minneapolis

PODCAST EPISODE #75: Lindsey Seavert & Ben Garvin, “Love Them First”

Best Documentary. Best National Feature Documentary. Best Minnesota Made Documentary. Audience Award. Audience Choice. Best Production Design. Best Director.

Film festivals nationwide last year piled accolades on “Love Them First: Lessons From Lucy Laney Elementary,” a feature-length documentary produced primarily by two journalists from one Twin Cities TV station.

Lindsey Seavert and Ben Garvin had each worked at KARE-TV in Minneapolis/St. Paul for several years when they embarked on a series of stories about a local elementary school. That series quickly became the foundation for a documentary, and that documentary has since left an extraordinary mark on the education world. Its main character, Lucy Laney principal Mauri Melander Friestleben, has even appeared on the Today Show.

You can watch it right here:

Seavert and Garvin are my guests on Episode 75 of the Telling the Story podcast.

“With a flicker and another flicker, you can set the world on fire and create systemic change,” Seavert told me. “That’s really my hope: that we’ve sparked a national conversation about how we measure children.”

They’ve sparked it. And last month, Seavert and Garvin were honored at Columbia University with a duPont Award – or, as one colleague of mine called it, “the Pulitzer of video.”

(more…)

PODCAST EPISODE #67: Adrienne Broaddus, reporter, KARE-TV

“See the invisible.”

Adrienne Broaddus used this phrase early during our interview, and I instantly got it and loved it. She was discussing her approach to covering Hurricane Florence, which she did for a sister station in the Carolinas instead of her home station, KARE-TV in the Twin Cities. The award-winning reporter spoke of the people she met at a homeless shelter and said, “The people who were there, I wanted their voices to be heard. That’s one of the foundations of great journalism.”

She used her time in North Carolina to find individual stories and unique details that weren’t getting covered amidst the macro focus of the storm. It defines her approach in general, and it indicates a reporter who is confident in her voice and how to utilize it.

Broaddus is my guest on Episode 67 of the Telling the Story podcast.

I reached out to her weeks before Florence, intending to discuss different topics. Broaddus had just captured a pair of Salute to Excellence awards from the NABJ. She had also just spoken at the Sound of Life Storytelling Workshop, where we crossed paths on the presenting circuit. We weaved around each other’s busy schedules for weeks – and then postponed the interview further once Florence arrived – before finally getting to chat.

It was more than worth it. I have known Broaddus for several years and have always been a fan of her clarity of purpose. She showed it in our interview. She spoke about how her faith guides her reporting and why she proudly carries the mantle of “hope dealer.” I think it’s a worthy listen for any storytelling trying to find his or her voice.

(more…)

3 GREAT STORIES: Starring Team Ortho, Kyle Korver, & laughter

Every week, I shine the spotlight on some of the best storytelling in the business and offer my comments. “3 Great Stories of the Week” will post every Monday at 8 AM.

Running for a cause? (11/12/15, KARE-TV): One of the hardest jobs in reporting for television? Making investigative stories look good.

TV stories are often built around moments, and with many pieces, one finds those moments naturally and visually. Investigative journalists must produce those moments informationally and confrontationally — a much tougher task in a visual medium.

In this piece, KARE 11’s A.J. Lagoe and Steve Eckert show how it’s done.

Uncovering deception and monetary misuse from a local non-profit, the duo layers this story with “Didja see that?” moments. Eckert edits nicely the sequence that shows the misuse of funds over several years, and Lagoe leaves the viewer with a jaw-dropper through his final revelation and confrontation with the man behind the non-profit.

(more…)

PODCAST EPISODE #34: Ben Garvin, photographer, KARE-TV

When I first started this blog, many newspaper photographers were staring into a future of cutbacks, layoffs, and competition with everyone’s iPhones.

Ben Garvin surveyed the landscape from his perch at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. In 2007 he was named Minnesota Photographer of the Year. In 2011 he was named Journalist of the Year by the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Despite the accolades, Garvin knew he was not immune from the large-scale changes occurring across the industry.

But this past year, he found refuge by switching lanes.

Garvin still works as a still photographer, but now he does it for a TV station: KARE-TV in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

And he does it with an innovator’s spirit. Last week I shouted out Garvin in my 3 Great Stories segment for a sweetly touching piece about a grandfather and grandson spending the day together at Vikings training camp. Technically Garvin produced a video, but it consisted strictly of still photos with audio weaved in from Garvin’s interviews.

Garvin is my guest on Episode #34 of the Telling The Story podcast.

Speaking to me from a swing on his porch (!), Garvin discusses a variety of subjects: the ability to be a hybrid in today’s media world; the importance of photographs in social media; and the versatility required to succeed on a higher level.

(more…)