The site often has articles or other documents
related to the person, either written by them or mentioning them.
There are other good uses for LinkedIn. It is convenient to use to find experts in
policy areas you are writing about. You can search for university professors, think
tank experts or political partisans. If you want to learn more, LinkedIn conducts
regular webinars for reporters and journalism students to help them use the site for
reporting purposes.
LinkedIn isn’t the only social network that contains valuable background
information for your reporting. Facebook, Twitter, Weibo and many others contain
nuggets of information that you can use in your reporting. But LinkedIn’s unique
positioning makes it a unique benefit to those of us in the news business.
Excerpts from Professor Dunham’s LinkedIn page

15.5 The Emergence of Social Journalism 391
15.5 The Emergence of Social Journalism
Social media is not just a collection of social networks. It is not simply something
we can use to build our brands as journalists, or complete our reporting assign-
ments. Social media has inspired a new type of journalism called social journalism.
The City University of New York journalism created a trend-setting course in
social journalism with the name “Community Engagement.” The goal of the course
is to use social media to better serve underserved communities and create real social
change at the grassroots level. Students work on real-world journalism projects
designed to generate not only a good story but beneficial results for real people.
>>> Best practices: CUNY’s Community Engagement course
Here are the course objectives, from the CUNY journalism school’s website
• Understand the core ideas of social journalism—the philosophy of journalism as
service.
• Know how to identify, understand and listen to communities, both virtual and
physical, in terms of how they come together, what they seek to do, how they
manage themselves, and what tools they use.
• Understand how the web and social media has made it easier and more efficient
for communities and networks to form that can generate real world political and
social change.
• Know how to evaluate what a community needs with an eye toward how social
journalists can meet those needs.
• Understand the basic principles of design thinking as one technique to under-
stand and empathize with communities.
• Be able to move past comfortable associations to learn how to understand
people of diverse backgrounds and different perspectives and needs.
• Know how to cope with difficulty in communities, particularly online: trolls and
troublemakers, fights and feuds.
15.6 The Dark Side of Social Media
Most of this chapter has highlighted the benefits of social media as a reporting tool.
Now it is time to sound a discordant note. Social media is a valuable asset for
journalists, but it has limits and serious liabilities. Careless or reckless use of social
media can damage a journalist’s career, particularly if you share false information
or fabricate information.
A journalist’s core mission is to spread the truth. But that is not the core mission
of everyone who uses social media. Many have other agendas, and social media
platforms are littered with misinformation, half-truths, untruths, personal slander and
intentional deception. Whether for profit or for political purposes, vicious
bottom-feeders have corrupted social media for their own dark purposes. Reporters
must be careful to verify—not just blithely repeat—information they find on social
media. Just because something is published on social media does not mean it is true.
Sometimes, government agencies get their facts wrong in the heat of a breaking news
story and unintentionally misinform the public. Other times, the misinformation is
intentional to plant falsehoods or to damage the reputations of careless journalists.
So remember always: Social media is one of the most important tools in the
modern reporters’ toolbox. It can help you build award-winning journalism pro-
jects. But it can be dangerous and it can do damage to you if not handled carefully.
Case in point: The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Although there were dozens
of journalists in the vicinity, most of the immediate information on what happened
came from citizen journalists—family members of runners and people lining the
streets who happened to capture the images or share their eyewitness testimony on
social networks. Journalists quickly descended on the carnage, but some of the most
compelling visuals were shared by witnesses with smart phones or cameras.
Social media was an indispensable tool for journalists on that dark day—and for
people all over the world who were riveted by the story. Anyone, from Shanghai to
South Africa, could become a citizen reporter and conduct your own investigation
into the events breaking half a world away. At the same time, the information
available on social media varied in quality and veracity. Many news outlets were
sharing the latest information whether they could confirm it or not—effectively,
becoming professional rumor-mongers—as they (and we) tried to figure out exactly
what had happened and who was responsible. There were errors about victims and
perpetrators, mistakes about the number of people killed and wounded, mistakes
about the manhunt and alleged apprehension of the suspects.
These errors were divided into two types: (1) mistakes made by television and
print reporters that were shared by citizens who believed them to be true and
(2) false rumors that spread like an information wildfire on social media and
scorched the reputations of people who shared the unverified allegations.
The worst of these false rumors was the allegation that a man missing after the
bombing was a perpetrator in the bombing plot. Reddit and Twitter users fingered
the missing man, Sunil Tripathi, labeling him “Suspect No. 2.” It turned out that the
man was a victim, not a perpetrator. The two men shared a dark complexion and
dark hair, but little else. Still, netizens were click to jump to the conclusion that the
mysterious man in the backwards baseball cap was Sunil Tripathi.
Hours after the bombing, reporting on the bombing descended into chaos when
CNN and the Associated Press reported that an arrest was made in the case.
Because AP is one of the world’s most trusted news organizations and CNN is
ubiquitous around the globe, thousands of people shared what seemed like good
news. Some news organizations repeated the claims while crediting CNN or
AP. Others stole the information and reported it as if they had confirmed it
themselves.
Everyone who shared the information was wrong. In the confusion that fol-
lowed, nobody was sure what was the truth. AP, CNN and the Boston Globe all
reported that an arrest was made. Fox News upped the ante by declaring that two
15.6 The Dark Side of Social Media 393
people had been taken into police custody. Reuters news service and the American
television networks ABC, NBC and CBS continued to insist that no arrests had
been made.
They were right, even though more than a few executives of those news orga-
nizations remained nervous that their reporters on the scene had failed to match the
“scoop” about the arrest(s). Things got so confusing that a CBS reporter tweeted out
a scorecard summarizing the varying reports of arrests (or no arrests).
A CBS reporter tweets out information on the status of the conflicting news reports (Screen grab
from @TimeWilliamsCBS, Twitter)
Social media information changed rapidly, and most news outlets quickly cor-
rected flawed information spread by others. One newspaper published at least two
false stories that were then shared on social media by readers—and by people who
saw the shocking tweets. The New York Post headline declared: “Authorities cir-
culate photos of two men spotted carrying bags near site of Boston bombings.” The
story showed two men with big red circles around their heads. It turned out the men
were innocent. Even after the story was disproved, the Post kept it up on its website
with an “update” stating, “Two men probed in Boston Marathon bombings cleared
by investigators.” Another Post story alleged that “FBI grills Saudi man in Boston
bombings.” It declared: “Police took a 20-year-old Saudi national into custody near
the scene of yesterday’s horrific Boston Marathon bomb attack, law-enforcement
sources told the Post.” There was no Saudi man involved in the attacks. It was a
false story that spread around the world via social media.
But bad reporting isn’t the only cause of false news stories during big breaking
news events. Nihilistic pranksters have been known to post fake videos on
YouTube or other video-sharing sites, looking for gullible news organizations to
trick. In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks, hoax videos
were posted purporting to be genuine footage of the terrorists’ work. One egregious
example showed an actor carrying a fake baby. However, several of the videos were
later debunked. Other fake videos were released by different sides in the lengthy
Syrian civil war of the 2010s. While atrocities were shown on the videos, they were
footage of other events, not taken contemporaneously. As a result of the spate of
fake videos, television networks began noting whether they could independently
confirm the validity of the videos they were airing.
The 2016 Brussels terror attacks gave malicious actors an opportunity to fool gullible media
outlets (Screen grab from Google search)
One of the darkest elements of the dark side of social media is the spawning of
character assassins known as trolls. Trolls, named for the mythical characters who
hide under bridges and harass passersby, have become a defining part of digital
journalism. On news websites, trolls harass the media outlets writing stories or other
people commenting on those stories. They often use uncivil words and veer into
prejudice, falsehoods and character assassination. Sometimes, they invoke sexual
violence or death. During the 2016 American presidential campaign, certain
reporters were targeted by extremist supporters of Donald Trump. The pro-Trump
troll army often used violent anti-Jewish imagery to attack the reporters, some of
15.6 The Dark Side of Social Media 395
whom were Jewish. One reporter’s face was superimposed on a gas chamber from
the Nazi death campus at Auschwitz, Poland, while another reporter’s photograph
was doctored to show a bullet going through her head and blood spurting out.
A Finnish journalist, Jessikka Aro, earned the spite of a group of Russian trolls
when she investigated this “troll army.” In retaliation, the New York Times
reported, “Ms. Aro has been peppered with abusive emails, vilified as a drug dealer
on social media sites and mocked as a delusional bimbo in a music video posted on
YouTube.”
Social media can be a valuable tool. But it also can be a vile weapon. And
reporters must be aware of the risks as they prepare to wade into the social media
swamp.
15.7 Confirming the Accuracy of Social Media Posts
Your editor is breathing down your neck. Confirm it. Match it. Publish it.
It’s time to take a deep breath. Think.
Is the post correct? Can you independently confirm it? Is it worth the risk to your
professional reputation to share the information, even if you attribute it?
In this situation, the risks are high, the rewards are low. Caution—at least
momentary caution—is advisable.
Here are some tips that can help you use social media most effectively with the
lowest risk of error:
• Accurately share what you have witnessed. Your eyes—or the lens of your
camera—don’t lie.
• Never spread rumors.
• Confirm information you learn on social media, with official authorities or
eyewitnesses.
• Be very careful about sharing unverified information. Make sure you tell your
audience what you know to be true and what you cannot confirm.
• Try crowdsourcing to find witnesses to the events described in social media
posts. Be careful not to spread unverified rumors in your queries to potential
witnesses. Try to vet your witnesses.
• If you are deciding whether to share images or videos, consider the source of
information. Is it reliable? Does the person or organization that posted it have a
long track record on social media? If it is a new account, an account with a
pseudonym or no biographical information, proceed with extreme caution. If the
account has few or no followers, be very careful. If the account has no record of
interaction with other accounts, you probably have discovered a fake account.
• Consider the grammar and syntax of the tweet. Some Russian tweeters write
their English-language tweets using Russian sentence structure and syntax,
which sometimes varies from English usage.
• If you are suspicious of the account, check if similar information has been
posted by reliable sources by conducting a web search of the subject matter.
• Check geo-location tools to see if the place identified in the tweet matches the
location of the shared information. If it does not, conduct further vetting before
sharing. (Because some social media users employ VPNs, or Virtual Private
Networks, the geo-location tools are not definitive.)
• Try to contact the person or organization that posted the information through a
direct message. If you remain skeptical, ask for corroborating evidence. Use
your reporting skills. You may want to ask the source for their telephone
number. A fraudulent poster would be unlikely to give you a phone contact.
• Look at other social media posts shared by your source in the same general time
frame. Are they posting about a wide range of events taking place at widely
varying locations? If so, they could be manufacturing false information. Is the
progression of posts logical in timing and subject matter.
• Check any images you are thinking of sharing for evidence of Photoshopping or
falsification.
• Check trusted websites like Snopes and PolitiFact to see if the information you
found has already been discredited.
• Debunk inaccurate reports, if you can supply evidence. Share the truth and
counter falsehoods.
• Give your audience context. Assess the reliability of sources of information that
you are sharing.
• Only retweet reliable sources. Your reputation is on the line if you share bad
information.
• Verify information from unknown sources before sharing it.
• Check the URLs attached to tweets. If the information appears too good to be
true, it may be a hoax. Some cybervillains use fake URLs to share false stories.
If you can’t verify the information, it’s time to consider your path forward. Think
about these questions posed by journalists Mandy Jenkins and Craig Silverman:
• How urgent is this information?
• How important is the tip to the overall story? Is there a story without it?
• Is it worth the risk if it is wrong?
If you make a mistake and you share information that is incorrect, misleading or
out of context, post a correction and an apology immediately. If you have men-
tioned a person, organization or social media account in your post, send a separate
correction to them.
Remember: It’s your reputation on the line. Be competitive. But, most of all, be
careful.
>>> Read a comprehensive report on fact verification by Mandy Jenkins of the
Huffington Post and Craig Silverman, author of “Open File and Regret the Error.”
http://ijnet.org/stories/journalists-guide-verifying-news-tips-twitter
15.7 Confirming the Accuracy of Social Media Posts 397
>>> Here are tips from Journalism.co.uk:

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news-features/how-to-verify-content-from-social-media/s5/
a548645/
Professional Advice
Today, as journalists, we are facing enormous changes in media in the digital era. In my
opinion, the best advice I could pass on, including to myself, is to keep updating our
knowledge and skills. Learning and continuous training are not options – they’re both a
must.
—Rabia Elkotbi, Social Media Producer, Al Jazeera Media Network
Bibliography
Barlett, R. (2012, April 3). How to: Verify content from social media. journalism.co.uk. http://
www.journalism.co.uk/news-features/how-to-verify-content-from-social-media/s5/a548645/.
Berkhead, S. (2017, January 25). Journalist of the month: Rabia Elkotbi. ijnet.org. https://ijnet.org/
en/blog/journalist-month-rabia-elkotbi.
Breiner J. (2012). PowerPoint presentation, Multimedia Business Reporting, Tsinghua School of
Journalism and Communication
Celona, L. (2013, April 18). Authorities circulate photos of two men spotted carrying bags near
site of Boston Bombings. nypost.com. https://nypost.com/2013/04/18/authorities-circulate-
photos-of-two-men-spotted-carrying-bags-near-site-of-boston-bombings/.
Celona, L. (2013, April 16) FBI grills Saudi Man in Boston Bombings. nypost.com. https://nypost.
com/2013/04/16/fbi-grills-saudi-man-in-boston-bombings/.
Community Engagement. journalism.cuny.edu. https://www.journalism.cuny.edu/courses/commu-
nity-engagement/.
Dorroh, J. (2011, October 5). A journalist’s guide to verifying news tips on Twitter. ijnet.org.
http://ijnet.org/stories/journalists-guide-verifying-news-tips-twitter.
Gillmor, D. (2013, April 23). The AP Twitter Hack Hoax exposes the need for ‘slow news’.
theguardian.com. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/23/ap-twitter-hack-
hoax-digital-media.
Higgins, A. (2016, May 30). Effort to expose Russia’s ‘Troll Army’ draws vicious retaliation.
nytimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/world/europe/russia-finland-nato-trolls.
html.
Jarvis, J. (2007, February 22). New rule: Cover what you do best. Link to the rest.
buzzmachine.com. https://buzzmachine.com/2007/02/22/new-rule-cover-what-you-do-best-
link-to-the-rest/.
Jarvis, J. (2010, December 7). Jeff Jarvis: New business models for news. www8.gsb.columbia.edu.
https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/financialstudies/newsn/1511/jeff-jarvis-new-business-models-
for-news.
Kirka, D. (2017, March 25). Long live the queen: BBC sorry for Tweet that sparked royal health
scare. theglobeandmail.com. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/after-social-
media-flurry-buckingham-palace-confirms-queen-elizabeth-ii-had-medical-checkup/arti-
cle24768259/.
Los Angeles Times Staff. pulitzer.org. http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/los-angeles-times-staff.
Polis blog (2009, April 3). SuperMedia in Italia: Perugia festival of journalism. blogs.lse.ac.uk.
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2009/04/03/supermedia-in-italia-perugia-festival-of-journalism/.
Reuters (2017) Tomorrow’s News. agency.reuters.com. https://agency.reuters.com/content/dam/
openweb/documents/pdf/news-agency/report/reuters-tomorrows-news-2017.pdf.
Rosen, J. (2011, May 25). The people formerly known as the audience. huffingtonpost.com. https://
www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-rosen/the-people-formerly-known_1_b_24113.html.
Smith, C. (2013, November 29). The planet’s 24 largest social media sites, and where their next
wave of growth will come from. businessinsider.com. http://www.businessinsider.com/a-
global-social-media-census-2013-10.
Bibliography 399
Spayd, E. (2015, May 1). Everything i know about journalism in 395 words. publiceditor.blogs.
nytimes.com. http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/everything-i-know-about-jour-
nalism-in-395-words/?_r=1.
Uberti, D. (2017, January 9). Focus more on fighting bad journalism, less on fake news. cjr.org.
http://www.cjr.org/criticism/bad_journalism_fake_news.php.
Chapter 16
Best Practices: Using Social Media
for Reporting
16.1 Case Study: The Los Angeles Times Pulitzer

Prize-Winning Coverage of the 2015 San Bernardino
Shootings
In our digital, mobile world, social media offers the traditional media’s first
response to breaking news. News organizations that are able to spring into action in
a coordinated, comprehensive way have a big advantage in the competitive
information-gathering climate. Here’s an example of outstanding use of social
media by a traditional news organization, and it netted the Los Angeles Times the
2016 Pulitzer Prize in breaking news reporting.
The story in question was the December 2015 mas shooting in San Bernardino,
California, that resulted in the deaths of 15 people and a dramatic search for the
perpetrators. The Times’ editor understood the power of social media for telling
these stories. But reporter Hailey Branson-Potts understood the importance of it for
gathering information, too. “I really like Twitter for breaking news because it’s so
simple, and editors here can seamlessly integrate tweets into our blog posts,” she
says. “There also are a lot of public agencies and politicians on Twitter these days.
Many of the San Bernardino sheriff’s and police press conferences were announced
via Twitter and even individual cops.”

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_16
402 16 Best Practices: Using Social Media …
(Screen grab of Hailey Branson-Potts’ Twitter profile)
When news broke on her beat—word of a “shooting incident” and police cars
called to the scene of a holiday party in San Bernardino—she got in her car and
headed toward the action.
16.1 Case Study: The Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize-Winning … 403
(Screen grabs from Twitter)
What is a reporter’s top priority in such a breaking news situation? File to social
media? The news organization’s website? Do you save your best information for
your print product? Do you spend most of your time reporting for the next day’s
story or filing what you have discovered immediately on social media and digital
news platforms? Or do you do everything, simultaneously?
Hailey Branson-Potts immediately focused on social media. “On a big breaking
story like San Bernardino, do a quick check to see if any trending hashtags being
used about the event,” she suggests. “In this case, it was #sanbernardino and the
more popular misspelled #sanbernadino. I used both just because they were getting
a lot of traction. Every tweet I put up with them seemed to spread.”
(Screen grab from @haileybranson, Twitter)

It’s also important to show readers what’s happening on the scene—to a point.
“If you’re on the scene: Tweet photos and, if you can, videos,” Hailey Branson
Potts says. “Be choosy, though. If you do too many, they get lost in the stream.
Choose one or two really good, unique photos that capture a scene until you move
on to something that looks different. I put six seconds of police-chase video up on
Twitter that our desk ended up using for a number of posts and formal L.A. Times
videos. If it sounds crazy (sirens, screaming, etc.), try and get some video.”
Tweets from Branson-Potts and other Times reporters were integrated into the
overall news coverage. The team at Times headquarters in downtown Los Angeles
managed a live breaking-news page with updates on the story, while video editors
captured live, raw video and packaged it into short, compelling posts.
(Screen grab from LATimes.com)
Branson-Potts realized that thousands of people would be following her every

tweet. So she decided to avoid posting other material on her Twitter account for the
duration of the San Bernardino story. Be single-minded, she advises fellow jour-
nalists. “If I know I’m going to be on one big story for a while, I don’t tweet about
other things – especially not personal things,” she says. “Except for one tweet about
a guy in my hometown dying, my feed for two weeks was exclusively San
Bernardino.”
Social media became Branson-Potts’ outlet for passing along newsworthy

information that might not be sufficiently important to make the Times’ final print
story on the day’s events. “There were a few interviews I did where I knew there
was a lot of stuff that wouldn’t make it into a blog post or story because there was
so much stuff coming in from multiple reporters,” she recalled. “So, I did a few
tweets, like tweeting a few quotes from an emergency city council meeting. Before
my feeds could be edited into a formal post with the widow of one victim, I tweeted
her photo and a short quote – ‘He was a martyr’ – so people could know to look for
a post later.”

Branson-Potts also used social media to tip off her readers that in-depth infor-
mation was soon coming. “He was a martyr,” Jennifer Thalasinos said of her slain
husband. Minutes later, the full story was available on the Times website.

Branson-Potts underscores the importance of maintaining your credibility.

During breaking news events, she says it’s important to offer observations, not
opinions. “DON’T tweet your opinions about the event you’re covering,” she
exhorts. “Personal observances, though, can sometimes be really poignant. Some of
the exhausted reporters have tweeted some of the things they’ve overheard or seen
while out on the scene, and it’s been great.”
Another good social media tool during breaking news events is photography.
Still photos can be dramatic and convey stories without words. Branson-Potts
attended a vigil in Colton, California, near the shooting scene, and shared images
with her social media followers. She did the same thing at a subsequent funeral of
an immigrant from Eritrea.

In covering big stories, small details can mean a lot. Branson-Potts urges you to
remain on the lookout for telling details, such as the snacks that local residents
brought to a sheriff’s deputy who had been on duty directing traffic in the aftermath
of the shootings.
Stay alert for any information that would have wide public interest. Two weeks
after the shooting, Branson-Potts shared a drawing by an elementary school student
from Los Angeles expressing her fears about schools being closed during violent
incidents. It was poignant and powerful.
One warning as you’re working breaking news stories. Always think before
posting. “If a victim or source says something controversial or unproven, better to
hold off on tweeting it until you think it through with your editor,” Branson-Potts
says. “For example, I wrote about a super-right-wing victim who was controversial,
and his wife said the day after the shooting that if there was a fight with the shooter,
he probably was part of it. I didn’t tweet that – it wasn’t proven by police and
seemed to blame the victim, even though it was his wife saying it. Better to think
something through than to be first with sensitive, highly watched stories.”
If you do everything right, you can became a breaking news hub, with people
from around the world seeking out your social media feed to learn the latest reliable
details. Branson-Potts became such a hub by posting her own updates and linking to
important developments posted by other reporters and local authorities. By giving
credit to others, she quickly expanded her social media community. “If you
interview someone who is on Twitter or at an organization on Twitter, always
include their handle in your tweet because they’ll likely share it,” she notes.
While sharing other people’s posts, make sure they are reliable sources. If you
post false information or rumors, your own credibility is lost. “As far as social
media posts by non-journalists, I tended to stick with officials: authorities, hospitals,
government officials,” says Branson-Potts. “Though, on other stories, if I see photos
from people at a scene that are intriguing, I’ll share those sometimes. But if
someone is attempting to report or opine and not an official or journalist – I usually
stay away from it. Rules are meant to be broken, though. Use your best judgment.”

16.2 Ten Tips on Using Social Media as a Reporting Tool.

By Lily Zeng
1. Choose the right platform

Different groups of target audiences use different types of social media. Make
sure the stories you want to publish are to be posted on a platform that matches
the audience you want to reach.
2. Stay up to date
Social media is a very fast-paced platform. You need to keep up with the latest
updates or trends or your audiences will seek information elsewhere.
3. Make your profile appealing
In this marketing-driven society, you need to find a way to package your profile
on your selected social media platform. An aesthetically pleasing profile attracts
readers and shows them you know what you’re doing.
4. Make your story stand out
Chances are, others are posting on the same topic as you are. Find a way to
differentiate your version from others with smart analysis or engrossing
multimedia.
5. Create a “personality” for your posts
The other best way to keep readers coming back to you apart from credibility is
to tell your stories in a unique voice. Tim Urban’s www.waitbutwhy.com blog
tells stories in a humorous yet informative way. His style engages the readers,
in social media posts and on his blog. He has created a persona of a guy who is
funny and intelligent. BuzzFeed posts stories with a recognizable voice. They
make their social media easily digestible for readers and keep their stories
simple.
6. Get your name out there
Get people to share, like, comment, retweet, repost, or whatever it takes to
allow as many people to be exposed to you as possible. When audiences start
recognizing your name, that’s when you know you’re able to make a difference
in the social media reporting world.
7. Maintain consistency
If you report about serious political issues, stick with that. You shouldn’t
randomly pop in stories about Bella Thorne’s new tattoo, or Angelina Jolie and
Brad Pitt’s divorce. Do not confuse your readers.
8. Find useful sources
Not only can you share information on social media, you can gain just as much.
To better tell your stories, look for useful and reliable sources of information on
social media.
9. Get authorized
Almost all the popular social media platforms now have the function to verify
your legitimacy. If you want people to take you seriously as a news source, try
to get yourself authorized on social media. The blue check next to your name
plays a role in your trustworthiness.
16.2 Ten Tips on Using Social Media as a Reporting Tool … 419
10. Be extra careful

The internet can sometimes be a scary place. Once you make a mistake on
there, it remains there forever. Always make sure to double-check your stories
before publishing.
Professional Advice
Sometimes you fail, sometimes things don’t work out like you planned, but you have to
keep pushing. It helps to network with people around you. Don’t work in isolation. Look at
people around you. Ask questions. Network. Get contacts. The more contacts you have the
more useful you become for the beat or area you’re covering.
—Linus Unah, Nigerian journalist and IJNet Journalist of the Month, December 2018
(Photo courtesy of ICFJ/IJNet)
Bibliography
Hailey Branson-Potts’ Twitter account: https://mobile.twitter.com/haileybranson.

Los Angeles Times (2016, April 18). How the times covered the San Bernardino terrorist attack.
latimes.com. http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-2016-pultizer-20160418-snap-
htmlstory.html.
Los Angeles Times Staff. pulitzer.org. http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/los-angeles-times-staff.
Mulcahey, T. (2018, December 14), Journalist of the month: Linus Unah. ijnet.org. https://ijnet.
org/en/story/journalist-month-linus-unah.
Chapter 17
Introduction to Data Journalism
17.1 Our Big Data World
We live in a Big Data world. “Every two days now we create as much information
as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003,” Google co-founder Eric
Schmidt, told a technology conference in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in the U.S. in 2010.
If anything, the pace of information creation has even quickened.
There is Big Data everywhere. Where we shop. What we buy. What we talk
about on social media. Who we share information with. Where we travel. What
articles or advertisements we click on. Companies have made billions of dollars by
collecting and analyzing this data. Political parties around the world have compiled
dossiers on our preferences so they can decide whether to persuade us to vote for
their candidates. Governments have built massive databases to fight crime and
terrorism, among other reasons.
Big Data is not a Western phenomenon. It’s happening almost everywhere.
“There is more accessible data [than ever]. It’s not like it was in the past,” Xiao
Zhensheng, Director of Economics at China’s CCTV, told a Data Journalism
Conference at the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication on June 11,
2014.
Much data is indeed available for the press to report on and analyze. It is
available in government databases and reports, statistics collected by international
bodies and nongovernmental organizations. It is shared by academics, average
citizens and journalists. But the harsh reality is that the news business has lagged
behind data leaders in the private sector in utilizing data both for journalistic and
business purposes.
It’s just another repetition of a fateful trend for the journalism industry, where
news organizations often have failed to understand or adopt new technologies or

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6163-0_17
422 17 Introduction to Data Journalism
platforms until others had led the way. That was true with Craigslist, a website that
made the once-lucrative “classified” sections of newspapers obsolete by posting
free ads for jobs, roommates or items for sale. Google became the dominant search
engine and eventually the dominant advertising platform. Apple became the pro-
ducer of the products the world used to get information, from the Mac to the iPad to
the iPhone to Google Watch. Facebook became the world’s top—and most prof-
itable—site for sharing news stories and videos. And Instagram became the world’s
most popular photo-sharing forum, supplanting news sites for stellar feature pho-
tography and breaking news photos.
For newsgathering, it’s an old story line. Computer technology was first used for
production functions of newspapers, such as modernizing the old “hot-type” metal
printing plates, to “cold-type” production of pages. Technology next seeped into
news outlets’ human resources department as records became computerized. Then
technology became a tool of newsroom management and communication, as
computers replaced typewriters and email replaced telex, telegrams and telephone
dictation. Finally, decades after IBM had pioneered the desktop computer, news
organizations embraced modern technology for news gathering.
There’s nothing we can do about those lost decades, when publishers and TV
network owners reaped record profits while failing to invest in the future. Cost, of
course, was the leading factor. Why spend money on expensive technology when
profits were rising? News industry leaders dismissed many of the changes as fads,
and waited until other industries adopted the technological advances because they
were waiting for the cost of the new technologies to come down. Another factor
holding back the news industry is a resistance to change among many news
executives. The corporate culture of the news industry worldwide has historically
been highly bureaucratic and conservative. There is a general resistance to change,
even though their own news outlets regularly report on global technological
advances. “While there are few industries that haven’t been somehow changed by
the advent of the internet, it’s hard to think of many that have faced as desperate a
scrabble to adapt or die as the news media,” said Rachel Porter of KQ London.
One way or another, there is no stopping technology now. Business news is
available digitally, 24 hours a day—not weekly, monthly or even daily. And more
and more of that news involves data. Bloomberg News, the world’s most techno-
logically savvy business news outlet, has a treasure trove of data, much of it
proprietary. It is available to people or organizations that pay for the Bloomberg
terminal or have access to the breaking news, analysis and commentary of
Bloomberg News reporters and contributors.
17.2 Key Elements of Data Journalism Storytelling 423
Look to add value through data, analysis and visualization (Graphic by Rick Dunham)
17.2 Key Elements of Data Journalism Storytelling
Data is just the starting point for data journalism. To be effective, data journalism
storytelling should contain (1) data, (2) visualization of the data, (3) content con-
vergence, some combination of words presenting findings from the data, reporting,
and analysis. The result is added value for your readers, for the understanding of
economic or other policy issues, and for society at large.
The stakes are enormous, and there is a wealth of statistical information available
that you can tap. “There’s so much more data available out there,” Robyn Tomlin,
the former chief digital officer of the Pew Research Center and Dallas Morning
News managing editor, told the International Newsroom Summit in Amsterdam in
2014. “And new tools make [data journalism] so much easier.”
>>> Read more about data journalism in Alistair Reid’s report on the International
Newsroom Summit on journalism.co.uk, 11/13/14
Journalists often are anxious about data. It may be rooted in a long-held belief
that “journalists don’t do numbers.” Some journalists even boast of their lack of
mathematical skills. Many journalists of past eras are right brain people in a
left-brain data journalism world. If you’re not familiar with the right-brain/left-brain
dichotomy, left-brain people are more sensual, creative, artistic, imaginative, poetic,
creative, and free-spirited. Right-brain people are logical, linear, analytical, prac-
tical, controlling (and often are in control), and, yes, mathematical. They’re much
more natural as data journalists. But even the most passionate “left-brainer” should
learn how to tell stories with data. After all, it’s art as well as math and analysis.
“You have two choices: You can curse the darkness or you can light the candle,”
Knight Foundation CEO Alberto Ibarguen said at the National Press Foundation
awards dinner in Washington, D.C., in 2015.
Data journalism can light that fire.
Ibarguen, a leading funder of global journalism innovation who helped to launch
the Global Business Journalism Program at Tsinghua University in 2007, is a
champion of digital journalism, particularly data-driven reporting. “If you care
about journalism,” he told the NPF, “you have to care about technology.”
Before we get too deep into data journalism, let’s dispense with a major mis-
conception: Data journalism storytelling is not about data alone. It’s first and
foremost about storytelling. Storytelling with data. “It sounds like it’s about
numbers, but it’s not,” says Sharon Tang, a data journalism student at Hong Kong
Baptist University.
What is data-driven journalism? First, it’s a way to tell stories better. Your
author’s wife, Pamela Tobey, created an eye-catching red line chart in the May 1,
2013, edition of the Washington Post illustrating the minute-by-minute gyrations of
the U.S. stock market in response to a scandal involving international money
exchange. The story was well-reported and deeply analytical, but the presentation
of the data—a bright red line chart that snaked its way across Page One—made the
package particularly memorable.
Data also can help you to tell stories in an easier-to-understand way. When
Republican politicians in America loudly criticized President Barack Obama for
taking what they called “too many vacations,” CBS News White House
Correspondent Mark Knoller tallied up the time each of four recent U.S. presidents
had spent on vacation. Obama, at 160, was last on the list. Two Republicans,
George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, led the list with more than twice as many
vacation days as Obama.
Another example comes from The Washington Post, always a leader in data
visualization. The Post used graphics to help readers understand the impact of a
partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government engineered by congressional
Republicans in a failed attempt to repeal Obama’s 2010 health-insurance law. Many
Americans believed that a government shutdown would only harm the nation’s
capital, where a tiny fraction of the country’s population lives. But the Post data
report proved that just 14% of federal workers were concentrated in the Washington
area, and that government and civilian defense workers across the country would be
forced out of work. Many of the hardest-hit regions were Republican-leaning areas
with large concentrations of military employees. The Post published a map of the
48 contiguous states with red dots marking the size and impact of government and
military workers on each U.S. metropolitan area. The map showed that three
metropolitan areas with large military presences would be hit far harder by a
government shutdown than would Washington itself.
Data Journalism can be a way to tell stories in a more attractive way. Using
graphic design skills, you can present data in ways that draw a reader to your
content. Once you have attracted the reader’s attention, use data visualization to
present the information as simply and clearly as possible.
China’s top trading partners, displayed in an attractive way (Graphic by Lauren Kyger)
Sometimes, data journalism is a way to tell stories you would not have had
without the data. This is where data-driven journalism loses its hyphen and
becomes simply “data journalism.” The New York Times’ Upshot column is the
home to many of these data projects. One excellent example is a report on the
aftereffects of the global financial market meltdown of 2007–2008 on the American
economy. Through the use of charts—255 of them to be exact—Upshot explained
the long-term impact of the recession on the world’s largest economy. As you hover
over parts of the graphic, different trends are highlighted.
>>> Read “How the Recession Reshaped the Economy in 255 Charts”
New York Times, the Upshot: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/05/upshot/
how-the-recession-reshaped-the-economy-in-255-charts.html?abt=0002&abg=1
Data journalism can rely on numbers, documents, or a combination of the two.

You can rely on data accumulated by others or you can create your own databases.
Data journalism reporting can be a part of the bigger story. It can add depth or
context to a story driven by reporting, not data. A good example of that is a New
York Times project on the lack of women as chief executive officers of American
corporations. Using data analysis, the Times discovered that there were more men
named John serving as CEOs of major American companies than all women. The
Times headline: “Fewer Women Run Big Companies Than Men Named John.”
After Donald Trump was elected president, news organizations visualized his
team of economic advisers. There were no women, no minorities, no young people.
But there were five older white guys named Steve. That data detail was an
invaluable addition to news coverage of the Trump transition.
Most often in data-driven journalism, the data forms the core of a story but is
supplemented and enriched by additional reporting. That data is usually in the form of
numbers. Bloomberg News is a global leader in economic data visualization and
analysis. It uses numbers of available from thousands of global economic databases—
plus its own proprietary data—to offer a rich array of data visualizations every day.
Quartz, the digital business news site (http://qz.com) goes one step further. It doesn’t
offer a chart of the day. It publishes a “Chart of the Moment.” Numbers, numbers, 24/7.
Sometimes, however, data journalism is based on words, not numbers. These
words often are found in documents. The data journalist’s role is to converts the
words into databases that can then be shared with the public. A prime example of
this is The Guardian’s investigative project on the U.S. National Security Agency’s
espionage files called “The NSA Files: Decoded.” The Guardian organized, syn-
thesized and analyzed thousands of documents to produce a valuable piece of
investigative journalism.
Another way to pursue a data-driven project is to create your own database.
That’s what Bloomberg News did amid a flurry of stories on sexual assault on
American university campuses. Bloomberg assigned a team of journalists to
compile a database of every legal or ethical incident involving any fraternity or
sorority in the United States. The news service used legal documents, old-fashioned
police reporting and intensive shoe-leather journalism to create a project entitled
“Every Time a Fraternity or Sorority Got in Trouble This Year.” The searchable
database enabled the readers to study the data by university, fraternity or sorority,
state, or type of incident. It produced a timeline of allegations and contained links to
additional reporting. Without the work of the Bloomberg reporters, the information
would have remained scattered across the country. But the database allowed
Bloomberg journalists—and readers everywhere in the world—to reach broad
conclusions about an under-covered issue.
>>> Read the Bloomberg report: “Every Time a Fraternity or Sorority Got in Trouble
This Year”
http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-frat-sorority-offenses/?utm_source=next-
draft&utm_medium=email
Whether data journalists base their reporting on numbers or documents, it’s the
work product that matters. In the end, data journalism is just another form of
storytelling—a more advanced multimedia form of storytelling, but storytelling
nonetheless. “Data tools are about storytelling and that’s what we do as journalists.
These are ways to help you tell new forms of stories,” said Robyn Tomlin, now
regional editor for the McClatchy newspaper chain’s Carolina properties.
The power of data has created new forms of multimedia stories, none more
striking than the nonprofit journalism organization ProPublica’s 2015 investigation
into the weakening of workers’ compensation payments for employees injured or
killed on the job. “The Demolition of Worker’s Comp” analyzed how, at the behest
of corporate interests, many states in the United States have dramatically reduced
compensation for workplace injuries. Because each state controls the benefits,
rather than the national government, workers in adjacent states can receive widely
varying compensation for injuries. “How much is your arm worth?” ProPublica
asks in an explanatory piece. “It depends on where you work.” Using the database
created by the journalists, you can see for yourself.
>>> Read the ProPublica package: http://www.propublica.org/article/the-demolition-of-
workers-compensation
ProPublica illustrated the power of corporate interests in American states (Screen grab from
propublica.org)
The data was the beginning of ProPublica’s work. Aggressive reporting

humanized the numbers. The package included five real-life tales from workers who
had been harmed by the changes. These moving stories explained the human side of
data-driven journalism, something that every reporter who is going to use data
should remember.
ProPublica’s superb work underscores a vitally important point about data
journalism. Data is not an end unto itself. It is a means to an end. Data is the
launching point for cutting-edge multimedia journalism. “In order for data to be a
compelling component in our stories, it has to guide our reporting not be our
reporting,” Emma Nicolas of the University of Missouri wrote in Mediashift.org.
>>> Read Emma Nicolas’ complete report: http://mediashift.org/2016/04/how-to-school-
your-data-thanks-to-nicar-2016/
Among the many ways data can add value to your reporting:
• Data helps you tell stories
• Data helps you explain important issues
• Data immerses readers in stories
• Data permits readers to confirm the validity of your work
• Data lets readers search for more information themselves
• Data lets the larger community come up with follow-up stories and actions.
“Data creates news and stories that are exclusive to you. That creates value for a
news organization,” says Rob Picard, longtime Director of Research at the Reuters
Institute at the University of Oxford in the U.K.
At a time when many news organizations in Western nations are struggling to
survive, the exclusive stories generated by data journalism can help to convince
readers to pay for the news product. “The public will demand and pay for quality
journalism,” Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg News and former New
York mayor, said at the National Press Club presidential inauguration in January
2015.
17.3 How Data Journalism Is Different
Data journalism is a different form of journalism. Let’s compare it to traditional

journalism and find the contrasts:
Data journalism is an active process, not passive. You are not just responding to
information being released by others or covering news as it breaks. You are
identifying trends and revealing information on important policy issues. You are
actively working for transparency in business, government and journalism.
Data-driven reporting requires specialized skills that not every journalist has
been taught. It often requires additional training for journalists, and different kinds
of training than are required for general news reporting.
17.3 How Data Journalism Is Different 429
The mindset of data journalism is different than many other forms of journalism.
It requires collaboration, among colleagues and sometimes between different news
organizations. Traditional journalism has focused on competition, between news
organizations and sometimes inside newsrooms. The days of “lone wolf” journalists
are waning as teamwork becomes increasingly important to producing complex
data projects.
“We have to keep improving the way we, as journalists, exchange information
and knowledge with people specializing in code, data, usability, social media,
design, digital security and more things that aren’t necessarily our main focus,”
Pablo Martin Fernandez, a digital media professor and writer in Argentina and
former editorial director of El Meme, told IJNet in December 2014. “We can help
everyone make better journalism. It’s better if we share our knowledge openly.”
>>> More advice from Pablo Martin Fernandez: https://test-420678.silk.co/page/Pablo-
Mart%C3%ADn-Fern%C3%A1ndez
Data requires some different skills than possessed by newsroom generalists. Here
are my “Essential Eight”:
• A basic understanding of statistics, including core concepts such as reliability,
significance, and generalizability
• Knowledge of publicly available statistics and data bases
• Download skills
• Spreadsheet skills
– Ability to employ statistical software packages such as Excel, SPSS or
Access
• Data visualization skills
• Analytical skills
• Storytelling skills
• Teamwork skills
A young reporter who understands spread sheets and data analysis is “an
incredibly valuable asset in every newsroom,” Andrew Leckey, president of the
Reynolds Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University, told the
Tsinghua business journalism forum in 2014. The late Mike Shanahan, a beloved
journalism professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., said it
a little differently: “These tools – every young journalist must have them.”
You need to think about how you assemble a team of data journalists to take on a
data project. To execute a successful data project, you need project conceptualizers,
statisticians who can scrape and clean data and use software packages to organize
data, skilled reporters to follow up on your data findings, analysts, editors who are
imaginative and open-minded, and graphic journalists who can visualize complex
numbers or documents in ways that are accessible to a wide range of readers.
There is a myth in the news industry that one person can do it all. Not true. Data
journalism requires teamwork because no one person can have all of the skills
required to do everything. There is just too much to do, and the required skills are
too varied.
Sara Cohen, the former data journalism team director at the New York Times,
tells this story about requisite teamwork: “One of my team members has a little
statue on his desk that he calls the ‘data unicorn.’ There is this idea that there is this
‘data unicorn’ out there that you can just shake and it will come out with your
answers.”
No “unicorn” exists that can do it all. At the same time, reporters can’t create
good data journalism unless they have a wide range of basic skills. Reporters can’t
rely on data experts on their team to do all the data work. “It’s also critical that
reporters be at least conversant with a spreadsheet,” explained Cohen, the board
president of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). “You’ll find people losing
patience with you if you need an ‘expert’ to sort a list or to do the most basic
calculations.
>>> More tips from Sara Cohen: http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/news-
media/research-chat-new-york-times-sarah-cohen-state-data-journalism-what-reporters-
need-know
Data, like other forms of journalism, has its limits, however. “Just because it’s
data doesn’t make it interesting,” says Ross Ramsey, executive editor of the Texas
Tribune, an online news product that has produced dozens of excellent data-driven
projects.
As Ross Ramsey says, data is not inherently interesting. It is up to us, as
journalists, to make it interesting through a pain-staking and time-consuming
process. Read on.
17.4 The Process of Creating a Data Journalism Project
Data journalism is a process. It’s not like a press conference where you listen to the
answers and write a story. Its complicated, and each step of the process must be
done well. Here’s a step-by-step look at the process:
• Step 1: Find the data
• Step 2: Import the data
• Step 3: Clean the data
• Step 4: Organize the data
Do you think you’re ready to write your story now?
No, not by a long shot. “You have to interview the data,” Ross Ramsey says. By
“interviewing the data,” he means that you have to figure out what news is con-
tained in the data and what additional reporting and analysis is needed before you
can proceed. So let’s proceed—slowly.
17.4 The Process of Creating a Data Journalism Project 431
• Step 5: Visualize the data

• Step 6: Analyze the data
• Step 7: Develop a storyline
• Step 8: Test the storyline with reporting
• Step 9: Write and edit the project
In writing the project, aim for clarity. Don’t let the numbers overwhelm the
dramatic arc of your story. You are writing a story for the public, not a method-
ological treatise for your Ph.D. “Make data understandable and easy to read,” says
Ross Ramsey. “It is the presentation that makes it comprehensible to someone else.
Too often, tools are driving the work, rather than what is important”—the
storytelling.
So you’re done, right? Wrong. You need to prepare plans to promote your
project via social media. The reason is simple: If nobody knows you have produced
a superb piece of journalism, what value (or impact) can it have? So get to work
with the next steps in the process.
• Step 10: Prepare social media strategy to publicize your project
• Step 11: Produce multimedia elements as a result of data and reporting
• Step 12: Create your public database
• Step 13: Publish your data-based journalism report
Do you think you’re done yet? Not quite. Yes, you’ve published your report. But
in many cases, you have created a database that must be updated in the future.
“Data is not a ‘one-off,’” says Ross Ramsey. “The day you put it up [on the
internet] it starts becoming inaccurate. You have to maintain it and have a service
plan.” So if you’re planning to have a living, ongoing database, there’s one more
step in the process.
• Step 14: Maintain the database
Indeed, data journalism is a process. To successfully undertake the process, you
must have a clarity of purpose You need to know what you are trying to show with
the data. What is the story you are trying to tell?
Once you have settled on a purpose, you must make sure you use scientifically
valid data research and verification methods. Your data must be presented accu-
rately. And the data visualization must be as simple as possible to be truly effective.
Data journalism demands transparency—from public officials and agencies, and
from the journalists completing the project. You must explain the sources, tech-
niques, and methods used in developing the database and the project. This one
element of a data journalism project is more like an academic methodology
description than traditional journalism.
>>> Learn more about the process of data journalism by downloading “The Data
Journalism Handbook,” a free online resource that allows you to follow the process
systematically from concept to published project: http://datajournalismhandbook.org
17.5 Data Journalism: A Cost-Benefit Analysis
Data journalism provides many benefits to the news industry. As Michael

Bloomberg, founder of the eponymous news service, explained to the National
Press Club, it can bring readers and revenue. But data-driven projects are not
automatically a benefit to a news organization. To succeed, journalists must show
why the stories are important and how the issues raised in the story can be
addressed in the public policy sphere. “Contextualization is necessary,” says Rob
Picard. “Relevance needs to be clear. Data needs to be explained within contem-
porary issues and debates.”
Picard has created a data pyramid. In Picard’s pyramid, the massive amount of
data is synthesized to a smaller amount of useful information, which then becomes
an even smaller amount of knowledge, which is transformed into pearls of very
valuable wisdom. “Data is most powerful when it is combined with other kinds of
evidence to provide explanation,” he says. “It is relatively easy to turn data into
information—but turning data into information that people can use is more difficult,
and not all journalists can do it.”
Paul Bradshaw of OnlineJournalismBlog.com (http://OnlineJournalismBlog.
com) has his own pyramid, which he calls “The Inverted Pyramid of Data
Journalism.” It pivots around the concept of communicating your data. Bradshaw
says you compile data, which you then clean, provide context and combine with
reporting to reach the ultimate goal: communication of the data. He then creates
another pyramid of data communication. Data is communicated, Bradshaw argues,
through visualization, narration, socialization, humanization, personalization and
utilization of data.
Don’t overdo it, though. Journalists in our interactive world sometimes use their
tools and toys, creating fancy graphics just because they can do it, not because it
adds any value to the storytelling. “Ask yourself if a data visualization is really
necessary, if it really adds something to the story,” data journalist Henry Kirby of
Business New Europe said in January 2015, according to journalism.co.uk. “Keep
the story itself as the central, most important part of the piece, rather than letting any
digital extras take the lead.”
Data journalism can be challenging to some newsrooms. The biggest challenge
is the lack of data experts. But the second-biggest challenge—and one that is
getting larger as news organizations struggle to break even—is its cost. It is
expensive and time-consuming to produce stellar data-driven journalism projects.
The technology costs include new kinds of software to handle the data, software to
visualize and share data, fees to gain access to data access, and a commitment from
news organizations to keeping data resources up to date. Then there are considerable
costs in terms of human resources such as staff time dedicated to labor-intensive data
projects, hiring of additional staff for technological or reporting tasks, and costs of
consultants, programmers, or other contractors hired to complete the process.
Not every news organization is willing to spend the money to pursue top-quality
data projects. Still, now is the time for data-driven business journalism. As noted
17.5 Data Journalism: A Cost-Benefit Analysis 433
earlier, more data is available than ever before. Technological advances make it
easier to visualize and share data. More young journalists have expertise in data.
Readers like to read these stories. Readers want to read these stories. You, as a
young journalist, will be more valuable if you learn how to successfully create
data-driven projects.
Professional Advice
We need to make data-driven products that both inform readers about what is happening in
society, but also provide immediate use value to them as people.
—Friedrich Lindenberg, Knight Journalism
Fellow, International Center for Journalists
Bibliography
Ashkenas, J., & Parlapiano, A. (2014, June 6). How the recession reshaped the economy, in 255
charts. nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/05/upshot/how-the-reces-
sion-reshaped-the-economy-in-255-charts.html?abt=0002&abg=1.
Grabell, M., ProPublica, Berkes, H. (2015, March 4). The demolition of workers’ comp.
propublica.org. http://www.propublica.org/article/the-demolition-of-workers-compensation.
Lindenberg F. (2015, May 28). Journalist of the month: Friedrich Lindenberg. IJNet. https://ijnet.
org/en/news/1027?page=1 (not live on website anymore).
Napolano, A. (2015, October 29). Animation as a new form of journalism by Rachel Porter.
knowledgequarter.london. https://www.knowledgequarter.london/animation-as-a-new-form-
of-journalism-by-rachel-porter/.
Nguyen, A. (2014, December 23). Advice from 6 journalists to guide you into the new year.
ijnet.com. https://ijnet.org/en/blog/advice-6-journalists-guide-you-new-year.
Nicolas, E. (2016, April 5). How to school your data, thanks to NICAR 2016. mediashift.org.
http://mediashift.org/2016/04/how-to-school-your-data-thanks-to-nicar-2016/.
Otani, A., & Diamond, J. S. (2015, June 4). Every time a fraternity or sorority got in trouble this
year. bloomberg.com. http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-frat-sorority-offenses/?utm_-
source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email.
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journalism.co.uk. https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/-free-and-easy-data-journalism-tools-
from-the-pew-research-center/s2/a562780/.
Reid, A. (2015, January 22). Advice on innovating in journalism from new media outlets.
journalism.co.uk. https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/advice-on-innovating-in-journalism-
from-new-media-outlets/s2/a563878/.
Siegler, M.G. (2010, August 5). Create as much information as we did up to 2003.
techcrunch.com. https://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/schmidt-data/.
The data journalism handbook. http://datajournalismhandbook.org.
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data-journalism-what-reporters-need-know.

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Tsinghua Global Business Journalism Series

Richard Scott Dunham

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15842

ISSN 2522-0942 ISSN 2522-0950 (electronic)

Barrows Dunham (Family photo)

Beijing, China Richard Scott Dunham

Global Business Journalism Program graduate Mariah Nourmohammadi

3 Best Practices in Multimedia Journalism . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . 41

Part II Multimedia Skills

7.11 Volume Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

10.10 Editing Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Part III Organizing a Multimedia Project

Part IV The Future of Multimedia

Rick Dunham (Screen grab, CCTV News)

Richard Scott Dunham is a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University and is

An expert on political demographics and the nexus of policy, politics, and

1.1 The Dawn of the Multimedia Era

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 3

“Digital disruption” is a term used by academics and media executives to

It was not always that way.

1.2 Culture Clash

“omnimedia”—different media accessed by users on the web—took hold, dis-

1.3 Digital Journalism Eclipses Traditional Forms

News organizations are trying to shift to a subscription-based business model,

1.4 Traditional Media Forms Try to Adapt

Three-quarters of a century later, journalism is being reinvented every day, from

• Satellite radio show host

1.5 How Multimedia Improves News Storytelling

• Breaking news, columns, commentary, feature stories

A lot of news organizations are experimenting with multimedia elements

Storytelling, through whatever medium you prefer, has become an indispensible

1.6 New Skills, New Competitors

Storytelling is essential. But to produce journalism in the multimedia age, today’s

School at Syracuse University, said in a podcast with journalism.co.uk posted in

In this kind of climate, outlets that protect traditional journalism values—

2.1 Ten Keys to Effective Multimedia Journalism

The path forward: substantive reporting told on multimedia platforms. “I’m

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 23

2.1.1 Key #1: Master the Essentials

Another essential of writing “hard news” or breaking news is “the inverted

The inverted pyramid (Graphic by Rick Dunham)

2.1.2 Key #2: Be Multimedia Savvy

No young journalist in today’s digital world can expect to succeed without

2.1.3 Key #3: Focus on Your Audience

2.1.4 Key #4: Add Value

2.1.5 Key #5: Write Tight

2.1.6 Key #6: Be Curious. Be Persistent

Be curious. Become an expert on the subject of your story, on your beat, on

2.1.7 Key #7: Don’t Be Academic

2.1.8 Key #8: Use Social Media as a Reporting Tool

2.1.9 Key #9: Be Fair

Accuracy þ Balance þ Clarity þ Detachment þ Ethics ¼ Fairness

2.1.10 Key #10: Maintain the Highest Ethical Standards

2.2 Five Tips to Help You Become a Better Journalist

From Brian Bremner, Bloomberg News

Brian Bremner greets students at Tsinghua University (GBJ photo)

2.3 Ten Tips for Beginning Reporters

By Hailey Branson-Potts, the Los Angeles Times

2.4 Tips on Getting the Most Out of Your College

From Eric Fish, author of “China’s Millennials: The Want Generation”

2.5 Leadership Tips for Women

From Catherine Cai, chair, China Investment Banking, Citigroup

Richard Collins (Photo reproduced with permission)