What you will learn:
Narrative Storytelling
– Examples of successful projects
– Developing the best approach for creating effective multimedia stories
– Pros and cons of the various narrative approaches
Reporting Approach
– Using the best tools for the story
– Integrating still images, audio and video
The Business Model
– How to create a diverse model
– How to leverage the various distribution outlets
More about Brian Storm:
Join Brian Storm, Founder and Executive Producer of MediaStorm, to see how some of the top photojournalists have redefined their storytelling capabilities to include audio reporting and an eye towards publication in multiple media. Their work is capturing acclaim around the world in a time when reader’s attention spans are running short.
Storm was Director of Multimedia for MSNBC.com from 1995-2002 and Vice President of News, Multimedia and Assignment Services for Corbis based in New York from 2002-2004
More about Brian Storm:
Brian Storm is the founder and executive producer of MediaStorm, a multimedia production studio based in Brooklyn, New York.
MediaStorm’s principal aim is to usher in the next generation of multimedia storytelling by publishing social documentary projects incorporating photojournalism, interactivity, animation, audio and video for distribution across multiple media.
Prior to launching MediaStorm in 2005, Storm spent two years as vice president of News, Multimedia & Assignment Services for Corbis, a digital media agency founded and owned by Bill Gates. From 1995 to 2002 he was director of multimedia at MSNBC.com.
Storm received his master’s degree in photojournalism in 1995 from the University of Missouri. He lives in New York City and can be reached via brian@mediastorm.com.
]]>“PR has always been the get-out for journalists who want to make more money,” said Martin Veitch who is due to join Bite Communications. “Those who wanted to drink more would become journalists instead.”
This arguably outdated vision of the intrinsic differences between journalism and PR is what promted Frontline to set up last night’s event, chaired by former Times media editor Dan Sabbagh and based around the question: ‘Is journalism becoming more like PR?’
Yet panellist Drew Benvie, managing director and of digital PR agency 33 Digital, takes a different view. He argued that with social and media interaction changing drastically faster than most industries can assimilate, the future of PR is to bypass journalists and feed targeted information directly to the consumers that no longer have an interest in traditional news outlets.
But are we really crossing the line between traditional news reporting and PR-style propaganda? Ian Burell, media editor of the Independent, recognised that times are also changing on the journalists’ side. “Twenty years ago I wouldn’t dream of taking a call from a PR company, now I can’t do my job without them.”
There was a feeling of disappointment amongst journalists and academics, who recognised the need to churn out the stories as fast as possible to beat – or at least match – the competition and satiate the consumers’ bottomless desire for new information 24 hours a day. But has this led to a detriment in the quality of news reporting?
Darren Waters, who has worked for the BBC and is now Managing Director of Monument PR said:”It’s heartbreaking to see people read your stories, because they don’t.” He argued that focus groups show how people read the first three paragraphs and then move on to another story, making the quality of the writing less important than the volume of stories.
PR people in the audience were unsurprisingly shunned more than once by the journalists, with comments such as “it’s disgraceful that journalists share a stage with PR people” or “public relations is just a fancy name for propaganda”. But ultimately, the image of a journalist sitting in an ivory tower, basking in his own noble glory was shot down by comments suggesting that the real issue is whether journalism is becoming more like PR, and not vice versa.
A final show of hands proved that over half of the audience believed that PR and journalism were indeed merging, and it was generally considered to be a good thing that PR companies are now recruiting renowned journalists such as Richard Sambrook to help them to communicate with the press, but at the same time, we want the press to not listen.
Ian Burrell said: “Journalists need to be beholden only to their reader.” Let’s just hope there’s still a reader out there.
]]>Participants on this course may be eligible to receive funding (of 80% of the costs up to £800) through Skillset’s Multiplatform Bursary Scheme. Please visit www.skillset.org/multiplatformbursaries to check availability and see if you are eligible.
Price: £265
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Blogging and Beyond is an introduction to social media- explaining what it is, why it’s important and how to join the ‘global conversation’. On this very practical course you will get to know a variety of social media tools and learn how they can be used in your work. You will learn what RSS is and how to use it, how to create and publish your own blog and use social bookmarks as research tools.
Other areas covered in the course include
* Find interesting blogs using the custom search engines
* Monitor who’s reading your blog the easy way
* How photosharing enhances the written word
* Videosharing- uploading and embedding footage into a blog
* Social networking
* Why is microblogging important?
Duration: 1 day
Who it’s for: Journalists, Editors and Curious enthusiasts
Aims: To provide an understanding of Social Media and its impact on journalism, as well as working knowledge of the tools available
Trainer: Daniel Bennett
A previous participant says….“Bloody fantastic course- my brain was hurting at the end! If there are going to be other courses later in the year, I’ll be recommending them to others,” -Jem Thomas, Defence Media Operations Centre, Media Training School