washington post

3 GREAT STORIES: Starring perspective on serious matters

It is often said that, in the modern media world, perspective and complexity are difficult to find.

Perhaps more accurately, those qualities fail to catch on as much as simplicity and virality.

But certain stories lend themselves to a little perspective — particularly those that become universal enough to require more than a standard news cycle.

Here are three great stories from last week, on some topics that are anything but:

Bomani Jones’ brilliant take on Donald Sterling (4/29/14, Dan LeBatard Radio Show): How interesting this must be for Bomani Jones.

The sports columnist wrote an eloquent, thorough story back in 2006 about the racism of Clippers owner Donald Sterling. The article received little attention.

Now, by simply letting fly with improvised but heartfelt comments on a radio program, Jones’ thoughts on Sterling have indeed reached the masses.

The Sterling issue is at once remarkably simple yet deceptively complex, and in this 12-minute interview on the Dan LeBatard Show, Jones explains the complexity behind the simplicity, describing why he is not impressed with the far-too-late movement to remove Sterling from the NBA.

And last week, when the initial shock of the Sterling tapes began to fade as a news story — but the urgency and controversy required more coverage — perspectives like Jones’ began to rule the day, making for a much deeper discussion. (more…)

3 GREAT STORIES: Starring MLK, the March, and dreams

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 had a fascinating mini-discussion this week with a storyteller for whom I have great respect.

Like many reporters this week, he put together a piece about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Wednesday was, of course, the 50th anniversary of the speech from the March on Washington. This reporter — no doubt noting the flood of stories that had already been and would be done — tried something different. He hit the streets and got interviews with residents about how King’s speech impacted them, both 50 years ago and today, but he also had them hold a large picture frame. Once back in the newsroom, his editor cropped Dr. King’s speech into the frame so that it looked as if the speech was playing inside of it.

To me, it seemed forced.

When I watched the story, I felt his interviews seemed unnatural on several levels. For one thing, the people he was interviewing seemed awkward trying to speak sincerely while holding a bulky picture frame. Secondly, the video playing in the frame both visually and mentally distracted me from the content of the interviews.

But most importantly, I felt the reporter was using a gimmick on a subject that did not require it. To me, the “I Have a Dream” speech is so powerful on its own — and people’s emotions and reactions so visceral even 50 years later — that it did not require trickery. It required elegance and poignancy, and it required a more subdued approach that allowed the speech to, well, speak for itself.

The beauty of storytelling is, of course, there are no right answers. What works for some may not work for others. I should point out that the reporter who did this story has built an ultra-successful career out of stories that beautifully capture the human spirit, so he is no stranger to understanding what makes for a powerful moment. I, for one, am a huge fan of his work.

In this case, though, we disagree. When I chose my “3 Great Stories” for this week, all directly or indirectly MLK-related, I found they reached me by simply illuminating their subjects’ natural power.

Revisiting Martin Luther King’s 1963 Dream speech (8/28/13, The Big Picture): In doing my own stories recently on the Civil Rights movement, I found the raw materials to be extremely absorbing. From old footage to newspaper headlines to poignant photographs — both iconic and not — I found myself enthralled by the history of everything.

Leave it to the Big Picture blog to capture that history and present it in a glorious display.

Here, the editors post a collection of 20 photos, mainly from the March on Washington but also from the Civil Rights movement in general and a few present-day shots for good measure. Photo galleries like these are Rorshach tests — you interpret them however you choose — but, for me, this particular gallery provides some great introductory context to that time period and the struggles involved.

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3 GREAT STORIES OF THE WEEK: Starring Bill Gates, finding meaning, and giving back

Every week, I will 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’ll be honest: I found the coolest story I read this week in an in-flight magazine.

Perhaps I have just been traveling too much.

I have taken two trips, involving six flights, for work in the last two weeks. Eventually I found myself with nothing to read, so I picked up the US Airways in-flight magazine … and I found a gem.

The famed author Andrew Carroll gave the magazine an abridged introduction to his just-released book, Here is There. I found it engrossing. In the article, Carroll recounts a few true but hard-to-believe stories from U.S. history, such as:

  • the time the brother of John Wilkes Booth saved the life of the son of Abraham Lincoln
  • how a group of Confederate rebels tried unsuccessfully to set Manhattan on fire

Carroll is a terrific storyteller, and I have since purchased Here is There and am awaiting its arrival in the mail. I decided to include his abridged introduction as an honorary great story this week, and — believe it or not — the in-flight magazine version can only be found in virtual magazine format online.

So you too can now experience the joys of getting inspired by an in-flight magazine, completing with the ads for two-karat tanzanite rings and indoor kart racing.

Enjoy!

And now, the 3 Great Stories of the week:

Bill Gates: ‘Death is something we really understand extremely well’ (5/17/13, Washington Post Wonkblog): This is a classic example of where a story is best served by a straightforward Q&A format.

Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein goes in-depth with Bill Gates, still the world’s richest person according to Bloomberg News, about his latest ambitious endeavor: the literal eradication of polio across the globe.

But the interview really gets fascinating when Gates discusses the ways in which different countries treat the reality of death. Some of his assertions are simply haunting, such as the following:

When you’re running a poor country health-care system, you can’t treat a year of life as being worth more than, say, $200, $300 or else you’ll bankrupt your health system immediately. So, with very few exceptions, you do nothing for cancer. If you get cancer, you’re going to die.

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How to become a better writer in two easy lists

One of the greatest things about maturing as a writer? You write so much that you have seen every cliche around, and you know not to use them.

One of the toughest things about maturing as a writer? You write so much that you must continue to write creatively without using cliches — or the creative lines you have already used.

Writers and journalists of any kind — be it video, audio, photography, or print — must make a conscious and continual effort to avoid repetition in what can be a repetitious job.

For sure, every story is unique; this is one of the great joys of working in journalism. Less unique, however, are story types. This year alone, a journalist may have already attended so many press conferences or city council meetings or sporting events that he or she struggles to find ways to cover them creatively.

I welcome any outside perspective that encourages me not to get too comfortable as a storyteller.

In the past few days, I have come across two such perspectives I feel compelled to share.

On Friday, Washington Post writer Carlos Lozada wrote the article, “To be sure, journalists love cliches”. After an introduction where Lozada intentionally uses cliches to write about the importance of not using them — a technique that, frankly, seemed a little cliche to me — he gets to the good stuff. Lozada produces a lengthy list of banned phrases and, as he writes, “Things We Do Not Say” in the newsroom.

Among his targets:

  • Be that as it may
  • Needless to say
  • [Anything] 2.0 (or 3.0 or 4.0 …)
  • At a crossroads

(Believe me, this is a mere taste; Lozada writes at least 50 of these …)

Print out this list, and make sure your scripts and articles include none of its items.

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