The New York Times’ Health Care in the U.S. Timeline

This is a good example of a timeline and its importance in journalism. Clearly, this one is interactive but it has the same gist as the one you were working...

Head, subhead — huh?

My response to a student who Googled “head” and “subhead” — A “head” is short for headline or header, which is made up of three to six or so words with a subject and verb — usually the big type above a newspaper article. It can also be the title of a journal piece. The subhead is short for subheadline, which goes beneath the headline and is in smaller type and uses...

Lovely student photos

Without reading Rachelle’s captions, I knew immediately what her story was about. Note how Rachelle — who has attended photography school — takes the images from different angles and doesn’t worry about getting too close. Though she was just in one place, she took several types of photos — didn’t stay with just one person. For your future assignments, you will need to focus your...

Today’s lecture: Movement in media

Half the Sky (left) and the Girl Effect...

Last photo post: A photographer’s winter Olympics

My former photo editor Troy Wayrynen shoots the Olympics every other year, lucky dog, and posted his images to this site. I wouldn’t normally post yet more photos, but what makes these ones interesting to you, dear students, are his captions. Troy explains what it took to get these photos — going for his own gold medal of sorts. He tells us, the viewer, where he shot the photos and what camera...

Don’t be a “low-rent Ira Glass wannabe”

I asked friends on Facebook for audio visual inspirations, and college pal Katy Aronoff posted the following: “There are some great examples from NPR of how well-produced audio can tell a story. I know everyone thinks of Ira Glass when this subject comes up, and I’m as big a fan of This American Life as anyone, but there are ways to do this that don’t involve mimicking that formula and...

In a Word: Mediastorm

So clearly I’m focusing on professional photography here, and clearly few are at that level. Still, it helps to examine what the pros are doing. In fact, I recommend looking through the best photography blogs as akin to reading good fiction and poetry if you’re a writer — any kind of writer, including journalist. Also, check out these gorgeous photos by my friend Erika Schultz of the...

NPR’s The Picture Show

Strong captions, strong photos at NPR’s The Picture Show Blog. (Thanks to my friend KTA for the link.) Study these images and note that they’re taking from various heights, and that the photographer takes color into consideration. When you read the caption, take into account that it reads like a mini story — which is important because a lot of people read only the captions beneath the...

The Amazin Jerkz.

Video by my friend Casey Parks, Oregonian reporter who makes multimedia projects on her own time (caseyinpictures.blogspot.com). Check it out. The Amazin Jerks from Casey Parks on...

Making of Women of Troy

Transom.org is a wonderful multimedia site and has this “making of” narrative worth checking out if you were taken by the gritty Women of Troy poetry-slam-audio-slideshow. From the site: About “In Verse” and “Women of Troy” “In Verse” is a multimedia reporting project combining poetry, photography and sound. The documentary poems will be broadcast on Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen...

What is it we assume people know?

21st century media literacies from JD Lasica on Vimeo. Author and Stanford Professor Howard Rheingold contemplates literacy in our day. “What’s important now not access to hardware and access to internet but access to knowledge, 21st century literacy,” he says. The tenets of literacy: 1. Attention 2. Participation 3. Collaboration 4. Network savvy 5. Critical consumption, or, he says,...

In Verse: Women of Troy

In Verse: Women of Troy from InVerse on...

NYTimes: Audio slideshow example

Check out the New York Times’ One in 8 Million audio slideshow feature. Here’s one among many. This is along the lines of what you’re doing in...

Q: Audio, photo, interview all at once? HOW?!

From one of my students: “When doing the next assignment with audio and photos, how would I get both audio and photos at the same time? I have an audio interview set up for thursday and I have made a list of questions I am going to ask him. Do I go about asking him if I can take photos of him, or what kind of photos would you suggest me taking?” My response: I’ll outline what I would do,...

Student narrative well done

Lisa recommended Joseph’s haunting narrative from several weeks back. By Joseph Van Nattress Gateway The clock creeps toward 10:45, as a dark shadow captures the east point of Alyssa’s room. A light knock on Alyssa’s door whispers to her ear, the sound smoothly seeps out the window. Her mother patiently waits for a minute as she wipes her eyes and continues to bed. Alyssa sits alone at the...