According to a new study, the vast majority of American companies--almost 70 percent--have no "formal policy regarding employee use of social networking sites." The number could be even higher among news organizations, says KOMU-TV news director Stacey Woelfel, given how loath newsrooms are to put …
Anyone who's ever worked in television news knows it can be predictable and trite. A friend in the business used to say there's a formula for everything. Soundbites plus b-roll plus stand up equals package. Or live shot plus banter plus tease equals A-block. You …
Reporting with sound isn't just a technical challenge--it can raise ethical issues as well. How do you gather sound in the field and how do you use it? How much editing is okay? Guidelines like the RTDNA ethics code, which warns journalists not to "manipulate sound …
When newsrooms cut editorial staff--as so many have in the past couple of years--are typos and grammatical errors the inevitable result? The Washington Post's ombudsman, Andy Alexander, admits there are more errors in the print paper and "clearly reduced staffing plays some role." But a bigger …
Bob Brandon was a true professional and a great human being. A television photojournalist for more than 40 years, Brandon died in December at the age of 63 while awaiting a kidney transplant. Even though most people who knew him were aware that he was sick, …
Some of the strongest stories that ever make air or the Web rely exclusively on pictures and sound, with no reporter track. Putting a great nat …
A story based on paper documents or computer records can pose a challenge for television journalists. …
Dan Wood got his first assignment as a photojournalist for KUSA-TV in Denver in 1979. In the three decades since then, he's told some amazing, memorable stories and he's still going strong. Along with the rest of the KUSA photography staff, Wood has won his share …
Stories on local TV news just seem to keep getting shorter. From all indications, the average big market package runs about 1:15 these days. So it's unusual, to say the least, for a station to not only buck the trend but to create a new …
Back in the day, you didn't have to wonder what to do with breaking news. You put it on the air, of course. If it was big enough, you interrupted regular programming. If not, you waited until news time. Simple. But now, with most news outlets …
The decade I'm choosing to call the "ohs" has finally ended and I'm happy to say good riddance. Looking back at ten years' worth of columns for American Journalism Review, I'm struck by how little has changed for the better when it comes to broadcast …
A friend of mine calls her journalism students "do-gooders who hate math." But journalists need math skills to make sense of numbers the way they need language skills to make sense of …
