Build a better news meeting
Want to improve your newscasts? Improve your planning meetings. Meeting time may be the only time during the day when a …
Tips for covering state government
Anyone who's ever been assigned to cover the statehouse for television or radio knows it's a tough job. Not only do you …
How to simplify routine stories
Every newsroom is stressed to the max these days, with too few people producing news on more platforms than ever. How can you free up time for enterprise reporting or multimedia projects? By saving time on the routine stories. Simple templates can speed up the collection …
When to post an exclusive on Twitter
Sometimes, the most amazing stories just fall into your lap. NJ Burkett, a reporter at WABC-TV in New York, says a viewer phone call led him to a story about a trail of personal information found in the street on the Upper West Side …
Making meetings matter again
Meetings are TV poison, right? Who wants to look at BOPSAT (bunch of people sitting around talking), anyway? …
TV health reform coverage, in depth
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 …
Investigating ‘front’ groups
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 …
How to build a beat system
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 …
Background for reporting on health care reform
Complicated, controversial and confusing. The health care debate is a tough story to cover in any medium. As one TV news director wrote me, "It's hard to find information from anyone who doesn't have a dog in the fight." Where can you look for suggestions, tools …
Multimedia time management
Most solo journalists agree that doing it all on your own requires terrific time management skills. If you're new on the job or just looking for a few new ideas, check these suggestions from other multimedia journalists. Janie Porter, who works for WTSP-TV in the …
Doing data online
If your goal is to produce a sticky Web site, data is one way to get there. Providing lots of information that people can explore on their own will entice some of them, at least, to spend time on the site. That's part of the …
Reporter, know thy market
At a time when many journalists are struggling to find jobs, anchor Rhori Johnston of WTVF in Nashville says folks who already have positions need to work hard to hold on to them. Speaking to a group of 34 broadcast journalists at the SPJ Reporters Institute, Johnston said it's …