5 lessons from the 2019 National Edward R. Murrow Award winners

Commentary, , , , , , , , , , ,

A few years ago, the RTDNA added a new category for its esteemed Edward R. Murrow awards in journalism: Excellence in Innovation.

But this year, as I survey the national winners that were announced last week, I see innovation everywhere.

It shows on the local level, thanks to ambitious companies including the one (TEGNA) for which I feel proud to work. It thrives on the national level, where everyone from ESPN to Univision is flexing its storytelling muscles. And it particularly shines in the digital realm, where news organizations need not worry about breaking the rules because they’re creating them.

Over the past few days, I carved out hours to watch this year’s winners. Here are five lessons that have already embedded themselves in my own journalistic mindset:

THE STORY: The legacy of the zero tolerance policy (Univision Noticias Digital)
THE LESSON: If you’re focusing on one person’s story, immerse yourself in it.

Per Univision’s research, more than 2,500 children were separated from their families at the US-Mexico border by American officials. This is part of the US government’s “zero tolerance policy.”

This story stood out because the journalists involved focused on one child and dove deep.

The Univision crew follows a six-year-old Guatemalan girl named Adayanci Pérez as she returns home after three-and-a-half months. The details are harrowing. Pérez returns to school and barely smiles, looking shook around her teachers and classmates. Her family can’t read the PTSD diagnosis she received before her return because it’s in English. Revelations like these fill the nine-minute mini-doc, and they unleash so many questions. They were only uncovered because of the commitment and time investment of all involved.

(more…)

PODCAST EPISODE #72: Kristin Dickerson, anchor/reporter, KXAS-TV

Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

I think very hard about who to ask as my guest on the Telling the Story podcast, but in recent years I’ve developed a clear litmus test:

Has this person found a passion within this profession?

Look through my past few interviews, and you’ll find a series of journalists who understand what they love about storytelling – and have made conscious decisions to steer their careers toward that love. Forrest Sanders carves out time on his days off to produce the kinds of memorable features that garner national honors. Adrienne Broaddus leads with faith and calls herself a “hope dealer.” Olivia Loomis Merrion and Emily Kassie are innovators and documentarians who find causes worth covering.

Kristin Dickerson has carved her own fascinating path.

She’s currently an anchor/reporter at the NBC affiliate in Dallas, but she’s also an Emmy- and Murrow-winning storyteller who invested in her own DSLR camera and shoots her own stories. (The above photo is with the Gracie Award, which she won in 2018.)

Starting in August, her path swings toward a new journey: Dickerson and her husband are quitting their jobs to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain, visit Israel and India, and bring cameras for the whole trip.

Their goal? Produce a project about faith.

It’s an appropriate subject for Dickerson. This kind of decision requires faith. And her journey to it is powerful … and best told by her.

Dickerson is my guest on Episode #72 of the Telling the Story podcast.

I won’t give much away, but I will say that Dickerson provides one of the most open, heartfelt interviews I’ve had on this podcast. I greatly admire her, even if I can’t see myself taking such a seismic leap. As we discuss in the podcast, any journalist can find ways to take their own leaps – seismic or otherwise – within the confines of one’s life and job. There’s always room to push toward your passion.

(more…)

I wrote last week about connections leading from one story to another. Then it happened again.

Commentary, , , , , , ,

I had thought the time was right to write.

I had just produced a powerful story about a high school student’s graduation that resonated on-air and took off online. I had recognized how that story emerged thanks to a series of “Yes, and …” responses when chances arose. So I wrote a blog entry that detailed the five degrees of separation that led to one poignant piece.

Then a sixth degree showed up.

(more…)

I didn’t cultivate connections enough. Once I did, I found a beautiful story.

Commentary, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I was there to teach. For a week in early April, I flew to San Marcos, Texas to serve on the faculty at the NPPA Advanced Storytelling Workshop. I crafted five presentations for the students at the event and, in one case, the students in a journalism class at Texas State University.

But on Day 1 of the workshop, I quickly realized how much I would learn.

In the second hour of sessions, one of my fellow faculty members presented a philosophy that I quickly embraced – and, this past week, paid huge dividends.

Kristin Dickerson is a National Edward R. Murrow and Gracie Award winner who shines as an anchor and reporter for NBC5 in Dallas. We teamed up (along with the tremendous NBC News correspondent Joe Fryer) for a session on how to enterprise story ideas. I led off, but Kristin seized the hour with a ten-minute video illustrating the importance of cultivating your contacts … and not turning your back after you use them for a story.

I immediately realized my own flaw. I seek sources with enthusiasm, but I rarely keep in touch well enough after I work with them on a story. After Kristin’s inspiration, I pledged to myself to be better.

I didn’t realize how quickly it would pay off.

(more…)

Sometimes a great story can be as simple as a table and two chairs

Commentary, , , , , , , ,

This article can be found in the March/April 2019 issue of News Photographer, published through the NPPA.

I’m big on new.

In the last few years I’ve worked with drones, gimbals, and a mirrorless camera. I’ve created Instagram-first food segments and half-hour documentaries. I’ve done all of this from a newsroom – WXIA-TV in Atlanta – and under a company – TEGNA – that preaches innovation.

But when I wanted to attempt a new approach and story structure for a segment involving person-on-the-street interviews – a format that seems to funnel towards boring and uninformative – I reached back to a far earlier creation.

First, my producer and I bought a wooden fold-out table and two fold-out chairs at IKEA. Then, we asked our promotions team if we could commandeer an easel. Finally, we begged our in-house graphical guru to create a poster we could place on said easel, with a recurring question: “What’s your untold story about __________?” For each story we would do, we felt, we would fill in the blank with a relevant subject.

It worked.

On Thanksgiving week and requested stories about gratitude. On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day we found stories about parents. And this past Valentine’s Day, we learned stories about kind gestures. Each time, we shot in multiple locations that represented different communities in our region. We set up multiple cameras, from a traditional TV news kit to a GoPro and iPhone. We didn’t leave until we had interviewed at least three people.

Most importantly, when we did those interviews, we took our time. I didn’t ask for the quick sound bite and leave. I sat for around ten minutes, conversing and learning more about the person across the table. Often I discovered a more compelling story hidden beneath the initial back-and-forth.

(more…)

PODCAST EPISODE #71: Forrest Sanders, solo video journalist, WSMV-TV

Podcasts, , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

If only Sam Raimi were on social media.

Then perhaps the acclaimed director of The Evil Dead, A Simple Plan, and the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man series would learn of how one of his earliest movies influenced one of today’s most talented journalists.

Forrest Sanders watched The Evil Dead as a student and became enamored with Raimi’s shot composition and pacing. He developed a passion for shooting and editing that evolved into a career as a solo video journalist. Today Sanders has his own honors: numerous Emmys, two new regional Edward R. Murrow awards won last week, and a variety of accolades from the NPPA. This past year he was named its National Solo Video Journalist of the Year.

Sanders is my guest on Episode #71 of the Telling the Story podcast.

I loved this conversation. Sanders has quickly become a leader in the storytelling community, and he speaks with both introspection and clarity of purpose. We chatted about the power of early influences, the need to fuel your passions, and the way to carve your own path in a newsroom where that might seem difficult. And yes, we discussed Mr. Raimi (and Brian DePalma too!) for several enlightening minutes.

Here’s an example of one of his finest stories, “The Funeral Man.” In the episode, Sanders talks about the journey to make it happen.

(more…)

PODCAST EPISODE #70: Reflecting on ten years at one station in Atlanta

Podcasts, , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

I began to notice it sometime in the last few years. New reporters or interns would arrive at WXIA-TV in Atlanta, meet me, and ask how long I’d been with the station.

“I’m going on nine years.”

Eyes would widen, followed by a six-letter word that was either being used as a question or a comment: “Really …”

I immediately felt the need to defend myself. These days, having reached ten years, I still occasionally get the impulse. But whenever I do, I come back to a fundamental truism of my outlook about my job:

I just want to keep growing.

Weeks like this one remind me how much. On Tuesday, my work received four Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. I had won Murrows before but never more than one in a given year. These stories reminded me how much I’ve grown since I arrived in Atlanta ten years ago.

I share similar perspective on Episode #70 of the Telling the Story podcast.

This is a non-traditional episode, featuring the reading of a recent blog post instead of a longform interview with a journalist or storyteller. Those episodes will resume soon, but I wanted to use this one to spotlight the growth we all hope to achieve in this industry. I hope you enjoy.

(more…)

Ten years ago I arrived in Atlanta. Ten years later I still can’t believe I’m here.

Commentary, , ,

My first night in Atlanta, I stepped after sunset onto my Midtown balcony. I leaned against the rail and watched the skyline light up. I spied high-rises, skyscrapers, and the amber glow of windows still alight. A dozen blocks away, a golden spire peeked above the buildings and pierced the night-blue air. I was two days removed from Buffalo, N.Y., four years removed from my first job in Sioux City, Iowa, and two decades removed from the inklings of dreams that became aspirations of working as a broadcast journalist. My new job – as a reporter for WXIA-TV, Atlanta’s NBC affiliate – was days away.

I surveyed the sky, felt the thick Georgia warmth against my skin, and reveled in triumph.

Man … I’ve made it.

I did it again the next night. And the next night. And every night for the next two weeks. Each sunset became a victory lap, a chance to view a city so vibrant it seemed limitless. Professionally I had arrived in a Top 10 market. Personally I had arrived in a city with massive parks, walkable streets, and four pro sports teams. Growing up in New Jersey, I had idolized New York. When I started in TV news, I wondered if I would ever make it back. Now in Atlanta, I had at least reached the ballpark.

And I was thankful. I had sent out more than 40 resume tapes in college before hearing from a station in Sioux City. I had sent another 40 after leaving Sioux City – many during an extended summer of unemployment living with my parents – before a news director in Buffalo called with an offer. I had received tremendous opportunities in Buffalo but wondered if a large-market station would ever take a chance. The industry seemed so brutal, and my experience so tenuous, that I never escaped my own self-doubt.

Finally I could. For the foreseeable future, I didn’t need to worry about where I would head next. I didn’t need to worry about what stories to include in my demo reel. I didn’t need to worry about my career reaching its apex at age 27. From my balcony, I saw a city into which I could endlessly expand.

(more…)

Meet my first news director, a chain-smoking, mullet-rocking legend who continues to surprise

Commentary, , , , , ,

April 4, 2018. Dave Carew. “Happy Birthday, Tedd! Have a great time full of mischief.”

I type the name of my first boss into Facebook’s search bar. I left Sioux City, Iowa 14 years ago, but I often think about the man who gave me my start in broadcast news. His page pops up. Tedd O’Connell. Green Bay, Wisconsin. A black-and-white photo of a newsman in a trench coat.

That’s Tedd. But Tedd’s been dead for more than a decade.

April 4, 2017. Justin Roberts. “Happy Birthday Tedd!! Hope heaven is a party that never stops!”

This seems off. Tedd wasn’t the social media type, and Facebook was in relative infancy when he fell sick years ago. But this wouldn’t be Tedd’s first surprise.

April 4, 2016. Molly Fitch. “Happy Birthday, Tedd. Hope you’re snacking on donut holes and listening to Eminem upstairs today.”

Growing up near New York, attending college near Chicago, I was unprepared for the flat skyline of Sioux City. I was less prepared for my first boss to rock a full-coiffed mullet and a raspy voice born of a thousand cigarettes.

April 4, 2015. Derek Wittenburg. “Happy birthday…..Tedanator with us all.”

For 15 years, Tedd was the Ron Burgundy of Madison, Wisconsin. He flew to Cuba for a story and met Castro. He broke major stories and won major awards. Then he took over newsrooms. A decade removed from his final time on the anchor desk, he landed in Iowa to run a fledgling third-place news station. At some point I should have wondered if Tedd viewed this job as beneath his stature and legacy. Tedd never gave us that choice.

(more…)

5 lessons from the NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism 2018 video winners

Commentary, , , , , , , , ,

I haven’t blogged in a few months, taking some time for a particularly busy season at work, at school, and as a dad.

But this occasion called for me to restart the engine.

Every year I pay particular attention to the winners of the NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism Video Awards. It’s a one-stop collection of some of the finest photography from some of the most prolific and talented photographers in the country. This year I set new marks personally, placing with five different stories in six different categories. But I never stop learning.

Through their work, my colleagues across the country never stop teaching.

Here are five lessons I learned from five powerful pieces of journalism and storytelling:

THE STORY: Remembering the Stains on the Sidewalk, by Jed Gamber (WBFF-TV, Baltimore)
THE LESSON: Commit at every level, not just with the camera.

I remember seeing this story when it first showed up in my Facebook newsfeed. I was blown back then and was blown back watching it again this weekend.

Jed Gamber has won a cavalcade of awards for photography in his still-young career, and he has helped build a tremendous team at WBFF-TV in Baltimore. This story shows the standard he sets.

Gamber and reporter Paul Gessler follow a still photographer who’s documenting the city’s homicides every day for a year. The camerawork is immaculate, but Gamber doesn’t stop there. He uses a projector, he stacks photographs on top of each other with a series of smash edits, and uses subtle but effective camera clicks to provide audio cues.

The whole thing is a masterpiece, pushed by a moving, meaningful message.

(more…)