by Curt
It only takes a quick glance at the media scrum on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, to realize that reaction to the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a city police officer is really big news. The St. Louis suburb is thick with people working feverishly to tell the story not only in the hometown paper, but around the world […]
Categories: Uncategorized
by Curt
Is this too good to be true? Did American luger Kate Hansen really record video of a wolf lurking outside her door at the Sochi Olympics? Indeed, it’s a fake. But you know that a hashtag and a Twitter feed are officially an Internet phenomenon when they inspire a Jimmy Kimmel video hoax (he also […]
Categories: Uncategorized
by Curt
For most students the toughest part about my hands-on multimedia reporting class isn’t learning non-liner video editing, or how to record clean sound, or even how to make deadline. The thing that gives them the most trouble is finding stories. Most of the stories are short — 30 seconds to a minute, maximum. The students […]
Categories: multimedia moments, teaching resources
by Curt
I am always looking for examples of well produced cross-platform stories that I can show to my students, especially if I can provide some insight into how the packages were produced. I hit the journalism professor lottery last fall with Historic Minnesota insane asylum spared from wrecking ball, a story produced for broadcast television and […]
Categories: teaching resources
by Curt
Steve Buttry has launched an excellent discussion this week on advice for a colleague teaching journalism as an adjunct faculty member. On Tuesday Steve advised her to teach lessons a variety of ways and yesterday he suggested seven types of content to include in journalism classes. More great ideas have poured in via the comments […]
Categories: teaching resources
by Curt
Noted / Week of August 25-31 Repeat after me: Stories in the Onion are satire. A host of journalists seemed to miss that warning when the Onion jumped on the twerking news bandwagon by hijacking the name and profile picture of CNN managing editor Meredith Artley and publishing a “commentary” piece entitled “Let Me Explain Why Miley […]
Categories: In the news
by Curt
The cost of operating a news site on the Web seems relatively low. In the U.S. you don’t have to secure an FCC license as a radio or TV station would. It doesn’t cost millions of dollars to purchase and install a press to compete in print. Buy a URL, rent some server space, install […]
Categories: journalism business • Tags: cyber security, New York Times, Twitter
by Curt
For the last few years my guilty pleasure has been driving south to a cedar cabin in the spectacularly beautiful Canaan Valley in West Virginia to spend weekends working with Bob Lynn on his book Vision, Courage & Heart. Even if the book hadn’t worked out, spending time with Bob was like getting a PhD. […]
Categories: journalism business, photojournalism • Tags: Bob Lynn, leadership, management, Ross Taylor, VC&H
by Curt
Most of my students associate radio news with brief story summaries read at the top of the hour by a person broadcasting from a studio. They have yet to experience the rich storytelling to be found at public radio staples like This American Life, Radiolab, or on NPR’s Morning Edition or All Things Considered. So […]
Categories: audio, teaching resources
by Curt
(This post was created June 3 and updated June 4) My Facebook and Twitter feeds have been blowing up since Thursday when the Chicago Sun-Times and its affiliated suburban papers laid off more than 20 photographers, leaving only three picture editors to try to craft a visual report from wire photos, from images created by […]
Categories: daily journalism, journalism business, photojournalism, smartphone reporting, video