Talon Marks

This blog is for the Cerritos College Talon Marks students and focuses on issues involved with the print and online editions, including learning of new skills.

New ways to tell stories

The Talon Marks is still a print-driven operation like most newspapers, but we're trying to shift the focus off center to let the online edition dictate some of what we do. In class we've talked about deadlines and how the online should dictate deadlines and assignments rather than the print edition.

We're further along those lines than many other schools, but we can shift a little further yet. One way we can do that is to stop thinking that the best way to tell every story is with the written word. How about if we tell a story via slide show? We've got access to relatively easy to use video and slideshow software. But you've got to think about the video or slideshow concept as you gather news.

A good example of this can be seen in a blog entry from Ralph Braseth. He works for the University of Mississippi paper and sat down one Sunday to create a slideshow with audio background, only to find that he had not collected all that he needed. Over the next couple of hours he went through a learning curve, downloading needed software, and finding a new way to tell the story.

Only our imaginations prevent any of us from doing the same.

posted by Rich Cameron @ 2:45 PM