Essay:
Gone are the days of sitting down to dinner while watching a 5 p.m. newscast to catch the day’s top stories. Gone are the days of waiting to read the large print bold headline in tomorrow morning’s paper. News is immediate, thanks to social media. In today’s industry, you must know how to do it all. It is no longer sufficient to just be able to write a compelling story; journalists must know how to tell a story visually and edit it together- all under tight deadlines. Don’t forget to transcend it into other platforms: digital and social media, thus creating the multimedia journalist.
This is something I encounter every day as a professional. I have been a multimedia journalist, or MMJ, for nearly eight years. I currently work as an anchor and reporter for Spectrum News in Albany, NY. While I am lucky to collaborate with a photographer most days, my career did not start out that way. I began in a one-person bureau newsroom, covering four counties in Central Pennsylvania on my own. This is where I learned the gritty “boots on the ground’ reporting. I had to do everything, from finding the stories to filming it and producing live shots. Throughout the day I also had to maintain a social media presence, because by the 5 o’clock newscast is already ‘old news’.
It is important to be accurate, but there’s now also a major push to be first. This has not only caused an issue with accuracy, but also adds just another level of pressure on today’s journalists, who are already doing so much on their own.
According to Steve Hill and Paul Bradshaw, in their book “Mobile First Journalism”, “journalists today are ‘sense markers’ - explaining the importance of events to users who are being bombarded by information, much of it of dubious quality.” I think this sums up today’s generation in a nutshell. Consumers do not know how to properly digest real and important information. It is evident as phrases like ‘fake news’ are being thrown around. We now live in a world where almost anything can be posted online and passed as ‘news’ or credible, even if it is riddled with bias or mistakes. Users do not know how to dissect facts from commentary. I feel, as a journalist, my responsibility to educate the public is more important than ever.
Even news gathering has changed for newsrooms due to social media. Photojournalists use their smartphones to create entire stories. “Video from a smartphone camera can be almost identical in quality to a professional TV camera,” according to the Mobile Journalism Manual. Newsrooms are also constantly bombarded by viewer pictures and videos. My station is tipped off on stories that come into our newsroom of videos or pictures of crime scenes or fires. Cellphone footage has also helped uncover some stories, which otherwise wouldn’t be seen or heard. It has helped uncover corruption or, even in a story I’ve followed, like police brutality. Stories begin because of cellphone footage- and viral videos consistently work its way into a newscast. We can be ‘present’ in any community without physically being there, through the help of the viewers.
While gone are the days of traditional storytelling, we must adapt to succeed. No matter the changes throughout the times and technology, I believe passionate journalists will prevail. They will continue to separate facts from fiction. As we see from this week’s reading, multimedia journalism is stronger than ever. It is important we teach the next generation of journalists how to consume and report fairly and accurately to preserve the integrity of the first amendment, freedom of the press.
Lesson Plan:
Below, is an example of a lesson plan to connect students to the world of Mobile Journalism and multimedia journalists. This is only my second lesson plan I have created since beginning my journey to my Master's degree at Kent State University. I'm still working to get the hang of It, but as they say, practice makes perfect!
Lesson Topic:
Multimedia Journalism
Class Time:
50 Minutes
Objectives:
Give students an understanding local news and multimedia journalism has in the community
Goals for Understanding:
What is the role of local news in the community? How has the role of a journalist change with technology? How has social media impacted news consumption? How is the way news is consumed impact the audience?
Lesson:
Review MOJO-manual: ‘What’s Different About Social Videos’ & Hill and Bradshaw’s “Mobile First Journalism, ‘The MoJo Skillset, pg. 26- 33.
Show students videos from MMJ stories shot on a camera vs one edited completely on the phone (yes, some markets are doing this now…)
Discuss with students if they could tell the difference between the stories… what the liked/disliked about each story. Discuss the pros and cons of each.
Materials:
Katie Eastman- KUSA, MMJ- ‘Santa Jerry’ ; One of my favorite MMJs to watch and is a former reporter at my station!
Michael Driver, Video Journalist, NATPKG- ‘IVANNA’; Video used to show students you don’t always need a reporter track to make a good story. Strong sound and NATS
Jorge Rodas- WMMT, ‘Battling Meth Spike’; Story was filmed, written and edited completely on a cell phone
Jackie Padilla, Producer, Now This, ‘The Cost of Vaping’ Now This focuses completely on videos for social- using text and interviews to create their stories. (Disclaimer: Jackie is a friend, who has helped transform my ideas for social through her work at her company)
Main Activity:
Take the last 20 minutes to break off into groups of three. You each are a ‘reporter’ for ‘competing stations’. Give students a news story idea (i.e breaking news of a fire at a school…) Ask them to come up with a plan on how they would cover it on social vs. for newscast.
Discuss a game plan on how they intend to tell the stories on digital and for air- and what they plan on sending out on social media (should be real time updates… even use fake facts to give examples).
Many times MMJs will be alone, but the small groups will allow students to bounce ideas off of each other. They may not have the same idea as to how to tackle it, which is a good thing as journalists sometimes take different approaches and methods..(i.e someone may focus on nuts and bolts of the fire/damage to the building, while others may focus on parents reaction and safety of students)
Homework:
Come up with a concrete plan on how you would tell the assigned story idea. What would you focus on: on-air, social video, or both? How would you tell on social/digital vs. on air. We will review each student’s ideas as a group next class.
Grading Rubric:
Modification: Working in small groups for main activity. Again, allows students to generate different perspectives and Ideas after working in a large class size group for the mini lesson.
Materials: Mojo Manual ; Real life journalist stories (linked above)
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