Intro to Journalism

1. Intro to Journalism Class 7

2. Today • Group edits • 1 presentation • Live tweet stories • Start thinking about next pieces • Listening exercises (really)

3. Listening • Cyclops and Star (for real this time!) Listen to Jennifer Egan story. Watch a few 1 in 8 million clips. Watch a few minutes of KONY. • http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/487/harper-high-school-part-one • http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2013/feb/13/phillip-lopate-his-writing-life/

4. Radio Rookies: Half My Family is Illegal • Radio Rookies: Star Story • Radiolab: Tic Tac Toe or other shorts • TAL: Harper High School Discuss story, narrative, arc, voicing, production techniques. Acts, tracks, ambi.

5. Next Week • Check to see if you are signed up for a group presentation • Check to see if your are signed up for a group edit • Pitches due for next story. • Read!

6. 1st person narrative • Investigative, researched piece aka news you can use. • Live tweet/blog post/using social media to promote, kind of a day story. • Character and narrative driven feature/profile • Audio story with slideshow (either narrated or character narrated like an audio postcard.)

7. The Profile • The profile is a term coined in the 1920’s by The New Yorker. • It takes advantage of our intrinsic interest in people. • It is a way to get people to read about something they might not care about. • People magazine (a profiling magazine) was the most successful launch in the last 40 years.

8. How to Choose a Subject • Choosing a Subject.Remember! Your subject doesn’t have to be famous or prominent. Everyone has a story to tell. • Students in the past have written excellent profiles on many subjects from the lady who runs the local farmer’s market to the guy who drives the ferry to the kid stocking veggies at the grocery store to a guy who does tattoos at the local tattoo shop. You can interview your manicurist, your barber, your librarian. ANYONE. • Your subject’s present occupation may not matter though- a person can tell you about their past.

9. Beauty of audio is the story can be recollected. Video makes this harder. • Medium = Message • More than anything I want your story to be interesting. I want it to have narrative, tension, conflict. I want you to get close to your subject(s).

10. The LENS profile • This is a kind of profile where the subject’s ordinariness makes them interesting. • They are people who provide a lens for a larger issue. Examples: urban teachers, foreclosure victims, etc. • All profiles have DRAMA. The subject is either involved in drama right now or they overcame drama in the past.

11. Finding a subject • Consider what you are curious about and then go out and find that information. • DO NOT interview your best friend, your grandma, your dad, etc. It needs to be someone relatively foreign to you. • Remember that everyone has a story. • While everyone has a story, your story needs a focus!

12. Once you pick a subject…. • You can do a profile without someone’s permission but we aren’t doing that now. • You need to make it clear that you are going to be hanging around…. • You need to make it clear that you’ll have to talk to people they know…. • You need to make it clear that you’ll want to be in places where the person is and that you’ll also need to interview them. • If that doesn’t scare them off, you have your subject!

13. But why do I have to hang out with this person….? • You need access because you want to see these people doing what they do…how else are you going to build in action? • Revelation comes from seeing people interacting with others and living their lives. • You learn at least as much by observing as you do by interviewing.

14. Good People Make Good Stories • Your story should have narrative arc! An opening, building tension and resolution! A past, present and future! • You should say….I wonder what is going to happen next! Like in the Michael Lewis profile. • PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BOREDOM. If you think it is boring, it IS. No amount of fancy writing will make up for poor story selection or inadequate reporting.

15. Think CINEMATICALLY • If you are interviewing someone on the phone, ask them what they are doing. You need to build scenes with ACTION. • Follow them around in more than one place because it gives liveliness and movement. • Ideally you want 3 different scenes in 3 different places. You want to see this person in his or her natural setting to collect dialogue. • Watch interaction!

16. You also need to interview… • You need at least an hour to interview…it takes 10-15 minutes for most people to warm up. • So, for your scenes- you want the interview plus at least two other things the person is doing….riding the subway, going to the gym, driving their kids to school. This is how you humanize a person, this is how you build empathy. Your reader must care about your subject. You should SET THE SCENE like in your descriptive graph.

17. Secondary Sources • Altogether you need THREE sources. Your subject and two more. • The first should be an “insider”- this is a person who knows your subject on a personal level. A brother, sister or friend. • The second should be an “outsider”- this is a coworker, expert, fan. Someone who can provide context for this person.

18. A Profile is NOT a Valentine!!! • If you are going to feel bad about telling the truth you need a new subject! • Even in a story about people, you probably need data…reporting. • You want context to figure out if this story is average, typical, etc. • If you see something incongruous…a rich doctor driving a junker- ASK ABOUT IT.

19. Interviews • Try to do whatever background possible BEFORE you interview your subject. • Try to interview peripheral subjects before the main person for background!

20. Listening Exercises • When we listen try to notice: • Cinematic scenes • Secondary sources • Narrative Arc: Building tension • Honesty • Focus of story- not general, specific aspect of person’s life.