Page 97 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

Role of the Graphics Reporter

graphics in telling that story. Once it has been determined what types of
graphics (chart, diagram, map, etc.) are appropriate for a story, a graph-
ics reporter must also establish how graphics will be presented using
the available formats (i.e., print, online, broadcast). What parts of the
graphic story are best told in print? What parts are better served online?
What parts are more appropriate for broadcast? Print graphics are gen-
erally accompanied by other print elements such as photographs, head-
lines, and text-based stories. Print graphics are one dimensional, and
the navigation is primarily determined by the design or physical orga-
nization of elements. Online graphics can be animated and allow for
interactivity. They may also be accompanied by other elements such as
text-based stories and still photographs, as well as video and audio clips.
However, navigation is affected by both organization of elements
and the nature of the animation and interactivity. Broadcast graphics
may be static, but fully animated graphics make better use of the televi-
sion medium. Instead of being accompanied by text-based storytelling
companions, broadcast graphics are generally integrated with video
clips, reporter’s notes, and audio voiceover explanations. Thus, each
format has the potential to tell a portion of the story effectively and 87
also present the graphic information in slightly different ways. Conver-
gence, then, is best served when a graphics reporter seeks to maximize
his or her storytelling potential and the number of people who will
engage with the information by constructing graphics for a single story
in multiple formats.
Cooperative efforts between newspapers and television news sta-
tions are beginning to develop information graphics in multiple media
formats for a single story. Even with these partnerships, print and
online graphics packages for a single story are more common. It’s
also important to note that most convergence efforts where informa-
tion graphics are concerned develop in a single newsroom between
print publications and their respective Web sites. Convergence projects
involving multimedia graphics between separate news organizations
are rare, partly because of the highly specialized nature of graphics
reporting and the amount of time it takes to construct multimedia
graphics. Yet, The New York Times, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The
Washington Post, and others, frequently publish graphics for both print
and the Web to support their news coverage. This often involves a
cross-promotion between the print and online graphics presentations.
For example, the Sun-Sentinel often runs full-page, stand-alone graph-
ics in the newspaper under the reoccurring title “News Illustrated”
(see Figure 6.5). When appropriate, “News Illustrated” graphics are