This post was originally published on this site
The pandemic has given journalists the opportunity to get back to the basics of storytelling and spurred creativity, increased collaboration and improved communication.
The circumstances of the pandemic led broadcasters to experiment with different approaches to storytelling and story lengths. The resulting creativity has increased journalists’ pride in their work and seems to resonate with audiences.
As journalists have covered the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, the elections, extreme weather and life in general in 2020, the stay-at-home conditions associated with COVID have led to new skills and better communications among team members, panelists said during a session on Novel Approaches to News Storytelling Under Stress at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum on Wednesday.
“In a very odd way for journalists, 2020 has been a great year to get back to the basics of storytelling,” said Kim Voet Potter, news director at Graham Media’s WDIV Detroit.
Historically, newsrooms tended to focus on story counts and ensuring stories were quick, she said. Now, with the “enormous stories taking place, there’s an opportunity to get back to the basics of storytelling and develop routines and new practices for telling good stories.”
Creative latitude can be supported at every step of a story’s development.
At WDIV, the news team discusses how to approach a story as well as its length and how to develop the character or subject.
“It depends on the story,” Potter said. “We don’t lay out a