Brian Storm, founder of MediaStorm, spoke to high school journalists at Poynter about the importance of media integration. "Think about multiple platforms," he said, "because the future of journalism lies in the seamless integration of different media."

Storm advises journalists to use as many different types of communication as possible to convey their message.

Think about how you could incorporate the following into your next multimedia story:

• Music
• Sight
• Color
• Speech/Language
• Historical perspective
• Still shots
• Moving Shots
• Art
• Infographics
• Maps

"Today's media consumer is looking for that piece that has all the elements that will engage them at a higher level. Get people to engage emotionally, and care about your project," he said.

For examples of Brian Storm's work check out his Web site, to view 22 projects his company has worked on. Storm's work incorporates different aspects of communication; the music pulls you in emotionally, while the infographics logically present you with information that you can make sense of. The result is a more gripping, compelling storytelling experience.

- Amanda Smith

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In his book “Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer,” Poynter’s Roy Peter Clark provides readers with tools to make their writing shine. I’ve chosen a few strategies from the book that I think you’ll find especially beneficial when honing your craft.

RELATED RESOURCES

For more ideas and advice from Roy Peter Clark, visit Writing Tools: The Blog.

• Tool 7: Fear Not the Long Sentence. Take the reader on a journey of language and meaning.
  

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve shortened my sentences in a news article for the sake of brevity. Brevity doesn’t always translate to clarity, and the most important thing is to present your ideas well. A long sentence allows the writer to clearly present multiple ideas at once, and it can often break up the monotony of an article with repetitive sentence structure. Don’t be afraid to explore your options when writing; break out that semi-colon every once in awhile.

•  Tool 16: Seek Original Images. Reject clichés and first-level creativity.
  

How refreshing does it feel to read something original? The same can be said about writing it. Boycott overused phrases that can make your writing sound trite, instead seeking truth and honesty. Writing from the heart usually does the trick.

• Tool 45: Break Long Projects into Parts. Then assemble the pieces into something whole.

I think this tool is the best practical piece of advice in Clark’s “Writing Tools” book. When undertaking a large project, it is really easy to get overwhelmed. If you look at the project in smaller chunks, it suddenly seems far more achievable.

At my college newspaper, I wrote an article about a student marathon runner who told me her running strategy was to take it one mile at a time. “I just focus on finishing the first mile, and then the next, and then the next – 26 miles seems a lot easier that way,” she said.
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When a journalist uses an anonymous source, how does it all work? What are the conventional procedures?

High school journalist Dante Fuoco, 17, asked this of the New York Times. Managing editor Jill Abramson provided insightful answers valuable to any high school journalist who, like Fuoco, plans a career in professional journalism.

Here is a little advice from the New York Times on when to use an anonymous source:

“If the source has an important story to tell and cannot be persuaded to attach his/her name to the information, a journalist will make an early pledge to withhold the name of the source,” Abramson wrote. She urges the journalist to keep trying for open conversation.

She wants journalists to consider the following:

• Only use an anonymous source when it is absolutely necessary, when the story would be nowhere near as compelling without the addition of the source.
  
• Source terms can change over the life of a story. If you decide to grant anonymity, don’t end the conversation there. Do your best to persuade the source otherwise, after trust has been built. 

“The best argument to make is that a story will have far more impact and credibility if it is based on a named source rather than an anonymous one. Sometimes this argument has to be made several times. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't,” Abramson said.

See Fuoco’s and Abramson’s interesting exchange here.


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Kenny Irby has traveled the world, served as photo manager for the ’96 and ‘02 Olympic Games and worked as a photo editor with Newsday, where he contributed to three Pulitzer Prize-winning projects. Now he’s Visual Journalism group leader at Poynter, and here are some of his secrets to achieving the perfect shot:

 • Shoot when Light is on Your Side. The best time to take your perfect picture is early in the morning, or late in the afternoon, when the light is most compelling. “The light at these two times of day will work with you, not against you, making your job easier. The light here will be more complimentary.”

• Combat Harsh Lighting with a Little Scotch Tape. “Place two strips of Scotch tape over your flash, and you’ll diffuse that bright harsh light, making it more natural, more convincing,” Irby said. “This is a great little trick because the effect you get with your flash is a spotlight effect. All of the light is coming from one place. Unless you’re trapped in the Spanish Inquisition, most of us don’t spend our life under interrogation, under the spotlight.”

• Access is Essential. “The most effective picture stories are documented from the inside, not from the outside looking in,” Irby said. “Don’t be afraid to get close to your subjects, get inside their world.”

“Listen to the people around you, care about what’s happening, and they will be much more giving. The more they give, the better your story.”

• Don’t Rely Too Much on Photoshop. Computer editing software is great, but Irby warns that it isn’t the end all and be all of the editing process. “There are some things you need to do right the first time,” Irby said. “Avoid errors the computer can’t correct by finding your perfect shot before you shoot it.”



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Want to write about the artistic influence of campaign bumper stickers? Have a yen to write about the write-in candidates voters list, people like George Clooney and Oprah? The Scoop08, “the first-ever daily national student newspaper,” is looking for high school and college journalists to write about presidential campaign details other news organizations miss.

RELATED RESOURCES

* “The Law: ABC’s of Political Reporting” by Kent State University instructor John Bowen in the latest issue of Blend (Winter 2008, pp. 26-27). The story includes a list of fact-checking Web sites. * Poynter.org has a page  of links to articles, including coverage of race and the election. * NewsU offers free online courses, including Understanding and Interpreting Polls.

Staffed by high school and college students from around the nation, Scoop08 says its advisers are journalists from Newsweek, The New York Times, and other news organizations, as well as former senators and a Survivor winner.

A Boston Globe article says Scoop08 founders -- Alexander Heffner, 18, and Andrew Mangino, 21 – provide a “student-centric take on Campaign '08 - one in which the under-30 vote in states like Iowa and Texas has tripled primary-vote totals from 2000 - is already looking well-timed.”

Need inspiration? In 1976, a 12-year-old reporter scooped national news journalists on Jimmy Carter’s choice of a running mate by a full day, according to a New York Times article.

Go for it – maybe you’ll get THE scoop of the 2008 election as a Rhetoric Correspondent or a Fashion Correspondent. The Scoop08 also needs writers for more traditional party and issues beats.

-- Anne W. Anderson

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Want to a make a cartoon? Blend magazine, published by the Secondary Education Services office at Ball State University partnered with National Scholastic Press Association, features a story in the Winter 2008 issue. Evan Mannweiler, a junior at Indiana University who wrote the story, tells you how to make a cartoon from start to finish.

Mannweiler writes:








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Blend Magazine, produced by National Scholastic Press Association and Ball State University, features in the Winter 2008 issue 10 tips for stories about race and ethnicity written by Poynter's Keith Woods, Dean of Faculty.

Woods writes:











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Looking for a book or movie about journalism and want to read a review? Looking for a journalism school? HighSchoolJournalism.org has info you need.

You'll find books about journalism, textbooks, journalism-related movies and DVDs about journalism. You can see lists of high school newspapers all over the country, journalism jargon and which professional papers have youth sections.

Another site, SchoolTube, features work from high school publications and sends a newsletter with contests. And if you want a free video to add to your site, SchoolTube offers videos you can download.



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The National Press Photographers Association has announced winners of its annual awards. Take a look at winning videos, photographs and multimedia packages. Poynter's Steve Myers wrote a column about the judging done at Poynter in the Web category, and what the judges had to say about what works and what doesn't in multimedia.

RELATED

NewsU's "Lessons from a Contest," a daily Webcast conducted during the judging NPPA's awards sites: Still photo Web site News video

The judges:

• Ellyn Angelotti, an adjunct faculty member and interactivity editor for Poynter
• Michelle Maltais, a deputy editor of business and technology for LATimes.com
• Irwin Thompson, the deputy director of photography for The Dallas Morning News
• Seth M. Gitner, a multimedia journalist for Roanoke.com and The Roanoke Times
• Thea Breite, multimedia photography editor for The Boston Globe

Here's some advice from Myers' column:

Some of my favorites were about a mother's challenge to help take care of her 11-year-old, who has autism and "wants to die," an eye-opening video about wildlife trade, a teenage girl who grew up in an area with limited opportunities, and an inspiring story about a high school principal who is trying to change a school dealing with violence.


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Remember these three words when writing your next story. Who did what? Sue Burzynski Bullard writes a blog on J-talk with writing tips from Al Tompkins. You can also watch a video in the blog where Tompkins talks about how to focus a story.

Bullard writes:


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Grownups will say that technology is a teen's native language, something you've known and absorbed since birth. In case you're behind in some of the dialects or syntax, here's a quick primer in key software that could help you as a journalist.

What programs do you really need to know? Laura Ruel, assistant professor for visual communication and multimedia at the prestigious University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, writes about a consensus of expert opinion in a story on Poynter Online, Teaching Tomorrow's Journalists: Today's Best Tools:

To read what Ruel had to say about each package, read the Poynter Online story here.

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Networking sites like Facebook and Myspace provide an outlet for individuals to voice their opinions not only for fun but in times of tragedy. These sites serve as a forum for those looking for answers. In times of school shootings, like at Virginia Tech and recently at Northern Illinois University, students turned to Facebook to connect with classmates.

RELATED TOPICS

More on Poynter Online: * Is Facebook Safe for Journalists? * Facebook: What's in it for Journalists? * Facebook: Ripe for News Applications? * Facebook Boosts College Paper's Readership, Recruiting

High school newspapers have their say, too. Publications are using these sites as a publishing tool. Five editors at North Central High School in Indianapolis posted content on Facebook allowing students to view upcoming issues and extra content like photos that were not in printed issues. Students can also engage in surveys and post feedback.

The Paly Voice from Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, Cal, used Facebook to report the news of an earthquake in their area. The editor, Michael Bloch, contacted students through the site for interviews. The staff was actually one of the first to report the story which appeared on Google News.

We're interested about what your staff is doing. Let us know what unique ways you're using networking sites or other means of communication for reporting stories.




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Looking for ways to create Web content? Ryan Sholin, a Mass Communications graduate from San Jose State University, shares five web services that will easily help you create Web content. The best part? It's free. One of the services, YouTube, you're probably familiar with.

This one was my favorite: Twittergram, a program that allows you to record audio on a cellphone and upload to the Web. Use this to incorporate audio with articles. If a school band won a competition, record the group's music and post it with the story online. Or record breaking news or interviews.

Check out the other three: Ning, Vuvox and Mogulus. Let us know how you use these programs and share any tips you have.


Sholin's Web site was brought to our attention by Logan Aimone, executive director of NSPA, through the JEA's listserv.

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Your story's visual appeal will affect whether people read it. Poynter's Sara Quinn, Visual Journalism faculty member, wrote the NewsU course Typography For News Design, which teaches the basics of typography, its importance and history.

From a list of more than 50 words, you learn typography vocabulary. Some you might know like byline, column inch or banner head. Here are a few you might not be familiar with:

You also learn the seven principles for creating typographic contrast including contrast of size, color, grouping and weight.

This course is effective through the use of many examples and visuals. Once you've completed the course, apply what you've learned to pages in your publication.


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If your school is in New York City, Chicago or San Francisco, check this out.

EveryBlock is a new Website that lets you search for news, road closings, restaurant inspections and loads of other information by ZiP code, neighborhood, even by block on a city street. Read more in today's Al's Morning Meeting column, including an interview with site founder Adrian Holovaty.

The site crawls the internet for information on those three major cities, so if your school is there, start looking for ways to use it.  Look for restaurant inspections on places your students go for lunch or dinner or lattes. Find crime reports for the neighborhood around your school. Look for story ideas for your newspaper or yearbook or links of useful real-time information for your Website.

The site launched today.  I looked up University High near the University of Chicago, Wayne Brasler's school, and found links to a variety of crimes (assault, battery, petty theft) and a review of a nearby restaurant, the University of Chicago Pub.  Could there be stories there?  Sure -- what if the theft occurred at school, but the student newspaper didn't know?  This one didn't occur at the high school, but the site would alert you if an incident was reported at school.  What if the assault occurred at a popular student hangout?  Could be a story.

Look it over, and if you have ideas on how schools could use EveryBlock, register as a user of Poynter Online so you can post feedback here. Or email your thoughts to me.  What a great opportunity for intensely local reporting on our school communities.


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This story will catch the attention of those who plan to attend college but have had run-ins, even minor ones, with the law. In Al's Morning Meeting, Poynter's Al Tompkins writes about how violence on campus is prompting colleges to look for criminal activity in an applicant's background. If you can't find students who will talk to you about their skirmishes with police, perhaps a recent graduate can put the issue in perspective for you.


Here's an exercept from Tompkins' column:







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