Post 2: Poynter and the workshop
The workshop goes from a Sunday afternoon through the following Friday at the Poynter Institute in St. Pete. The leader is Chip Scanlan, the author of one of the top media writing textbooks and an essayist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and on National Public Radio. He generally concentrates his teaching on reporting, interviewing, nonfiction narrative, deadline writing, essays, coaching and productivity. He is also a regular columnist for Poynter Online. The info box at left is from the Poynter site. You can see Chip’s informational columns at: http://poynter.org/profile/profile.asp?user=1592
The professional journalists taking part in the seminar are staying in an affordable downtown St. Pete hotel about a 20 minute walk from the Poynter Institute. The Institute is concentrating a lot of its focus on helping old media organizations come to grips with new-media realities. I also attended a workshop here in the 1980s. The most significant change since then? While reporting, writing, critical thinking, visual communications and management remain a staple of workshops here, there are new emphases, including online, multimedia, ethics and diversity.
The course description:
Multiplatform Journalism W401B-08
Deliver News in Print and Online
After years of baby steps, multiplatform journalism is growing up. The implications are inescapable: Journalists must master new ways to gather, distill and present news across the spectrum of print, broadcast and online media. This is your chance to learn how to use digital cameras, audio and video recorders, and to edit what you gather with industry-standard software. Work in teams coached by Poynter and visiting professionals who practice and teach multiplatform journalism. The process begins with storyboarding and ends with publication or on-air delivery. Stop along the way to pick up ethical decision-making, diversity and coaching skills.
You’ll learn …
- Storyboarding and other planning and work-flow methods to produce multiplatform stories
- Industry-standard technologies, including digital audio and imaging recorders, along with production software to bring your stories alive with words, images and sound
- Writing for video and sound storytelling
People do not have to come to Poynter to get Poynter training. Thanks to support from the Knight Foundation, News University, also known as NewsU, offers courses online. It helps you avoid the Florida humidity while still learning valuable lessons: http://www.newsu.org/One of the most recent additions to the courses offered at NewsU is Reporting Across Platforms, taught by Julie Dodd, Judy Robinson and Victoria Lim. The self-directed, self-paced course is free to anyone who has registered to use NewsU. You can find the specific details at http://www.newsu.org/courses/course_detail.aspx?id=rtndf_platforms08.
