rob collett

3 GREAT STORIES: Starring bonds between spouses, families, & new friends

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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.

Skeptical cop befriends homeless veteran (2/15/17, KARE-TV): In his first appearance in this segment this year — but definitely not his first appearance overall — Boyd Huppert gives a master class in how to imbue a piece with emotion and connection.

The headline above makes clear the substance of his story: it deals with a homeless veteran who finds a source of grace and generosity in a local police officer. But Huppert writes — and photographer Rob Collett edits — with a deft touch, revealing critical details in a way that both surprises and enriches.

Those of us who teach storytelling often talk about the importance of “reveals” and “moments”, but Huppert excels at earning those moments. When they appear in this story (I won’t spoil them here), they feel more meaningful because of the rich visuals and character development that have led to them.

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5 MORE great stories: the all-Boyd Huppert edition

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Two days ago I posted my weekly “3 Great Stories” column, except I made a couple of exceptions:

First, I posted five great stories instead of three.

Second, instead of normally showcasing the best work I saw in the prior week, I submitted a Greatest Hits compilation from my four years of blogging — of one person’s gems.

I posted 5 great stories from KARE-TV’s Boyd Huppert, who had just captured his 100th regional Emmy and been named to the NATAS Upper Midwest Silver Circle. I shared the entry on the Storytellers Facebook group, populated by 10,000 current, former, and future journalists, including Huppert himself and many photographers with whom he has collaborated through the years.

Then something beautiful happened.

The storytellers expanded the list.

Within hours, fellow TV news journalists had sprinkled the comments section of that Facebook post with a variety of Huppert treasures, one dating back nearly two decades. Since Facebook posts eventually fade away from people’s news feeds, I decided to combine those additions onto this new blog entry.

Here, thus, are five more great stories from one of the greatest storytellers in our field:

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5 GREAT STORIES: The all-Boyd Huppert edition

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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.

It’s time to pay tribute to a legend.

This past Saturday, KARE-TV feature reporter Boyd Huppert received the coveted Silver Circle award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The honor often reflects longevity — a lifetime achievement award, if you will.

But few journalists have reached Huppert’s level of achievements.

In fact, that same night, Huppert won his 100th regional Emmy award — one of 11 he received for 2016.

In addition to his Emmys, Huppert has won 14 national Edward R. Murrow awards and three Sigma Delta Chi awards; he has received, on seven occasions, the NPPA’s Photojournalism Award for Reporting. Beyond that, Huppert has inspired thousands of journalists through both his teaching and his example, and he has touched millions with his heart-warming stories.

A far less prestigious achievement? He is by far the most mentioned reporter on this blog. In nearly four years, I have tagged Huppert in 23 posts — the majority of which have come as shout-outs for his work in this “3 Great Stories” segment.

(Huppert also graced my podcast for our 40th episode; it’s a terrific listen.)

To that end, I have chosen to use this week’s “3 Great Stories” as an all-time Greatest Hits list of my favorite Huppert games. (“All-time”, in this case, refers to the last four years in which I have written this blog.) I could not narrow the list to three, so here are five great Boyd Huppert stories, along with what I wrote about them at the time, with minor edits for clarity:

Dying man finds miracle in abandoned church (11/18/12, KARE-TV): I can’t think of one thing that stands out to me about this story.

Simply put, everything stands out.

Few in my profession would argue that Huppert and photographer Jonathan Malat are as good as it gets in terms of long-form, human-interest storytelling. I regularly find myself blown away by their work, and I could not stop smiling over this one. This is beginning-to-end perfect: a touching story that takes its time but does not waste a moment.

It is the kind of story that makes me want to be a better journalist.

I could probably list five lessons I learned from this story alone, but above all I was reminded of the importance of continually finding stories — and storytellers — who inspire you. I have no doubt I will improve because, when I watch pieces like this, I can see the possible results of said improvement.

(NOTE: The original link from KARE-TV no longer works, so I have posted the YouTube video from a different station that ran the story. Also, Huppert followed up this year with the story’s main subject, now facing a new fight.)

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NPPA Southeast Storytelling Workshop: Day 2 (and Awards) Recap

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This past weekend, along with my good friend John Kirtley, I had the privilege of directing and hosting the NPPA Southeast Storytelling Workshop, which brought 200 attendees and more than a dozen renowned speakers to Atlanta to discuss visual storytelling and meaningful journalism.

Here is a Tweet-by-Tweet look at the presentations, advice, and all-around festivities of Day 2 of #NPPASE:

Matt Pearl is the author of the Telling the Story blog and podcast. Feel free to comment below or e-mail Matt at matt@tellingthestoryblog.com.

3 GREAT STORIES: Starring clickbait, death row, and a $75 truck

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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.

The virologist (1/5/15, New Yorker): Happy new year, journalist and storyteller friends!

Want to start 2015 with a startling look at your industry?

Andrew Marantz fires a fastball high and tight in this long-form piece from the New Yorker’s first issue of the year. The writer profiles a content creator of a different brand: a 27-year-old named Emerson Spartz who, per the article, “has been successfully launching web sites for nearly half his life.”

What are these web sites? They are cold, hard generators of clickbait.

To read about Spartz’s operation is to peek into a calculated industry that shadows the journalistic experience while utterly ignoring its ethics. In this case, Marantz is as brutal a storyteller as Spartz is a content creator, refusing to hold back and expertly matching the tone of his work with the personality of his subject. Come for the sobering look at the industry, but stay for a well-written and thought-provoking piece of journalism.

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3 GREAT STORIES: Starring ATL, EW, and the inventor of Twister

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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.

I always appreciate when a journalist can frame a familiar subject in a completely new light.

This applies to major issues, of course, but it also relates to more seemingly frivolous topics.

If a common thread exists among the following three stories from last week, it would be the storyteller’s ability to bring new appreciation to seemingly simple matters.

How you know where you’re going when you’re in an airport (6/12/14, The Atlantic): For the second straight year, I have purchased a book based on nothing but a brief passage.

Last year it was Andrew Carroll’s brilliant Here Is Where. This year it is David Zweig’s Invisibles.

And this passage is what got me to click “PURCHASE”.

Zweig tours the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, and studies the meticulous ways in which its designers enable it to function without error.

(Almost without error, anyway. This is an airport we’re talking about.)

This particular selection is not long, but it remains informative and well written. A reader can choose to take the preferred next step — buying the book — or walk away having still gained a nice perspective into the inner workings of airports. (more…)

5 lessons from the NPPA’S best video stories of 2012

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Last week was a national celebration of storytelling … and you may have missed it.

The National Press Photographers Association, or NPPA, announced the winners in its annual Best of Photojournalism video and editing competitions. This year’s judges selected breathtaking stories from some of the finest video journalists in the country. Most of the winning pieces are timeless; you could watch them two months from now or two years from now and be just as moved as if you watched them today.

Watching the winners this week, I felt one thing above all: I wish I had done better.

I don’t mean “better” in the sense of winning or losing. I have fared very well in past NPPA competitions, finishing in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place in the past three years in their standings for solo video journalists, or reporters who shoot their own stories. Since I joined in 2010, I have picked up an outstanding amount of photojournalistic techniques, gotten to know some talented colleagues, and found myself inspired by those colleagues’ stories.

No, what I mean is more insular: I wish I had done better work this past year.

I take great pride in the work I produced in 2012, but as I watched this year’s NPPA winners, I could not help but think about how much further I can grow as a photojournalist.

I should mention that I do not always prioritize the NPPA way in my daily work. As a solo video journalist, I must focus on every part of the reporting process: interviewing, researching, writing, shooting video, and editing. The NPPA tends to reward, I find, a certain style of story: one that emphasizes shooting and editing first while still valuing the other elements. They typically exalt the more stylistic, emotional stories above the investigative, information-heavy ones. This, of course, makes sense: the NPPA, after all, is an association of visual journalists, and they should not feel compelled to give out awards for writing and researching. But the NPPA philosophy does not always mesh with a newsroom’s philosophy or a particular day’s assignment.

That disclaimer aside, I greatly value the association for what it does so well: provide visual journalists a resource to continually improve their visual skills.

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