Category Archives: News

It may be hard for some to believe, but Twitter is now in its tenth year. The man who founded the ubiquitous social app, Jack Dorsey, let out a flurry of tweets Saturday, March 21, on his brainchild’s ninth birthday, in which he gave much of the credit for Twitter’s... - MORE -

Most news writers have a variety of crutches they lean on when writing a story quickly to make a deadline. Some writers are lazy and just copy-and-paste large chunks of text right out of a police report with little consideration for the “cop-talk” that’s always found in such reports, not... - MORE -

“Government transparency” is a phrase bandied about by many politicians, promising that under their watch, their doings on behalf of the electorate will be open and free for all to see. Lofty words, but words too often not backed by action. Citizens expect transparency at every level of government, whether... - MORE -

March Madness is here! The Girls’ State Basketball Tournament is underway in Green Bay; next week the Boys’ tournament starts; and late Sunday afternoon we’ll know where the Badgers will be playing in the first round of the biggest “March Madness” contest of them all, the NCAA Division One Basketball... - MORE -

Covering  breaking news at a crime scene or emergency falls within the job description of any broadcast news reporter or photographer. The recent police shooting in Madison provided a number of challenges for electronic media professionals, covering not only the scene of the shooting, but the protests that quickly materialized... - MORE -

“Clickworthy” and “click bait” are two words heard often regarding today’s news reporting style. Do reporters really ask questions just to try and see how many clicks the story will get on their station’s website? In this interesting article from the Columbia Journalism Review, Susan Milligan writes extensively (more than... - MORE -

I remember watching a local news telecast on a morning several months ago and seeing a story about the death of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. I knew the story was wrong, because the rumor of Hefner’s death had been de-bunked the day before, but not until the story had been... - MORE -

His name is Vince Doria, and while you may never have heard of him, he is one of the pioneers of new media. Doria is stepping down as News Director for ESPN, an operation he’s headed since the early days (1992) of what he says has become “a cross-platform behemoth”.... - MORE -

Cameras and microphones of Wisconsin broadcast media are in evidence everywhere around the state capitol as they provide coverage of the debate and events surrounding right-to-work legislation. Reporting on what state government is doing is in the DNA of Wisconsin broadcast newsrooms. What is a “special session” of the legislature... - MORE -

If you really want to know what’s going on in the beats you cover, you need to develop and maintain good sources – the people who know “the story behind the story” and are often first to know when something new comes up.  Here’s some great information about developing sources... - MORE -