PROFESSORS: TO ORDER THE TEXT + ONLINE WORKBOOK PACKAGE, USE ISBN 978-0-87289-901-8. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THE ONLINE WORKBOOK.

In today’s media world, broadcast journalists need to do more than produce top-notch news reports. They must write stories that will be put on the air, as well as posted online or printed in tomorrow’s paper. Multiplatform journalism is simply a fact of life for any up-and-coming journalist who wants to get ahead and compete for the industry’s best jobs. So how do you teach your students to think beyond repurposing, to advance their stories to the next level, for any medium?

Beginning with the premise that broadcast journalism is an excellent starting point for multimedia storytelling, broadcast veterans Debora Halpern Wenger and Deborah Potter build on the basics of good television reporting practices. Advancing the Story helps students understand the strengths of each medium, with depth, interactivity, and immediacy all playing a different role as content is separated from container. One approach does not fit all media—Wenger and Potter show students specific techniques and strategies for maximizing the advantages of each platform.

In every chapter, the authors provide:

• Know and Tell reports, a distinctive feature in which dozens of professional journalists lend their expertise and insight on multiplatform approaches, trends, and industry changes.
• Trade Tools showcase select materials used in the authors’ training seminars such as handy checklists of pointers and best practices.
• Taking it Home offers brief chapter wrap-ups.
• Talking Points provide questions and scenarios for in-class discussion.
• eLearning Opportunities include chapter exercises, practice tools, and additional resources found online in the book’s interactive multimedia workbook. NOTE: FOR THE BOOK PACKAGED WITH ACCESS TO THE ONLINE WORKBOOK, ORDER ISBN 978-0-87289-901-8. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THE ONLINE WORKBOOK.

1. The Multimedia Mindset
Multimedia Basics
Media on Demand
Technology Changes Content
The Best of Broadcast
The Power of Print
The Originality of Online
Focus on the Future

2. Reporting the Story
Finding Stories
Story Building Blocks
Research Strategies
Research Tools
Sources
Interviews
Interview Questions
Types of Interviews
Interview Ground Rules
Note Taking
Getting It Right

3. Multimedia Newsgathering
Thinking across Platforms
Sound
Video
Lighting
Nonvisual Stories
Natural Sound Stories
Teamwork
Working Alone
Tools of the Trade

4. Reporting in Depth
Mapping the Community
Beat Reporting
Topical Beats
Investigative Reporting

5. Writing the Story
Finding the Focus
Planning Your Story
Story Structure
Beginnings and Endings
Watch Your Words
Accuracy
Revising Your Story

6. Visual Storytelling
Planning
Choosing Sound
Choosing Video
Writing to Sound
Writing to Video
Editing
Graphics
Natural Sound Stories
Slide Shows

7. Writing for the Web
How People Use the Web
When News on the Web Falls Short
Writing for the Web
Print to Online Story
Converting Broadcast to Online
Web Headline Writers Wanted
Web Extras

8. Producing for the Web
The Skill Set
Continuous Production Mode
Blogging
Interactive Tools
Planning the Multimedia Story
The Multimedia Team
Citizen Journalism

9. Producing for TV
The Journalist Producer
Show Choreography
Audience and Ratings
Strategic Producing and Special Reports
Teases
Working with Newscast Producers
Web Work
Newscasts of the Future

10. Delivering the News
Voicing
Stand-ups
Live Shots
Talking Heads
Podcasting
Print Pointers

11. Multimedia Ethics
Thinking about Ethics and Ethically Thinking
Multimedia Issues
Online Issues
Multimedia Solutions
Diversity

12. Getting Ready for the Real World
The Changing Media Landscape
New Distribution Methods
Media Convergence
Multimedia Job Searches
Job Applications
Contracts
Journalism Entrepreneurs

Debora Halpern Wenger, a 17-year broadcast news veteran, is associate professor for media convergence and new media at Virginia Commonwealth University. Prior to her academic appointment, Wenger served as assistant news director at WFLA-TV in Tampa, FL. She started her career as a reporter/anchor at KXJB in Fargo, ND, moved on to producing at WBBH in Ft. Myers, FL and WMUR in Manchester, NH, then became executive producer at WSOC in Charlotte, NC. Wenger conducts multimedia training in newsrooms around the country and is a co-author of the online journalism curriculum for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Newsroom Training Program.

Deborah Potter is a veteran journalist and educator who spent 16 years as a network correspondent for CBS News and CNN covering the White House, State Department, Congress, national politics and environmental issues. She worked in local television and radio as a producer and anchor. Potter is executive director of News-Lab (www.newslab.org), an online resource center for journalists in Washington, D.C., that she founded in 1998. Potter leads workshops for journalists in newsrooms across the United States and around the world and is a featured columnist for the American Journalism Review, writing about broadcast news.