Looking back at the year gone by always gives me some insight into what’s most important to you, NewsLab’s readers, and you never let me down. You care deeply about doing good work and about the future of the news business. No surprise, then, that most of the top five posts in 2015 offered tips you can use every day.
I hope this year-in-review post also serves to draw your attention to popular posts you might have missed. Thank you for reading!
Our story about a Swiss TV station where everything is shot with iPhones drew the most traffic by far. Do I think it’s the wave of the future? Not exactly. I haven’t heard of any other TV outlet following suit, and concerns about quality are well-founded. But let’s face it: the latest generation of iPhones capture video that’s plenty good enough for air. I used some that I shot with my iPhone 6 in a PBS story this year. And WFAA in Dallas aired a half-hour special entirely shot on an iPhone.
One of the biggest ethical blunders of 2015 was the subject of another popular post that asked whether NBC should fire Brian Williams. I wrote then that I expected him to be suspended, and as we know that’s what ended up happening. But I also took NBC to task for failing to make public its internal investigation into Williams’ misstatements and exaggerations. I still think the network and Williams himself need to come clean to repair their damaged credibility, especially now that he’s back on the air as the “breaking news anchor” at MSNBC.
Finally, reinforcing my sense that NewsLab’s tips have staying power, several posts that date back a few years made the top 5 in 2015: tips for better standups, tips on taking good notes and a how-to guide for natural sound stories. If you have suggestions for additional tip sheets, I’d love to hear from you.
