What would you tell a group of freshly-minted journalism and mass comm graduates about the future that awaits them? I asked that question on several social networks to prepare for a commencement speech last weekend at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Your real …
It's often said that one of our missions as journalists is to give voice to the voiceless. But if you look at the stories we produce, you won't often hear those voices. For instance, a lot of stories about children or issues that affect children …
by Alan Cohn, WFTS-TV, Tampa, Fla. It's one thing to get a great tip. It was another thing to actually catch Angel Ocasio in full Marine Corps Uniform wearing the Navy Cross he didn’t earn. I learned the Tampa man was going around dressed as a Marine …
Being shunted off to weekends has never been a coveted career move for a main anchor at a local television station. For Charles Perez, it was the last straw. When Miami's ABC affiliate changed his schedule this summer, he claimed discrimination on the basis of …
What you get out of an interview is directly related to what you put into it. Even if you're in a rush, which most of us are these days, you owe it to yourself, your subject and most importantly your audience to spent some time …
It all started at the IRE conference this summer, when a 60 Minutes producer approached WFOR-TV's Stephen Stock. Would he be interested in working together on an investigation? That brief conversation led both CBS News and its Miami affiliate to produce separate but parallel stories a …
How can a station do more with less and still produce award-winning work? KUSA-TV in Denver was named NPPA station of the year in 2009--the 11th time it's won the top prize for TV photojournalism. But that's one of the few things that hasn't changed …
NBC's decision to move Jay Leno's talk show to prime time this fall was a calculated risk for the network. Would his loyal late night audience follow him to the earlier time slot? There's no longer much doubt that the answer is no.
Most interviews we do for television or radio are on the record. Seems obvious--after all, we usually show up with a microphone! But there may be times when you have to make a deal with a source in order to get any information at all. …
Many great story ideas never survive the morning meeting. It's not just that they're overridden by breaking news. Sometimes story ideas die because no one can figure out how to make them into television or radio. We've all heard it said about a complex issue …
The interview is one of the most basic building blocks of journalism. It sounds obvious, but reporters have to talk to people to learn what's really going on. And journalists …
Digital editing allows you to do amazing things with video, but NPPA editor of the year Josh Shea urges editors to show restraint. He did just that in his winning entry, according to the judges: "This editor made great storytelling choices that did not draw …
