The Best TV Storytellers-- NPPA Winners

TV Storytelling You Should Study
The Poynter Institute is showcasing the NPPA’s “Best of Television Photojournalism 2006.”

You can watch the winning entries and read the judges’ comments. It’s also a great opportunity for BC students to watch and study the BEST of the BEST in the country. I particularly enjoyed the “Smells Like Baseball” package from WFAA in Dallas which took top SPORTS honors. There's power in sound to take you there and help you imagine the smells-- one sense incites the memories connect with another.

I also noted the stand up that was used as an interesting transition device. I can see some news directors and producers rolling their eyes because this is a longer format story, but I bet the people in the audience who watched this REMEMBERED it.

Those stations that denounce or avoid this type of storytelling fail to see the power and intimacy of this package. It will translate better on the web than all that crap that passes for breaking stories in those high story count newscasts. THIS is the type of storytelling that engages the audience. When it’s done well with the audio and video connection it’s worth doing.

I also note that at a time when VJs are on the rise, many of the NPPA winners focus on TEAM storytelling. This may say something about the importance and value of the reporter and photographer dynamic. When the audio, video and writing come together it’s unforgettable.

BC Weblog Guidlines

Are You Ready to Blog?
I've sent out an invitation to third-year students in Broadcast Communications to start weblogs now instead of waiting for the capstone class. I recommend keeping these weblogs professional. While I offer a set of guidelines for blogging during the first day of class, I thought it appropriate to post the information now.

Use these guidelines to keep on target with the BC Capstone Weblog mission of self-reflection, goal making, assessment and growth as working media professionals.

BC Weblog Guidelines

Keep It Professional-Put time and effort into what you write.

• Never post a first draft. Edit what you write.
• Put effort into the content.
• Write enough to communicate meaning with the reader, but avoid overkill.
• Demonstrate your knowledge and experience as a professional by correctly using the terminology of media.
• Connect your entries to topical events and issues in media.
• Offer your own style and voice and be consistent with it.
• Be genuine.
• Offer Links.
• The more links you offer the better the chances are your blog could turn up in a Google search.
• Link back to your sources (this offers transparency, attribution and validity to the points you want to make).

Going Public- Remember the World is Watching

• Never reveal personal, private information.
• Never blog about your personal life.
• Limit contact information to a web-based e-mail account.
• Never write about proprietary or privileged information (never disclose company secrets or information shared with you in confidence). Off the record means off he record.
• If blogging about internship or job-related experiences, inform your employer about your weblog.
• Invite the employer to read your blog and offer feedback.
• Ask about restrictions or limits on what you can and cannot blog about.
• Ask if the company has any specific weblog guidelines you must follow.

Be Positive- Showcase Your Ability to Think Critically and Creatively

• Be clear when expressing opinion or comments.
• When engaged in criticism, remain constructive.
• Recognize opposing positions.
• Support your points with evidence and attribution (include links).
• Never engage in personal attacks.
• Update entries on a regular basis.
• Develop a routine so regular readers can expect timely updates.
• Entertain and inform your readers
• INCLUDE PICTURES: Offer interesting and appropriate images and context.
• Write engaging headlines.

Be Prepared- Avoid Legal Entanglements

• Be truthful & ethical.
• Understand the impact of what you write.
• Remember libel applies to weblogs.
• Remember false light applies to weblogs.
• Remember invasion of privacy applies to weblogs.

Meet Rich Klindworth

Learning Moments & Reflection Opportunities with Rich Klindworth...Tales from the Job Search & So Much More

This week WJAC-TV's Rich Klindworth offered feedback as well as words of wisdom to our Broadcast Journalism and Capstone students. Rich visited the BC 312 and BC 602 classes and spent lunch with them. He looked at some of their stories and visited the newsroom. He also shared his tales of his joys and challenges during from his journey into television news.

One notable account he shared was a description of his first apartment while he worked at KTEN in Texas. His humble apartment featured limited furnishings including a lone inflatable chair and no microwave. He pointed out many people struggle to make ends meet when breaking into broadcast news.

He fielded questions about the Sonni Abattas of the world (pretty young women who are handed dream first jobs at top market stations with no formal communications or journalism degree, training or experience). Rich explains that Sonni Abbatta is the exception to the rule. Almost everyone begins at a small market station, often as a one-man band.

The pay raises and promotions come from moving up to bigger stations in the larger DMAs. Again, we're talking about a very limited supply of jobs with hundreds of people wanting to break into the business or eager to move up the ladder.

Rich's stories about his first job on the Texas-Oklahoma border linked directly back to a few of Dr. David Barners "Checklist for Success" in broadcast communications including the item that new college grads should prepare to start out with low pay. He also connected to the checklist item about getting out your suitcase as you go where the job offer takes you.

However, Rich's drive and determination for a career in broadcast news also links back to Dr. B's assertion that success in this business requires a passion and a love for it as well as a willingness to sacrifice as you make a career in this industry your number one priority.

I really appreciate Rich coming all the way from Johnstown to visit and I hope wish him continued success at WJAC and beyond.

Full Time BC Students Hard at Work

Getting Paid $$ in TV While Still in School!

Above: Mike Wolenski at WYTV.

Below: Luke Garrett at WKBN.

This post is a follow up on an earlier one where I announced we had dueling television directors in the department. Luke is actually directing morning newscasts now to fill-in for some folks. Mike has been at WYTV since last summer directing the newscasts there on the weekends.

While both are busy with their jobs, they're still keeping their full-time class schedule. In BC that means many more hours out of class, especially with my BC 312 (Broadcast Journalism II) course. They're reporting and producing for both Titan Radio and The County Line. Today Luke rushed to a news conference with the PA Attorney General about a major drug bust. Don't forget the walkdown!

Great hustle! What a way to build a resume!

Titan Fans Have a Case of Playoff Fever

The County Line Staff Covers It LIVE.
The BC 312 (Broadcast Journalism II) students went "live & local" by doing the sports thing this week. They wrapped up the end of the regular basketball season with a special report during Saturday's game against Waynesburg. It was great experience with a live television event and conducting live interviews. Now the Titans are in the semifinals. The Thursday game interrupts our regularly scheduled program. So The County Line will collapse from 30 minutes to 10 and air at halftime. While that show will feature news and stories, BC 312 students will once again hit the ground running after the game for some post-game interviews.

Justin Egley (Titan Town Sports Director) is the man behind the Titan fan picture above. Justin's the one back in the studio who figured out how to dress for TV. You only need to think about things from the waist up. Justin was also busy this week shooting spot news with a fatal fire just outside the borough limits (one of the news stories on TCL and on Titan Radio and Titan Radio.net this week). Great hustle, Justin! Thanks for being a team leader!

How the New Medium is Becoming the Message

HOOKED ON TV
TV addicts, do you remember when going out of town or on vacation during sweeps meant missing new episodes of your favorite shows? Heck, I remember getting angry at my parents when I was seven if we weren't home on Friday night for the latest episode of The Brady Bunch (my addiction started early and with only three networks and a knob that you turned rather than a remote control). The VCR brought some hope, and then TiVo saved the day, but now with iTunes & the video iPod you can stay completely caught up with the masses watching along at home.

Check out how one television news photographer (Little Lost Robot) working the Olympics in Italy fight boredom by staying current with his favorite non-NBC programming thanks to his video iPod (but it’s also a hot item for the pick pockets working the crowds in Turin).

Those who doubt how new media reshapes our media habits should take note. And at the other end Hollywood is poised to produce original programming for the iPod, right? As mass media theorist Marshall McLuhan put it, "The medium is the message."

Law & Order's Dick Wolf is apparently interested. Even looking at how to change how things are shot to meet the needs of the smaller screens. Check out the how he's thinking about it as you can already download new episodes from the Law & Order franchise.

"I may be completely out of my mind, but I think people don't even realize yet how much the iPod is a game changer. Once you put the headphones on, the screen size doesn't matter at all."

Variety reports Wolf is even starting consider the way he produces certain series elements in order to make shows more download-friendly.

Cartoon Network is also looking to bring Adult Swim programming full throttle to the 'net in late March with something called Adult Swim Fix-- streaming full-length episodes 24/7 online with some of Adult Swim original programs premiering online two days before they appear on-air.

Crew Duty Over Break

BC Students Work Crew on Music Video














I ran late on posting this, but '04 Grad Jimm Needle tapped a few broadcasting majors to work on a music video and a documentary about making that video at Kennywood over the winter break. The video was for a band called Missing Pages.

Kirstan Gides, Luke Garrett, Josh Anderson, Justin Egley and Melissa DePaul ('05 Grad) were among those who joined Needle's "Kennywood Crew."

I want to thank Jimm for inviting students to come out and work on a very different kind of project. Don't forget to check out Jimm's work as director/producer for both creative and corporate clients up in the Cleveland area. BTW: '04 grad Jon Joy flew in from L.A. to direct the video for Jimm.

Full-Time Students Take on Part-Time Directing Jobs on Competing TV Newscasts

BC Students
Now Dueling Television Directors
Congratulations are in order for Mike Wolenski and Luke Garrett as the two are working on the weekends as newscast directors for two of Youngstown’s television stations.


Junior BC major Wolenski joined WYTV (ABC) last summer. Senior BC major Garrett (with a BC Capstone Weblog) started at WKBN (CBS) this week. Both direct the weekend 6 & 11 newscasts at their respective stations.
Their weekend directing gigs at commercial stations show how hard work and dedication to broadcasting pays off. Wolenski and Garrett have achieved so much during their time at Westminster immersing themselves into becoming well rounded broadcasters.

Both have also served as directors for WCN for college and high school football and basketball games for some time now. Both have also worked as producers for WCN’s The County Line. Wolenski’s TCL duties include anchoring the show, reporting, directing and producing. Garrett also produces, directs and reports and recently wrapped up a stint as producer and host of the “On the Road” segment.

Wolensk and Garrett have answered the challenge of embracing everything from communications theory in the classroom to professional standards in the field . They have continued to hone their abilities in writing and journalism from the radio and television newsrooms to the web. They have mastered the technical and they have performed in front of the camera. Both young men now stand solid in their new positions because of this well-rounded journey at Westminster College.

Wolenski and Garrett will continue to excel and grow in any number of directions, creatively and professionally, due in part to their skill and experience linked to their diverse background at Titan Radio and WCN. These new opportunities at WYTV and WKBN will now allow them to make a rewarding transition from the college domain to the professional.

Outsourcing Local News to the Competition

Pittsburgh's Changing TV News Landscape
WPXI (NBC/Cox) in Pittsburgh has hired WPGH/Fox 53's Alby Oxenreiter as Channel 11 prepares to take over the 10 O'clock news duties on the Sinclair station on January 30. Oxenreiter is one of the lucky WPGH staffers with a new job as Sinclair dismisses its news employees and shuts down the Channel 53 newsroom.

Oxenreiter (who's married to Channel 11's Karen Wells) will do the sports for the 10 o'clock show while WPXI's John Fedko will keep doing his shtick at 6:25 & 11:25 (so far after the meter clicks why bother).

Cox & Sinclair call the move a partnership despite the fact the two stations have competed with each other in news and programming. It's really outsourcing, unless there's some other kind of deal in the works?

Another Interesting Development
I think it's also odd that this cross-competitor arrangement comes right before Time-Warner and Viacom announced the merger of the WB Network and UPN and create "The CW" network (CBS meets Time Warner) launching in September.


Currently in Pittsburgh WPGH (Sinclair) operates the WB Affiliate (Channel 22/WCWB) while KDKA (Viacom/CBS O&O) operates Channel 19/WNPA (UPN) where it does a 10 o'clock newscast. The merger means WNPA is "The CW" station in town. Channel 22 is left without a network affiliate when the deal goes through. But Sinclair is at least positioned with cheap, local outsourced news to weather the shake up. "The CW" announcement actually sent Sinclair stock tumbling.

Makes me wonder if WPXI (Cox) might be positioning itself to take over WPGH as WPXI is building a new station and tower in the same neighborhood with WPGH. Coincidence?

BTW: I predicted 53 would take the ax to its news department when it brought Jeff Alan on board to manage things. He has a serious history of shutting down news operations from Missouri to Texas. I remember I was in St. Louis a few years ago when Jeff Alan was the hatchet man on duty when Sinclair shutdown its newsroom at ABC affiliate KDNL.

A Tired Parade of Reaction Interviews

BROKEN NEWS:
Exploiting the victims & their families...

“Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry

You don’t really need to find out what’s going on

You don’t really want to know just how far it’s gone

Just leave well enough alone

Eat your dirty laundry”
(1982, Dirty Laundry lyrics by Don Henley from the album "I Can't Stand Still)


Moving from one mess to the next, the media circus in West Virginia has traveled up I-79 to Morgantown to Ruby Memorial Hospital and now to Pittsburgh’s Allegheny General Hospital to follow the lone survivor’s medical treatment from this week’s mining disaster. But little substantive, enterprising reporting has come out of the hundreds of reporters, photographers, freelance producers and bookers, satellite and audio techs, etc., chasing this story.

Right now it’s all about getting wave after wave of reaction from the victim’s families—exploiting private pain—asking that lame-old question: “how do you feel?” Newsbreakers has satirizes this situation in the past with that groups take of asking “what’s the mood?”

This pathetic procession of interviews featuring victims and their grief fails to advance the story. How many interviews and follow up interviews and follow up to the follow up interviews does it take before the market for victim and family reaction is saturated. When is it time to leave these people alone?

How many times can the same newspaper, the same local or cable news operation or network news magazine announce to the world that they have an exclusive interview with the survivor’s wife or the widow or the son of one of the dead miners.

Sure these families agree to talk, but how tacky, even ghoulish is it to ask them to talk over and over-- night after night-- from Larry King Live to Dateline NBC. How many different interviews does a single network need-- separate ones for GMA, Primetime Live, 20/20 & World News Tonight? But hey, I bet someone has promised someone a trip to Disney World as they prepapre a network pitch for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. What's next, a walk on appearance during the The Bachelor. It may happen as these families and now the doctors are becoming pseudocelebrities in this tragic reality show playing out live on TV.

And speaking of doctors, I've always wondered what happens with the tightened HIPPA regulations protecting one's personal and private health information in these cases. It's impossible to find out the condition of a shooting or traffic accident victim for a local story, but what kind of paper work do they file waiving HIPPA so doctors can hold these news conferences. Then these physcians, who pledged to do no harm, appear live on the Fox New Channel and MSNBC revealing intimate medical details to the world. Wouldn't one simple news conference be enough for eveyrone-- why do the doctors need to talk one-on-one with every cable news anchor over. Should they get agents to handle all the bookings? What's next, appearance fees?

The scheduled news conferences would also seem an appropriate place for the media to exact its pound of flesh from these poor souls. But it's immediately after the news conferences end that the network & cable news swoop in with their freelance field bookers and producers armed with gifts, cash and even cell phones to make sure they secure a one-on-one, live interview with yet another coifed talking TV head.

From exposing and showing the notes from the dead miners to chasing down family members in the hospital cafeterias. From stalking church members to eavesdropping at local diners. These are just some of the tactics local reporters covering this story have noted to me. They characterize it as nasty and cut-throat when it comes to the behavior of the network and cable freelancers. It’s even come to near shoving matches in a few cases.

It would appear the networks insulate themselves from accusations of checkbook and driveby journalism by using these hungry freelancers. That way if complaints of unethical practices go public, the suits at the network can distance themselves by saying that sort of thing goes against company policy and employee of their news organization would never do such a thing.

When I teach BC 111 (Broadcast Writing) this semester, I’ll definitely use this as a learning moment about the problem of sensationalism, the danger of becoming too competitive, the rush to be first and lameness and sameness of this type of reporting. It merely exploits and sensationalizes the pain and suffering of victims and soils the credibility of the professional journalist engaged in more ethical practices.

One resource I will likely tap into for all my journalism courses this semester will be the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma--a resource of guidelines and ethical approaches for journalists covering stories such as the mine disaster. Perhaps scolding the members of the media circus currently in town is futile. But I can offer my students lessons learned and tools to develop the character and credibility they need to change the things we've watched go horribly wrong during this week's coverage.

Turning the Spotlight on the News Media

MORE ON THIS WEEK'S
BROKEN NEWS

Liz Farry, Executive Producer for our Broadcast News Operations, sounds off on a number of items from laziness to reporter emotion contributing to the BROKEN NEWS situation at the mine disaster. You can link here to her weblog. I think Liz does a solid job puncing holes in Anderson Cooper's defense of how the CNN and the media handled the situation which you can read at the Milwaukee Journal.

Ian Durham (a West Virginia native, Westmisnter '05 grad and sports reporter for The Review in East Liverpool, OH) is highly critical of the sensationalism and hype. He sent me the following e-mail offering his take on the media frenzy at this mine disaster: Personally, I think the way the media is covering the mining disaster in is a joke. Sure, 13 miners trapped in a mine explosion/collapse is very gripping as far as a human interest story (so is a three-year-old stuck in a well), but it has been blown way out of proportion.

How can it be possible for such a blatant falsified rumor to be spread worldwide? I heard that 12 of the miners were alive and saved on the radio coming home from work at about 1:00am Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, I turned on CNN and saw the "Oops! Sorry, 12 of them died and the 13th that we thought was the only one that died is actually alive, but clinging to life."

It's sad that professional media would stoop to reporting completely false information gathered from unidentified and unreliable sources. As a media consumer, I want to know the truth. I don't care if I have to wait a few more hours for it. It's not ethical to report information such as this.Also, I believe the continuing coverage of every second of the surviving miner's existence and the publishing of the death note one of the deceased miners wrote is wrong. Sure, the public should be updated as to the 13th miner's condition, but the media is constantly outside the hospitals at which this poor man is fighting for his life. The other miner that wrote the note to ease his family's pain is a heart-felt story, but it's a PERSONAL story.

These two things, if any, are extreme breaches of privacy simply done to gather ratings.I'm sure we'll all see this in a made-for-TV-movie in a few months, anyways.