Page 96 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

CONVERGED GRAPHICS ACROSS ALL MEDIA

Role of the Graphics Reporter

Just as a good news reporter must be capable of writing interesting
stories, a strong graphics reporter must be capable of creating visu-
ally engaging illustrations. Artistic skills are extremely important to a
graphics reporter’s ability to create accurate, attractive graphics. How-
ever, a graphic’s merit should be first judged on its ability to advance a
reader’s understanding of a story or event. A graphic needs to contain
a clean, clear, and accurate presentation of fact-based information.
A truly successful graphics reporter is a journalist first and an artist
second. In other words, every artistic decision should consider the infor-
mation needs of the readers, the nature of the story, and the clarity of
the message.
A graphics reporter’s role and responsibilities are, in many ways,
similar to those of any other reporter. They engage in research for both
the visual and textual elements of the graphic. They consult a variety
of sources, including, but not limited to, encyclopedias, almanacs,
reports, documents, and individuals who are experts in their fields.
86 Graphics reporters often go on assignment to gather information for
their work. They often attend news meetings and work with editors,
photographers, and other reporters on developing story packages. They
must also be accurate, observe ethical journalistic practices, and serve
as credible sources of information for the audience.
However, the nature of precision differs between a reporter who
uses words as the primary form of expression and one who uses infor-
mation graphics. Text reporters, no matter how well they use precise
and descriptive language in regard to events and scenes, are constrained
by the limits of the language. A graphic has the ability to truly show
what happened and how it happened. A graphics reporter can create
diagrams that illustrate objects in direct proportion to their real coun-
terparts. A graphic can show exactly “what happened,” “when” and “in
what order,” “how much,” “how close,” “how far away,” or “how to”
in a much more conceptual fashion than words. After all, would you
rather read a paragraph that describes the racial makeup of the United
States by percentage, or would you rather see it in a pie chart? In this
and other cases, without the visual aid, the numbers become rather
meaningless because they are more difficult to process in comparison
to one another. They often lack context, and, sometimes, a graphic is
also a more space-efficient way to provide that information.
In a convergent environment, a graphics reporter needs to ask a sec-
ond set of questions about the main points in a story and the role of