This profile initially appeared in The Cohort, Poynter’s bi-monthly newsletter about women kicking ass in digital media. Kat Kinsman has the very cool title of senior food and drinks editor at Time Inc.’s all-breakfast site Extra Crispy. She’s also the author of “Hi, Anxiety: Life with a Bad Case of Nerves,” which hit bookstores in November. Last but not least, she appreciates a good French 75. I […]
The Cohort is Poynter’s bi-monthly newsletter about women kicking ass in digital media. This newsletter launched a year ago with the announcement of the 2016 class of the Leadership Academy of Women in Digital Media. Today, we’re expanding the cohort once more, with another 28 women who will participate in the academy. Reading through the hundreds of academy applications, I was reminded again and again why journalism needs […]
Seeing, for many viewers, is believing. But to really “understand” requires explanation and context. That is a key role journalists fill. When you’re interviewing a person, you want to capture more than the interview. Here are some tips for b-roll and other ways to add context to your story. Capture as much video of a person as you can before the interview. The more you know, the […]
With Donald Trump’s inauguration just a day away, “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd is preparing to cover a president who occasionally treats journalists like political punching bags. “I think he sees the media as an incredible political tool for him,” Todd told Poynter. “I don’t like being a political prop. And I think we have been set up as a political prop in some ways.” Todd, […]
Several advocacy organizations are making tips, hotlines and resources available to journalists to help protect them while covering Donald Trump’s inauguration this week. Below, you’ll find them gathered them here in one place, separated by topic. Know your rights As it did during coverage of Ferguson, the National Press Photographers Association published tips reminding journalists of their rights while reporting in public places. Those tips, from NPPA […]
Pres. Obama tells White House press corps: “America needs you. Our democracy needs you.” https://t.co/H9n7JKbYS7 pic.twitter.com/zCQpyfx2Mi — CBS News (@CBSNews) January 18, 2017 President Obama praised the press as central to democracy Wednesday in a final “farewell” that was part ironic homage to the media and part admonition to the incoming Trump administration. Democracy “doesn’t work if we don’t have a well-informed citizenship…America needs you, and democracy […]
This week, BuzzFeed roiled the media world when editors published a 35-page dossier containing explosive and unverified accusations against President-elect Donald Trump. Shortly after, Trump blasted BuzzFeed in his first press conference since the election, calling the company “a failing pile of garbage.” But does he have grounds to take his grievance from the briefing room to the courtroom? Legal experts say he’d have a tough case. […]
At the beginning of 2016, it seemed as if we were all destined to spend our days gawking at live video. Facebook Live, which debuted in April, was everywhere thanks to an enormous boost in reach bestowed by the social network. News organizations, including The New York Times, BuzzFeed and CNN, were churning out live video after inking deals with Facebook that totaled $50 million. And who […]
Three years ago, The New York Times published its innovation report, an unsparing assessment of the newsroom’s many weaknesses. Nearly 100 pages long and full of words like “worrying,” “shrinking” and “upheaval,” the report described a New York Times that was in a digital standstill while competitors like BuzzFeed, Vox Media and The Washington Post were racing ahead. Today, The New York Times released the results of […]
A showdown is brewing over the fate of journalists in President-elect Donald Trump’s White House. Several officials from the incoming administration are reportedly considering evicting reporters from their traditional offices inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, sparking concern from the association that assigns journalists seats in the White House briefing room. “The White House Correspondents’ Association Board is aware of the comments from the president-elect’s team regarding continued news […]
I remember an epiphany of sorts I had one morning in Miami in 1991. I was in town as the national college football writer for the Chicago Tribune. A few years earlier, I was asked to participate in the Associated Press’ college football poll. Back then, there wasn’t a committee selecting four teams for a playoff. The national champion was determined by the AP media poll and […]
Fact-checkers had a big year in 2016; will 2017 prove as eventful? Below are seven predictions of what the year ahead holds in store for fact-checking. As with the 2016 predictions, I promise to return to these when the year is over and evaluate how they fared. (You can check out last year’s annotated predictions here). 1. Fact-checkers will seek lessons from cognitive science Late last year, […]
Standard audio stories have a host introduction, narration, voice tracks and actualities (such as natural sound). But you can also use non-narrated pieces, stories that don’t include the reporter’s voice or storytelling. Non-narrated pieces aren’t usual, but they can be effective when paired with the right story. These stories can take several forms. First-person essays. This works well for commentaries, when a particular point of view is […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. A Detroit cop who used Facebook to refer to city residents as “garbage” and came pretty close to bragging about police brutality has retired, the city’s police chief announced Thursday. And at the heart of it all is a single […]
At the end of August, after the news organization she helped co-found shut down, Wendy Carrillo rented a red Ford Fiesta and took off on a road trip with Lulu, her Maltese poodle. At Reported.ly, where Carrillo was the West Coast anchor and producer, she’d already devoted time and coverage to Standing Rock. Now, newly jobless, she wanted to go and see things for herself. Carrillo drove […]
Video is now deemed essential for any media organization. But do consumers really like it as much as, say, advertisers? A new report suggests not. For sure, journalism had a huge moment in 2016. In a few short months, Facebook launched a live video offering (and began paying publishers to use it), Snapchat expanded its advertising options, and several news organizations undertook ambitious forays into virtual reality. […]
Josh Benson and Tom McGeveran, who founded the politics, culture and media site Capital New York in 2010 before selling it to Politico in 2013, are leaving the company. The departures were announced in a memo to staff from Politico Editor-in-Chief John Harris, who also said Politico’s statewide operations would be consolidated in Rosslyn. Launched in 2015, Politico States has established a presence in states across America, […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. Donald Trump is nothing if not transparent, especially when it comes to views of the press and outright evasions about his business holdings. That was self-evident at his Wednesday spectacle (labeled “press conference”) in which he bashed media and also […]
CNN sought to distance its reporting on President-elect Donald Trump from an article published by BuzzFeed shortly after he blasted both news organizations during his first press conference since the election. Both BuzzFeed and CNN went public with reports on Tuesday that a British intelligence official had compiled memos indicating that Russian officials might have compromising information about Trump. But while CNN merely said President Obama and […]
BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti supported Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith’s decision to publish a 35-page dossier containing damaging, unverified information about President-elect Donald Trump, saying that the company “stand(s) with Ben on his decision to publish this newsworthy document.” During his first press conference since becoming president-elect Wednesday, Trump blasted BuzzFeed for publishing the document in its entirety, calling the viral news organization “a failing pile of garbage” toward […]
Facebook on Wednesday announced a new program of training, products and tools aimed at further solidifying the social network’s relationship with publishers, which view the Silicon Valley giant as both a firehose of referral traffic and an at-times fearsome adversary. The program’s debut comes days after Facebook hired former TV journalist Campbell Brown to be its head of news partnerships. The initiative (which includes a partnership with […]
As CNN reported on a private intelligence report claiming that Russia has dirt on President-elect Donald Trump Tuesday night, BuzzFeed published the basis of the report, a 35-page dossier, online. Both CNN and BuzzFeed pointed out that the documents have been circulating since at least October and that its claims are unverified. BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith explained his choice to publish the dossier in a memo to […]
BuzzFeed on Tuesday published a 35-page dossier that summarized damaging allegations about President-elect Donald Trump’s personal and financial dealings. By publishing the entire dossier, which has not been disclosed publicly by U.S. intelligence agencies, BuzzFeed has taken an unusual step. It’s uncommon for public-spirited news organizations to publish explosive, unverified information about public officials without first confirming the details independently. Complicating the situation is the origin of […]
On Tuesday morning, as they have for so many mornings now, Glenn Smith, Jennifer Berry Hawes and Abigail Darlington walked into Charleston’s District Court at 85 Broad Street with the tools they would need to tell the story. Hawes brought her 8.5-by-11-inch yellow notebook and whatever pen she had grabbed from the newsroom. Smith came ready to liveblog with his laptop and phone. Darlington planned to catch […]
