Writing for the senses

The Unretireds

2008-12-06T03:42:00.002-05:00

Compelling piece on another aspect of the economic downturn.

The 25 Most Influential People on the Web

2008-10-04T09:10:00.002-04:00

Here's a BusinessWeek slideshow on The 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

'Taco truck's last stand'

2008-10-02T13:42:00.002-04:00

A Hispanic man's struggle to realize his dream in a post-Katrina Louisiana.

I enjoyed this story for the St. Petersburg Times, but maybe it's because I'm Mexican. ;)

I thought the ending was nice, too.

'the girl in the window'

2008-09-23T15:41:00.004-04:00

A sad and moving story from the St. Petersburg Times about a feral child found living in horrid conditions.

The story is told with words, soundslides and some video.

The Power of Photography

2008-09-22T12:57:00.004-04:00

David Griffin, director of photography for National Geographic, presents amazing images and an elegant narrative on the power of photography. Click here to see them.

Good example of explanatory journalism

2008-09-18T14:51:00.003-04:00

This is one of Dan's finds:

From the Wall Street Journal:

The financial crisis that began 13 months ago has entered a new, far more serious phase.

Lingering hopes that the damage could be contained to a handful of financial institutions that made bad bets on mortgages have evaporated. New fault lines are emerging beyond the original problem -- troubled subprime mortgages -- in areas like credit-default swaps, the credit insurance contracts sold by American International Group Inc. and others. There's also a growing sense of wariness about the health of trading partners.

NYT interactive piece on Olympic Water Cube

2008-08-22T13:10:00.002-04:00

Check it by clicking here.

Find great writing @ Gangrey

2008-06-25T13:34:00.001-04:00

I think I mentioned this before, and it's worth noting again.

I found that when I was stumped on how to approach a story or how to write, or even who to talk to, Gangrey.com always helped.

Read it often.

What not to say ...

2008-06-19T14:50:00.004-04:00

... to a photojournalist

... to a newspaper designer

These have been around for quite awhile, but they amuse me every time I reread them.

While you're on Ron Reason (design guru)'s Web site, check out this tipsheet that will make filling out the "ART:???" part of your budget and update e-mails a little easier.

Twitters, as a verb

2008-04-26T09:46:00.013-04:00

My introduction to Twitter came a few weeks ago through a friend's Houston Chronicle blog about the local music scene. Twitter allowed her to do real-time blog posts, via instant messaging, as she wandered a popular street festival. Read Handstamp.com

Though I must painfully admit I have never even text messaged, it's always good to know about the burgeoning arsenal of digital tools at our disposal. I spied this article on Saturday, illustrating that Twitter may not be as frivolous as it appears. Read here how student twitters his way out of an Egyptian jail.

Darfur story

2008-03-25T12:16:00.004-04:00

Lydia Polgreen of the NYT wrote a great mix of storytelling and analysis on the Darfur conflict yesterday. Here's an excerpt:

"The deployment of the biggest peacekeeping force in modern history in one of the most remote, hostile and forbidding corners of the globe was bound to be a logistical nightmare. Darfur is landlocked, water is scarce, the roads are rutted tracks crossed by the mud and sand traps of dry riverbeds.

"But those problems pale in comparison with the diplomatic and political struggles the mission faces. "

Click here to read it.

-- David

NYTimes story: Rallying the house of Morgan

2008-03-18T12:31:00.002-04:00

Interesting second-day story on the CEO of JP Morgan. Has some narrative touches.

Thoughts?

Narrative writing ... should it be different on the Web?

2008-03-05T13:12:00.002-05:00

There's an interesting dialogue going on right now on Gangrey.com about storytelling/narrative writing and whether it should be different on the Web.

Some feel Web means stories should be shorter with lots of multimedia elements.

Others feel that good writing is good writing -- no matter the medium.

Check out this story from the Times-Herald Record of New York. Be warned: the story is about a murder; some of the writing and photos are of a graphic nature.

What are your thoughts on the story? Does narrative writing have a place on the Web?

Blog headlines

2008-02-27T09:33:00.003-05:00

Time's in some hot water for a headline to this blog post

Belly dance like an Egyptian

2008-01-16T09:29:00.001-05:00

If you want to reread the story about male belly dancers, here's a link to the International Herald Tribune version of the story.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/02/africa/letter.php

And, thanks to Amy's YouTube-searching skills, you can watch Tito dance here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6autbeh_tUk

Video and journalism

2008-01-16T09:23:00.000-05:00

Check out some of the many videos York Daily Record photographers and reporters shoot all the time. Any favorites?

Tears of a presidential candidate

2008-01-10T14:41:00.000-05:00

'The question that almost wasn't asked' from the Los Angeles Times about the New Hampshire voter who brought Hilary to tears. Make sure to read the last sentence.

Left turns and crazy liberal women

2007-12-19T19:14:00.000-05:00

After seeing Eric recoil in horror at the thought of a married woman not taking her husband's last name, I thought I'd share this New York Times story. Alaine e-mailed it to me a couple of weeks ago. There's a "literally" lede, but it's a fascinating story otherwise.

While you're at the NYT site, check out this business story about how UPS has saved 3 million gallons of gas in the past year — by eliminating left turns.

Q&A with Herb Greenberg

2007-12-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

The senior columnist for MarketWatch talks business journalism.

Watch out for ice at bars and restaurants

2007-12-07T09:42:00.000-05:00

Here's an unsettling piece from the Chicago Sun-Times this week. How unsettling? Consider this one sentence from the story:

By comparison, a water sample taken from a toilet in a men's room at the
Sun-Times tested cleaner than the ice obtained at 21 of the restaurants and
bars.

This is me shivering in disgust.

AP changes with the industry

2007-12-03T08:29:00.000-05:00

The AP is reorganizing and focusing on multimedia. Read this story from The New York Times.

There's a figurine buried in my yard

2007-11-14T08:44:00.000-05:00

My real estate agent buried a statue of St. Joseph in my front yard Monday. The patron saint of real estate is supposed to help sell our house.

I'd never heard of such a thing, so I did some research and found this fairly recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

Apparently, the buried figurines are gaining popularity in the housing slump. I'll let you know if the one in my yard works for me.

The Marlboro Marine

2007-11-12T12:56:00.000-05:00

Read this moving first-person account from LA Times photographer Luis Sinco.

Watch the videos, too. They're somethin'.

Visual Thesaurus

2007-11-11T20:00:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to an interactive thesaurus. This is a subscription service but still worth a look because of the innovative design.

something interesting from the philly inquirer

2007-11-08T11:33:00.001-05:00

restaurant reporter Michael Klein is following the creation of a restaurant from inception to opening. he'll use video and photos as part of his tools. this is the kind of thing we should be thinking about doing here... anything that unfolds over time makes for a natural story that can be told on the web and which lends itself to multimedia, blog updates and reader feedback. some possibilities:

the lancaster convention center
the loft hotel
harrisburg university
a really interesting new business (not necessarily a restaurant)
a major green building project
a major city rehab/redevelopment project

Pumpkin carvers

2007-11-02T15:48:00.001-04:00

Here's another suggested read from Jeff.

... from the Wall Street Journal:

Muffled inside the 10-inch-thick walls of a 908-pound pumpkin, Patrick Moser's voice was an echoing blur.

"It's beautiful in here," he shouted. "It's like Carlsbad Caverns."

The 1st Indian-American guv in a Southern state

2007-10-31T16:27:00.000-04:00

A story about La. Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal ... recommended by Alaine.

The lede:

The first words from Bobby Jindal to his supporters after he won the Louisiana governor's race on Saturday night were not about his victory, but L.S.U.'s triumph over Auburn the same day.

The message could not have been clearer: I'm one of you, a normal, red-blooded football-loving Louisiana guy.

'The Evangelical Crackup'

2007-10-31T16:26:00.000-04:00

A recommendation from Christina.

... from The New York Times:

The hundred-foot white cross atop the Immanuel Baptist Church in downtown Wichita, Kan., casts a shadow over a neighborhood of payday lenders, pawnbrokers and pornographic video stores.

A story about John Murtha

2007-10-31T16:24:00.000-04:00

This is the piece from the Wall Street Journal that Jeff was talking about in yesterday's meeting.

The first sentence:

If John Murtha were a businessman, he'd be the biggest employer in this town.

A Marine's death

2007-10-31T16:23:00.001-04:00

Here is the story from the York Daily Record's Michele Canty that David was referencing in our meeting yesterday.

Graf 1:

Before his March 2003 deployment, Lance Cpl. Joseph B. Maglione III burned himself with cigarettes, sliced his arms with a knife and said he heard voices in his head.

Thoughts?

Weird, interesting story

2007-10-26T16:27:00.000-04:00

... from Rolling Stone.

Nonprofits and watchdog journalism

2007-10-26T16:11:00.001-04:00

Interesting piece from Poynter about nonprofits potentially saving watchdog journalism.

One reporter's mission

2007-10-15T15:51:00.000-04:00

Read about Los Angeles Times reporter Jill Leovy, who created a blog callled The Homicide Report. There, she's trying to record every homicide in Los Angeles County during the course of one year. So far, she's recorded about 700.

Good writing doesn't mean thousands of words

2007-10-10T15:18:00.000-04:00

This piece appeared in today's New York Times, about a mother forgiving the men accused of killing her son. You've probably read elsewhere about what happened to her son, Michael J. Sandy.

Note the tone, the pace and the use of description. And that it's less than 1,000 words.

And it has a clever headline, too

2007-09-26T18:52:00.000-04:00

I was looking for a completely unrelated story on the Boston Globe's Web site and this caught my eye. I've never been to Wellesley, Mass., and I'll probably never buy a house in the neighborhood mentioned in the story. But the words the writer chose show me the town and get me interested in the conflict.

Some delicious words in "Little appetite for McMansions":

dwarfs (not the Snow White variation)

nestled

woodsy

hulking

hunkering

Euthanasia on Sunday

2007-09-24T09:40:00.001-04:00

My former newspaper back in Texas ran a massive, front-page Sunday piece about euthanasia at the local humane society.

The package took up 80 percent of the front and included several photos, some of which were pretty disturbing. Like the one of a humane-society volunteer tying up a plastic cadaver bag while another volunteer brought in the next cat to be routinely killed. On the inside, a three-photo series showed a puppy being injected with sodium pentobarbital.

Go to the paper’s Web site, and there’s a video of the puppy’s execution.

Several college-newspaper friends and I e-mailed throughout the day yesterday and/or called each other to discuss the newspaper’s decision to run such a graphic package — especially on a Sunday. (Also on the front page, a promo about “When beaten children grow up. Coming Monday.” Talk about a feel-good Sunday front.)

These are the three stories. The video of the euthanasia — plus a video of a girl adopting a dog — are embedded in each of the pages.

Life or death decisions at the animal shelter.

Sick or healthy, strays or pets, shelter sees a steady stream of animals.

From beginning to end, putting animals down is hard on shelter workers.

What do you think about the coverage? The stories? The decision to put the euthanasia video online? (I haven’t watched the video, by the way. I can’t do it.)

You never know when an interview will make news

2007-09-24T09:14:00.001-04:00

The New York Times had this piece yesterday... it's an op-ed, but there are lessons there for reporters and editors...

Blogger as journalist

2007-09-21T14:49:00.000-04:00

There are some blogs around that are taking a stab at journalism, Web style.

here's an account from a reporter who writes for the liberal-leaning blog TPM Muckraker trying to track down what might at first appear to be a pretty straightforward story.

Campaign for confession

2007-09-21T12:15:00.000-04:00

Pope Benedict XVI has instructed priests to make confession a top priority — so churches have launched a marketing campaign to encourage believers to confess. The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting story about the push.

Learn more about interactive journalism

2007-09-17T16:32:00.000-04:00

Some interesting stuff here... click on News Examples to see some, uh, good examples...

A war story from the Philly Inquirer

2007-09-17T16:25:00.000-04:00

This story is a little long, but it's worth it... take a look when you have time

Cool tool for AP style questions

2007-09-14T15:48:00.000-04:00

I stumbled upon this a few weeks ago. An AP Stylebook editor answers questions about situations not addressed specifically in the book. Search for previously answered questions or submit your own. It's pretty neat!

The power of good writing, the sequel

2007-09-06T14:02:00.000-04:00

That auction made her an overnight sensation on the Web... see this story from the Chicago Tribune about it last week...

The power of good writing

2007-09-06T10:57:00.001-04:00

Check out what it did for this eBay seller. Thanks to Dan for passing this along.

A cautionary tale for covering and reading about politics

2007-09-05T13:14:00.000-04:00

I'm a politics and media junkie, so stuff like this Vanity Fair article is fascinating. There's some insightful observations here that would help any newspaper be mindful with its reporting and opinion writing.

Business of sports story

2007-09-05T12:23:00.000-04:00

There's lots of good business journalism to be done covering sports and entertainment. Here's a good example, on the wealth Tiger Woods is accumulating just for his retirement years (after he's 60).

I love my cat

2007-08-24T13:10:00.000-04:00

This isn't the most amazingly written story ever, but it's an interesting topic, and I read the entire thing. If you like animals, grab a tissue before you start reading.

New Orleans, two years after Katrina

2007-08-22T16:58:00.000-04:00

Here's the story David was talking about in this morning's budget meeting.

The question is: what are your thoughts about the interjection of opinion here?

Deadly Secrets

2007-08-21T14:11:00.000-04:00

Here is a crime series from the Newark Star-Ledger about one of New Jersey's most notorious killers.

Note that there is no attribution in any of the stories. All the attribution comes after each part of the series under the heading, "Source Notes."

Also worth checking out is the "About the series," which explains how it was all put together.

An obit

2007-08-15T14:58:00.001-04:00

I really liked this. It's different, simple, powerful.

What is reality?

2007-08-10T14:49:00.000-04:00

Here's a story from today's Wall Street Journal about one man's addiction to virtual-reality game Second Life and how it's affecting his marriage.

Thoughts?

The men with no names

2007-08-03T13:14:00.000-04:00

A lot of amazing writing came in the wake of the vicious Hurricane Katrina.

Here is yet another example:
"NEW ORLEANS -- Water is unforgiving to the dead and by the time the crews arrived, the men were missing their eyes."

Click here to read the rest.

Despair

2007-08-01T12:43:00.001-04:00

Did some digging and found Chris Rose's "Despair" column on NPR's Web site.

Check it out. Scroll down to where the book is pictured. It starts, "She had a nice house in Old Metairie ..."

Message in a bottle

2007-08-01T08:18:00.000-04:00

Here's the story about bottled water that I mentioned at last week's budget meeting.

Raising the white flag

2007-07-31T14:30:00.001-04:00

Daily newspapers are giving up the business-news fight. Here's an article from businessjournalism.org spotlighting the large number of papers that are abandoning business coverage. The trend makes what we do even more important.

And to prove you can make statistics say anything you want, here's an article that says the opposite -- that business journalism is gaining in sex appeal.

Untraditional beat reporting

2007-07-27T14:06:00.000-04:00

Some of you may have heard of her. Diana K. Sugg -- health care reporter at The (Baltimore) Sun who won a Pulitzer in 2003 for beat reporting. Her stories always dig deep below the surface and put a human face on what could easily be clinically reported and written.

I was reminded of her yesterday, when Christina and I were talking about her.

Apparently I can't link directly to her works, so go to The Pulitzer Prizes Web site and then type in "Diana K. Sugg" into the pale yellow word-search box.

Here's the lede of her March 24, 2002 story headlined "Cruelest mystery: death before life":
That chilly night in late October, the delivery room was so quiet. The doctor wrapped the 8-pound, 21-inch newborn girl in a pink-and-blue striped cotton blanket, pulled a matching cap over her brown hair and gently passed her to her mother.

Margarete Heber cradled the baby. In the dim light, Heber could see the infant had her dark eyes, turned-up nose and distinctive chin. Perfect, except she was tinged blue. She had died just hours before she was born. Her birth would be her good-bye.

Also, here is a more recent story from her.

Top-notch art

2007-07-27T09:42:00.000-04:00

Head on over to the National Press Photographers Association's home page to see their picks for the best photos of 2006. Some really amazing stuff there.

Loosening lips

2007-07-24T14:50:00.000-04:00

Here is a nice overview of the interview technique used by by Eric Nalder, chief investigative reporter at The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (and a Pulitzer Prize winner).

My apologies for e-mailing this to you all in 5-point type.

Dooty Diva

2007-07-22T10:49:00.000-04:00

Shortly before Jason spoke of CPBJ's movement towards multimedia, a few photojournalists at York Revolution’s opening night caught my eye. It wasn’t a pang of massive sports lens photo equipment envy; it was their almost simultaneous juggling of camera, tape recorder, notebook, and videocam that captured my attention.

As this 2006 article says “You don't have to be everything. But you do need to know what multimedia elements can do to make your story stronger,"

For your viewing pleasure here’s a lighthearted link, a good example of brevity, the spoken word and well-edited pictures complementing the written story. It’s from the Roanoke Times and runs only one minute and twenty seconds.1:20
Soundslides
Story

After 28 assignments of “listening” more I soon realized multimedia isn’t for every story. Then on #29 (Fri, 7/20) ambient sounds tumbled around and soundbite gems spilled out of the subject’s mouth and I thought ooooh why am I not taping this stuff. And so it begins.

Another long piece that reads quickly ... and will make you cry

2007-07-19T08:48:00.001-04:00

This nine-part series recently wrapped up in the Winona (Wisconsin) Daily News. The reporter (and photographer) spent about a year with a woman who was diagnosed with terminal cancer — and who chose to live the rest of her life at home, out of hospitals.

One thing that really impressed me about this piece is the organization. A year's worth of notes easily could turn into a mishmosh — or wind up in a dull, slow, play-by-play regurgitation. There are fascinating details that bring the people to life, but the story moves along and mixes in facts about the woman's condition and the hospice care she receives.

Moving suicide story

2007-07-13T09:21:00.000-04:00

This story was given a lot of play in the July 1 edition of the Harrisburg Patriot News. It's a long story but well worth the read I thought. Foxtrot

"Final Salute"

2007-07-12T14:16:00.000-04:00

Hi friends,

This series is pretty long, but really well-written and a tear jerker. I don't think it's a problem if you don't read the whole thing, but once you start you might not be able to stop.

Anyway, it comes from the Rocky Mountain News and revolves around a marine who had the task of notifying family members of their loved ones' deaths in Iraq, following the "never leave a marine behind" tradition. While it's a situation we're all familiar with, I think the reporter took it to another level. Give it a go and let me know what you think.

A few teasers:

"From their seats in the plane, they saw a hearse and a Marine extending a white-gloved hand into a limousine, helping a pregnant woman out of the car.
On the tarmac, Katherine Cathey wrapped her arm around the major's, steadying herself. Then her eyes locked on the cargo hold and the flag-draped casket.
Inside the plane, they couldn't hear the screams."

"Each door is different. Some are ornately carved hardwood, some are hollow aluminum.
Some are protected by elaborate security systems, some by loose screen doors.
During the past year, the 40-year-old Marine major in the white gloves has stood at the front doors of homes in three states, preparing to deliver the message no family wants to hear.
It is a job he never asked for and one for which he received no training. There are no set rules, only impersonal guidelines. It is a mission without weapons."

PS: I can't take credit for finding this...Lisa sent it to me about a year ago when I was just a baby reporter.

"The Knights' Tale"

2007-07-11T12:06:00.000-04:00

Here's a cool business story -- not written in the usual way a business story is -- from Fast Company about Nike founder Phil Knight, his son and how they're evolving an animation studio called Laika.

Murder your darlings

2007-07-10T11:51:00.000-04:00

Here's a good column by Poynter's Roy Peter Clark about ridding your writing of needless language. Make sure to check out his "Writing Tools" columns. It has a lot of great reminders and tips on how to make your writing better.

Host with the most

2007-07-06T14:49:00.000-04:00

this falls under the category of a personality profile, but i like the style - unusual structure, lively word choice, cool details sprinkled throughout...

A 30-year assignment

2007-07-05T14:56:00.000-04:00

Here's a murder-mystery that Kathryn recommended. It's written by Larry Welborn of the Orange County Register. Don't be put off by the 8-part series -- each part is really short.

Pedro Martinez profile

2007-07-05T14:55:00.000-04:00

Check out this link from the New York Times.

I initially read this story more than a year ago, and I still think it's a neat read. I think it's a good example of taking a fresh angle on a tired story (a profile of a major league baseball player).

Fingerprinting

2007-07-05T13:25:00.000-04:00

Next week, we'll talk about this story about fingerprinting by Gary Fields of the Wall Street Journal. Thanks to Jason for bringing it in for us to read.

Attacked by a grizzly

2007-07-05T13:18:00.000-04:00

I e-mailed a link last week to this piece by Thomas Curwen of the LA Times.

The lede:
"JOHAN looked up. Jenna was running toward him. She had yelled something, he wasn't sure what. Then he saw it. The open mouth, the tongue, the teeth, the flattened ears. Jenna ran right past him, and it struck him — a flash of fur, two jumps, 400 pounds of lightning."

Also of note is that Jess e-mailed Curwen and he was nice enough to respond about how he reported this story 18 months in the making.

"The Nothing"

2007-07-05T13:12:00.000-04:00

This is the story that we started with for our first journalists' roundtable discussion on good journalism. For a little more on this Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, check out his page at the University of Maryland. Jon Franklin also has his own Web site dedicated to narrative writing. Look for his story about the dog catcher.