Page 160 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

of the news will determine the extent and nature of the coverage.
The key people are the editors who assign the individuals or teams
to cover each event. This means that these assignment editors must
have a multimedia mind-set and must also be aware of the strengths
and limitations of each medium. As multimedia journalist and edu-
cator Jane Stevens noted, these people must know “what’s possible,
what’s impossible, and how to integrate that into a minute-by-minute,
hourly, daily, weekly, and long-term flow of news, information and
storytelling.” Stevens believes newsrooms will have many options for
covering stories, but she suggests two basic models: producer-driven
stories and reporter-driven stories (2002). Note the tendency in a con-
verged operation to borrow terminology from both broadcast and print.
That is simply the nature of the new medium—it cherry-picks ideas.
Producer-driven stories work best for breaking news and daily news
content. For example, when the hurricanes and storms hit Florida in
2004, the producer or assignment editor would dispatch a team of
reporters to cover the story. “Each takes a small digital video camera,
but the best videographers are sent to the heart of the action, so are the
150 best [and] most experienced writers,” Stevens said. Less experienced
reporters, all equipped with video cameras, would be sent to outlying
areas. All of the reporters would file text, video clips, audio clips, and
still photos. The producer would assemble them into a package, along
with material provided by graphic artists and interactive computer spe-
cialists. “Short text stories and some video clips may go out on the Web
immediately after they are filed,” Stevens said. “Comprehensive reports
tallying dead and injured and detailing economic effects are filed later.”
The reporters would file what they found. On many occasions, they
would be unaware of how much of their contribution was published
or in what form. The producer back at headquarters would be like
a great chef, creating a masterpiece by using items from many parts
of the country. This was certainly the case during the war in Iraq,
where journalists were told to transmit in short bursts, according to
poynter.org. While the reporters sent back bits and pieces when they
could, producers in the United States assembled packages from a host
of sources in various parts of the world.
A reporter-driven story involves a single reporter or small team. The
team assembles a package that it controls from start to finish. Stevens
(2002) notes that sometimes reporters work from the scene of the
event if the scenario is sufficiently compact that a handful of reporters
can cover it. Sometimes the story is assembled at the office, where