A lot of people have been trying to innovate the news for a long time, which makes it hard to come up with new ideas, but RTNDA is out with a list of five ways to innovate like a Murrow Award winner.
Most of the ideas are about finding ways to generate more ideas for innovation.
Check out the list to see if anything there inspires you.
If you’re shooting video for social media, you’ll want to be sure you’re not using the same best practices you use for shooting other video.
Advancing the Story is out with six keys to successful social videos. It’s an easy and quick read.
One key takeaway…social videos have to work without sound.
More TV newsrooms are publishing their stories online and no longer waiting until after they air on TV as part of a shift to putting digital first.
Writing for RTDNA, Ben Bogardus, Quinnipiac University Assistant Professor of Journalism said trends in TV viewership are prompting the trend.
“With no sign that this trend will reverse itself, TV stations are right to experiment with converged “digital first” operations,” he wrote.
Bogardus goes on to suggest a list of ideas for how newsrooms can shift their thinking to being digital first.
A Louisiana journalist died when her plane crashed while she was covering a story at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport.
Nancy Parker was with WVUE for 23 years.
“Nancy was absolutely a joy to work with each and every day”, said FOX 8 Vice President and General Manager Tim Ingram. “Today we lost a wonderful journalist and remarkable friend, the New Orleans television community lost a true treasure, but beyond that, her family lost a wife, a mother and daughter. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
Parker, 53, was working on a story about a stunt pilot on Friday afternoon when the plane in which the two were flying crashed. The pilot, Franklin Augustus, was also killed.
Writing for radio is it’s own unique challenge. Without images, it can be challenging, but also liberating.
If you write for radio you’ll want to check out this interview with Murrow award-winning radio reporter Brian Bull, from KLCC in Eugene, Oregon.
There’s a lot of great advice in this interview, but his top tip is, “If it’s cliche or rhetorical, dump it.”
RTDNA Executive Director Dan Shelley is calling on lawmakers to allow for more access to video from police body cameras.
Shelley writes that access to police body camera video varies by jurisdiction and that many states are taking up the issue legislatively. The RTDNA was involved in opposing legislation on this issue in Massachusetts.
In Wisconsin, a Legislative Study Committee examined the issue and proposed legislation. The study committee proposed, in part, that video footage from police body cameras be treated as all other public records in Wisconsin, but that records custodians may take into consideration the privacy of witnesses or victims in deciding whether to release a video. The legislation also calls for the use of redaction to maximize compliance with open records requests.
A public hearing has yet to be scheduled for the body camera legislation.
Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council President Bill Lueders says some elected officials in Wisconsin are using a push for privacy to justify efforts to block the release of public information.
Lueders made his case in this column for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
“The evocation of privacy as a justification of official secrecy is really just part of a larger push on the part of public officials to limit what the public can know about the actions and inactions of government,” Lueders wrote. “It serves their own interests more than anybody else’s.”
A recent article from Poynter suggests that newsroom diversity initiatives don’t work because of newsroom culture.
“Transforming newsrooms could mean embracing this notion: assumptions about whiteness are as much a part of the problem of diversity as they are part of the solution,” Kathleen McElroy wrote. She’s the director of the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin.
Give it a read and see if the idea applies to your newsroom.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is facing a federal lawsuit from the conservative MacIver Institute accusing Evers of accusing Evers of violating the First and 14th Amendments by declining to provide the outlet with the guv’s media advisories, according to WisPolitics.
The group said Evers also barred its reporters from a background briefing on the budget that other reporters — but not all of those credentialed to cover the state Capitol — were invited to attend.
Ever’s office said he’s committed to transparency and believes a “fair and unbiased press corps” is key to democracy.
“Our administration provides many opportunities for both reporters and the public to attend open events with the governor,” said Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff. “Gov. Evers is committed to openness and transparency in state government, and he believes strongly that a fair and unbiased press corps is essential to our democracy, especially now as Wisconsinites and all Americans are calling for accountability from elected officials who refuse to take action on gun safety reform, healthcare, and the hatred and violence borne of white supremacy.”
All newsrooms have an early shift staffed by a hearty group of dedicated newsies who know how to deliver a crisp newscast while the rest of the world is still rubbing its eyes.
If you’re new to this shift or looking for ways to revitalize your shift, RTDNA published this article with ideas that will help you.
The ideas come from a graduate of the RTDNA Anchor-Producer Leadership Summit.
WBA Newsroom