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Index
Contents
Guided tour
Multimedia in content; multimedia in form
General introduction
What Multimedia Journalism is all about
So what are we going to learn to do?
Joint Journalism Training Forum
part A Getting started
Introduction: what multimedia journalism is
Aims of this section
chapter one Essentials of writing a news story
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
1A1 What news is
Here’s another story
Here’s a fourth story
Audience is key to news
PS News is a good story well told
1A2 What reporting is
Here is some information that forms the basis of a news story
1A3 News: who’s the audience?
1A4 News: where does it come from?
Let’s look at some stories and see where they came from
1 Here’s a story about a murder
WHERE THE STORY CAME FROM
2 Here’s a story about space exploration
WHERE THE STORY CAME FROM
3 Here’s a story about an eccentric event
WHERE THE STORY CAME FROM
Common news sources
On- and off-diary stories
Some examples
Court cases
Local government
National government
The stock market and company reports
The emergency services – police, fire and rescue, ambulance and coastguard
Product launches
Press releases and press conferences
News wire services
INTERNATIONAL
NATIONAL
LOCAL
Anniversaries
News from your own publication, your readers and your contacts
Campaigns, opinion polls, surveys
News from other media outlets
1A5 What’s the best way to tell a story?
Multimedia news: how to tell it
1 The Dewsbury murder story
2 The Mars landing story
3 Cheese rolling
The three stories we have just been looking at all have strong visual possibilities
Multimedia storytelling – what works best for each type of story
Text
Video
Stills photography
Audio
We must choose the right medium for the story we are covering
Combining storytelling techniques
Tailoring one story for print, web, video and audio
Where are they reading you?
1A6 News: how to write it
How to begin a story
Headlines and intros, or heads and sells, or heads and blurbs
Let’s come up with some heads and sells of our own
Where to go from there: how to structure the rest of a news story
The inverted triangle
Making text scannable
Hypertext links
Thinking in screens
A couple of other things to mention before we move on
Quoting
Style guides
1A7 How to write and structure a blog
1A8 Basic reporting assignments
Emergency service press calls
Press releases
A council committee meeting
Hastings Borough Council
A conference, exhibition or convention
How to approach covering an exhibition
PLAN YOUR COVERAGE
FIND OUT ALL YOU CAN IN ADVANCE
WHEN YOU GET THERE
1A9 Exercises and projects
chapter two Creating a publishing platform
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
2A1 Creating a website
How to create a logical structure for a website
Building links from your news heads and sells to the full stories
How to make a website easy to navigate
Thinking in screens – creating a content area within your website
How to make content easy to read
Adding content to the narrow columns on your home page
Some examples of website structure
bbc.co.uk
Guardian.co.uk
2A2 How to create a blog
A blog is a conversation
2A3 How to integrate multimedia content
Using YouTube
2A4 Getting your blog and sites seen – and measuring their success
2A5 Exercises and projects
chapter three Still pictures
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
3A1 Introduction
3A2 Digital cameras
3A3 Shooting pictures
Light
Get in close
Keep your pictures simple
Learn the rule of thirds
Shoot vertical and horizontal versions of each image
Shoot action
Be careful about the background
3A4 Editing pictures
Compressing files in Microsoft Picture Manager
Editing in iPhoto on a Mac
Publishing the picture on Webs
3A5 Telling stories through picture galleries and slide shows
A picture gallery
A slide show
Captioning
Creating a picture gallery and slide show on Webs
3A6 Exercises and projects
chapter four Audio and podcasting
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
4A1 Introduction: how audio can be used
Audio clips to enhance a text-based story
Using audio clips as part of a video or stills slide show
The audio package
Podcasts – and RSS feeds
An unscripted chat podcast
A radio-style package podcast
The polished, radio-show-style podcast
Why you should podcast
4A2 Audio recording equipment and formats
Audio formats
Recording equipment
Is it easy to use?
How much recording time does it have?
What digital file format does it use, and is that format compatible with your computer?
Does it have a USB port?
Does it have mic and headphone input points?
Two examples of good equipment
What if you don’t have a digital recorder?
4A3 Recording audio reports and podcasts
Record somewhere quiet
The importance of natural sound
How to conduct your interview
How to phrase your questions
What order should you ask your questions in?
How to plan your interview
Before you begin
Creating a podcast
Creating a podcast or package
4A4 Editing audio reports and podcasts
How to import audio … or record a podcast
Listen to it through
Cut out the bits you don’t want
Splitting clips
The zoom tool
Adjust the levels of your audio
Put your clips in order
4A5 Publishing audio
How to set up an RSS feed
Now that you have completed the chapter …
4A6 Exercises and projects
chapter five Video
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
5A1 Introduction
A video clip and text-plus reporting
A video news package
A video news bulletin
Live footage
5A2 Creating video reports
Types of camera and basic operating techniques
Using a tripod, a microphone and headphones
But what if you only have your mobile phone?
Setting up the camera
Framing a shot
Shoot your subject at roughly their eye level
Get in tight
Avoid distracting backgrounds
Turn on – and wait
Oh, and don’t forget …
The basic shots we use
Panning and zooming
Establishing shots and detail shots
Lead space
Reverse shots
Crossing the line
Cutaways
Pieces to camera
A good balance of shots to aim for
Plan
The questions to ask
Shoot to edit
Sequencing
5A3 Styles of video report
Text-plus
Video packages
Birmingham Post Rich List
Features packages
A UFO sighting
Singing dogs
News bulletins
Other studio-based video
Other uses of video
Going live
5A4 Writing for video
5A5 Presenting skills
Learn to speak well
5A6 Putting your video report together
Editing video with iMovie
To transfer video from camera to iMovie software
Prepare to edit your clips
Add clips to the timeline
Trim clips
Create transitions between clips
Add titles
Add audio
Editing with Windows Movie Maker
Capture video
Organise your clips
Edit your clips
Introduce transitions between clips
Add narration
Saving your finished movie
5A7 Publishing online
5A8 Exercises and projects
part B Building proficiency
Aims of this section
chapter six Writing news stories and reporting live
6B1 Online-first publication and the impact on how journalists work
When we know it’s going to happen
While it’s happening
Once it’s happened
6B2 Story cycle 1: research as reporting
News alerts and RSS feeds
Monitoring news sources
Social bookmarking
Social networks
6B3 Story cycle 2: publishing before the event
6B4 Story cycle 3: breaking news online – via news ticker, SMS and Twitter
6B5 Story cycle 4: reporting live
How major stories are covered
Covering a murder trial live
My day at Kew
Back to our train crash story
6B6 Story cycle 5: first text story on the website
Meanwhile, at the scene of the crash …
6B7 Story cycle 6: updating story on the web
Back in the office
6B8 Story cycle 7: adding feedback from readers
6B9 Story cycle 8: developing the story for web and print
In print: story for the first edition of the newspaper the next day
A web area that can be developed
6B10 Story cycle 9: refreshing the story regularly
9 a.m.: disruption to rail travel
10 a.m.: identities of the dead
Details of the injured
Noon: car driver’s identity released
User-generated content – what residents are saying
3 p.m.: safety implications of the crash
5 p.m.: details of the rescue operation
And so it goes on
6B11 Developing your skills as an interviewer
Tips on interviewing
Where interviewing for text and audio/video differ
Other things to think about
Beach-rescue interview
Preparation
ABOUT THE FAMILY
ABOUT THE RESCUERS
HOW THE ACCIDENT CAME ABOUT
The interview
Writing up the text report
How to conduct an email interview
Difficult interviews
This must be off the record
Promise me you won’t report this
Can I see your story before it is published?
6B12 Challenging reporting assignments
Press conferences
Beforehand: research
Beforehand: reporting
At the event
After the event
The legal position
Press conference examples
A PRODUCT LAUNCH
AN AMAZING DISCOVERY (IF TRUE)
POLICE PRESS CONFERENCE
Public meetings
A quick point of law
Beforehand: research
Beforehand: reporting
At the event
After the event
Some examples of public meetings
CONGESTION CHARGE
POST OFFICE CLOSURE PROTEST MEETING
A COMMUNITY CENTRE
Public events
Beforehand: research
Beforehand: reporting
At the event
After the event
An example of a public event: Notting Hill Carnival
Court reporting
Legal essentials
Beforehand: research
Beforehand: reporting
At the event
WHO’S WHO
After the event
Court reporting examples
6B13 Exercises and projects
chapter seven Publishing platforms for live reporting
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
7B1 Developing your website
7B2 Adding a Twitter breaking-news area
Twitter on your blog
Twitter on your website
7B3 Adding live text reporting to your website
7B4 Adding live video to your website
7B5 Exercises and projects
chapter eight User-generated content and email bulletins
8B1 What user-generated content is
8B2 Encouraging and managing user-generated content
8B3 User inequality
8B4 The role of the community reporter, editor and host
Make it easy to contribute
The role of the community reporter
Find the Big Conversations
How to welcome the user
How a community builds
Know your reader
8B5 Managing forums
How to be a good host
Moderating UGC
The law on UGC
What defamation is
Definition
Essentials of defamation
Main defences
Responsibilities
EDITORIAL CONTENT
UGC
ARCHIVE
When to intervene
IF USERS BREAK THE HOUSE RULES
8B6 Writing an email bulletin
Here’s how you write one
Once you get to the actual content of the bulletin …
Kill the Competition
How often should we send bulletins?
Subscribe and unsubscribe
8B7 Exercises and projects
chapter nine Publishing platforms for user-generated content and email bulletins
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
9B1 Publishing platform for forums
Adding categories
9B2 Publishing platform for email bulletins
9B3
chapter ten Still pictures and audio
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
10B1 Getting the most out of digital cameras
Automatic options
Portrait
Landscape
Sports
Close-ups
Night photography
Choosing a shooting mode
Self timer or remote control
Image quality and size
Manual mode
Manual focus
Flash mode
The two key controls
SHUTTER SPEED
APERTURE
Depth of field
Shutter and aperture balance
Aperture priority and shutter priority
Camera lenses
Standard lens 50 mm
Telephoto and wide-angle lenses
10B2 Slide shows with an audio commentary
Types of audio slide shows
10B3 Gathering material for an audio slide show
What you need
Audio
Stills
10B4 Editing an audio slide show
Editing software
Soundslides
10B5 Exercises and projects
chapter eleven Video
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
11B1 Getting the most out of video cameras
Manual focus
Manual exposure
11B2 Improve your filming, story construction and editing
11B3 Aspiring to broadcast quality
Planning before the shoot
Setting things up
First scene
Second scene
Third scene
Fourth scene
Fifth scene
Putting the plan into action
When you are filming
Follow the five-shot rule
11B4 Aspiring to immediacy
Capturing the moment
What the Wall Street Journal is doing
Putting the viewer at the centre of the action
Citizen journalism and video reporting
Don’t imitate TV
11B5 Examples of broadcast-quality video on the web
Rescue on the Hudson
1 Weleetka fire
2 Flood
3 Adrenalin on wings
4 Lunar eclipse
11B6 Exercises and projects
part C Professional standards
Aims of this section
chapter twelve News stories, features and in-depth packages
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
12C1 Writing a wide range of features for print
Features defined
The main types of feature
General features, often inspired by news stories
Interviews
First-person features, including columns
Opinion pieces and comment
Reviews
Why features are better suited to print than the web
Features inspired by news stories
Examples of features inspired by news stories
Interviewing for features
A “Life in the Day”
HOW THE FEATURE WORKS
THE STRUCTURE
THE VARIABLES
To make it work
THE IMPORTANT VARIABLES
HOW TO INTERVIEW A “LIFE IN THE DAY” SUBJECT
How to structure a general feature
Getting the intro right
When do you write the intro?
Some useful structures to follow in a feature
Quote, transition, quote
The simple points-in-order approach
The diamond
The hourglass
Using geography as a structure
Using scenes as structure
Ending a feature
The broken-up feature
Some essentials and some pitfalls
Beware of dealing in generalities
Use quotes and attribution to give your feature authority
Don’t let chronology dictate your structure
Don’t forget to tell the reader what you are doing – in analysis and fact-based features
How to write a profile
How to write a review
In general
First 100 words
Next 100 words
250 words
Ending: 50 words
Columns and other first-person pieces
Finding your voice
Comment, opinion and editors’ letters
Leaders
Comment pieces
Editors’ letters
An example from The Financial Times
Leader says
12C2 Writing news at the standard expected of trainee journalists employed in the media
First mock exam question
New copy
Background copy
Second mock exam question
First piece of copy
Second piece of copy
12C3 Creating in-depth packages for websites
Identifying a topic that has been covered regularly over a period of time, and that has a high level of public interest
Selecting key items to add to an archive or special report on this subject
Building a welcome screen
Evergreening content
BBC
GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
Daily Telegraph
FINANCIAL CRISIS
Guardian
12C4 Advanced online research
Getting the most out of Google
Narrow your search
Search for a phrase (“”)
Search within a specific website (site:)
Search within a specified class of site (site:ac)
Search with an asterisk or wildcard (*)
Search with the OR option (OR)
Search for erased content (cache)
Search for definitions (define:)
Search for stock prices (stocks:)
Search for all words in a site’s title (allintitle:)
Search for all words in a URL (allinurl:)
Search for trends
Search by category
Search scholarly papers
Search university websites
Search within books
Google’s limitations
Alternatives to Google
Metasearch tools
CLUSTY
KARTOO
ROLLYO
SOOPLE
FAGANFINDER
How to make these filtering devices work for you
Vertical search
Searching the deep or invisible web
Complete Planet
Incy Wincy
Closer Look
Direct Search
OAIster
People search
I92
Pipl
Melissa Data
Whois
Research tools
The Librarians’ Internet Index
Academic research
Academic Info
Info Mine
HighWire Pres
Intute
Repository of Primary Sources
Ready, Net, Go
Searching the press
News Voyager
BNet
Mag Portal
Finding your own material
Copernic Desktop Search
12C5 Exercises and projects
Model answers for exercises in 12C2
Mock exam question 1: model answer
External links
Mock exam question 2: model answer
External links
chapter thirteen Sub-editing, search engine optimisation and proofreading
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
13C1 How to approach subbing
Quality control
Production role
Selling the story
The sub’s eye
13C2 Sub-editing news
How to approach subbing a piece of news copy
First read
Second read
Third read
Fourth read
Fifth read
Exercises
Checking for accuracy
Checking that the intro says what’s new
Checking that the structure follows the inverted triangle
Tightening copy
Bringing it all together
13C3 Headlining news
How to approach news headline writing
Building block 1
Building block 2
Building block 3
Building block 4
Here are some other things we should bear in mind when we headline a story
Headlines should say what has happened
Put the most important element first
Use short, concrete words
Keep punctuation to a minimum
Headline clichés
Don’t use the same word in more than one headline
A good shape for a headline
13C4 Subbing features
13C5 Headlining features
13C6 Subbing and search engine optimisation
13C7 Proofreading
It is very hard to proofread effectively on a computer screen
Place a straight edge beneath the line you are reading
Read out loud
Read backwards
Share the task
Rest your eyes
Here are common types of error that we must learn to spot
Spelling errors
Transpositions in words or sentences
Repetitions of words
Punctuation missing, or incorrectly used
Facts that contradict each other within an article
chapter fourteen Publishing platforms for advanced multimedia storytelling
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
14C1 Hyper-local reporting and geotagging
Everyblock
The Washington Post
New York Times hyper-local
Liverpool Echo
Middlesbrough Gazette
Hyper-local multimedia content as a model for local journalism
Applying hyper-local to print publications
Hyper-local video
14C2 How to geotag your content
Finding the longitude and latitude coordinates of a story
Adding geocode to Blogger posts
14C3 Working with maps and creating mashups
Google Maps
Teenage murders in London
Urban foxes
Accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians in New York
2012 Olympics
14C4 Creating a Google Map mashup
Embedding your map into a blog or website
14C5 Developing your website and blog through multimedia storytelling
14C6 Live geo-broadcasting
14C7 Exercises and projects
chapter fifteen Still-picture editing and telling stories through multiple still photographs
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
15C1 Picture editing
Using Picnik
15C2 Telling stories through multiple still photographs
Microsoft Photosynth
Hard Rock Café’s memorabilia collection
The Grand Canal in Venice
The Boxer
How to create and publish a Photosynth project
How to geotag your synths
How to post your synths to your website or blog
Gigapan
What this technology opens up for you
15C3 Identifying free and inexpensive sources of images
15C4 Exercises and projects
chapter sixteen Editing and presenting audio and video news bulletins and longer magazine-style programming
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
16C1 Gathering material for audio and video bulletins
Lloyd’s List’s “On the Radar” bulletin
16C2 Selecting material for a bulletin
Deciding on a running order
Audio and video
Stories that go together
And finally …
Scripting the bulletin
16C3 Presenting the bulletin
Your look
A good microphone voice
How fast to read
Here are some common problems and how to tackle them
Articulation
Warming up your voice
Breathing
Pauses and emphasis
Pitch
Projection
Microphone technique for audio
Using an autocue
16C4 Creating a magazine-style video programme
16C5 Free video to use when practising creating bulletins
Al Jazeera
Free BBC technology programming for re-editing and distribution
And finally …
16C6 Exercises and projects
chapter seventeen The future: Web 3.0
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
Web 3.0
Web 1.0 was about commerce
Web 2.0 was about community
Web 3.0 will be about joined-up thinking
The semantic web
The 3D web
The media-centric web
The pervasive web
What Web 3.0 means to publishers and journalists
OpenID
Friend of a Friend (FOAF)
Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities (SIOC)
Searching for an image with an image
Twine.com
Semantic Radar
ClearForest Gnosis
Open Calais
chapter eighteen Getting a job as a multimedia journalist
In the book version of this chapter we will cover:
In the online version of this chapter you will find:
The skills any employer will expect you to have
The twenty-first-century journalist must be able to:
The experience you’ll need to demonstrate
The perfect CV
How you hear about jobs
Index
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