Page 84 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

WRITING FOR THE WEB

comes the details associated with the news of the day and then a more
complete telling of the story from its beginning.
Quotes and facts that more fully explain the how and why of a
story fill out the body as a story moves from the most relevant facts to
the least relevant facts. The hardest part of writing a Web story is decid-
ing what to keep out. Every word should have meaning. Every quote
should represent something more than a statement of fact. Recognizing
what is filler and what is central to the story is the key to writing a good
Web story.
We’ve just taken a look at the structure of a basic print-style story
for the Web. Each news organization differs in style and emphasis, but
if you master this general framework you will be ready to adapt to the
demands of most editors.

Telling Your Story through Multiple Media

The next logical step for journalism on the Web is to try to tell a
cohesive story through multiple forms of media. The goal of most
74 major news groups is to develop a reusable multimedia storytelling
form, where words, sound, images, and interactivity all come together
to deliver the ultimate news experience. No one has reached this
goal yet.
Part of the problem is that words are the common thread linking
all types of media, but styles of writing have evolved to fit each type
of media. No common style of writing exists that is flexible enough
to support everything from a text story to an interactive feature to a
TV-style story.
Journalists are trained and employed in a single medium, whether
radio or TV or print, and their work is judged by the standards of that
medium. Journalism today is set up to feed talent to multiple business
arms. It is not set up to prepare reporters for a world where they need
to be comfortable working in all forms.
In general, print is considered to be formal and direct and is
written in the past tense. It also requires the writer to convey details
of appearance and circumstance that bring the story to life.
Video, on the other hand, tells a lot without loading up on words.
Writing for video is all about using words that support your video. The
video is the story, and the facts fill in the information not obvious from
the images. This storytelling form is much more personal and informal
and uses the present tense.