If you can read a text story on the Web in a couple of minutes, why would you want to watch an online video that conveys the same information? Caleb Silver, executive producer for video at CNNMoney.com, believes you wouldn't. He argues that video should …
If your goal is to make the online news experience more interactive, you've come to the right place. New tools that can help you do that were on display yesterday at a Washington conference honoring this year's winners of the Knight-Batten awards, and here's …
by Mark Bell, ENGsafety.com Many reporters feel it's the technician's job to be concerned about live truck safety. Nothing could be further from the truth. To prevent …
What's in a name? A lot, says RTNDA chairman Stacey Woelfel, which is why the organization will soon become RTDNA. "It's not a typo," Woelfel says. "It's a big change for the association." The Radio-Television News Directors Association, founded in 1946, is becoming the Radio Television …
How do you make a complex issue like health care or the financial meltdown comprehensible? Graphics can help, and they don't have to be elaborate. ABC News Reporter John Hendren used cartoon drawings to explain how "toxic assets" at banks are like rotten apples at a …
What's the most harmful thing you can do to your voice? That's an easy one: Smoke. When I first started working at CBS News, I sat across from Dallas Townsend, the longtime radio anchor of the morning World News Roundup. He went through two packs of …
There's something missing from a lot of television and online video stories, and without it, those stories fall flat. Every picture should have a sound to convey the full experience of what it was like to be there. That's what visual storytelling does best. But …
When it comes to writing, what works on TV or in print doesn't necessarily work on the Web. Stories that begin with an anecdotal lead may send online readers clicking away, if they can't figure out quickly what the story is about. Many broadcast journalists have …
Boomer bosses, take note. It may be time to change the way you look at your younger employees. So says Mary Rogus, a veteran TV news producer who now teaches at Ohio University. Yes, the Gen Y-Millennials are different from their older colleagues. They care much …
The ongoing debate over health care reform is a tough story for local television news to cover well. Angry protesters and emotional testimony at town hall meetings make for good video but add little to public understanding of the issues. Recognizing that, stations across the country …
Is it real or is it astroturf? Advocacy groups are popping up all over, taking positions on everything from health care to the environment, and it's not always easy to tell if they are what they claim to be. How can you distinguish a real …
It's hard to sustain a beat system in a short-staffed newsroom and even harder to build one from scratch. While many TV stations still have a medical reporter or a consumer reporter, it's rare to find a station these days where most reporters are …
