PDX Media Day

By Angela Mashroutechi

#1: Get to the Point  

• Telling your reader what your article is about using the nut graph
• A lot of people don’t read through the whole story, that’s one of the reasons to use the nut graph
• You have to tell them why your story is important. A good nut graph covers the five W’s and hopefully the H (because sometimes you don’t have the H of your story)
• To write the nut graph first YOU need to know what the story is about and why it’s important and to know that you need to be a good reporter and ask the right questions and investigate properly

#2: Make it Complicated

• Every story need a complication otherwise it’s not interesting to the reader
• A story needs three important things:
• Complication-resolution, character arc, empathy
• LIFE is a series of complications (and that isn’t always bad)
• We watched parts of a documentary about a professional snowboarder that had an accident during one of his practices for the olympics (as an example)

#3: storytelling as strategy

• We met three women that have started out their careers with journalism and communications and they told us how they use storytelling in their everyday life and job and how it impacts their jobs
• Storytelling is a STRONG way to connect with people, a strategy and to use you really need to know your audience
• When you want to tell a story, tell a STORY not facts

#4: considering college

• We learned about the SOJC in U of O which is a school of journalism and communications
• We learned about the programs and the scholarships they’re offering, the courses that student normally take even if they’re not sure about their major
• The acceptance rate of Oregon University and what kind of students they’re looking for

#5: truth, justice and the American way

• A reporter told us about how he usually interviews people for his stories and how he interviews those people that don’t necessarily want to talk
• He told us that we should NEVER judge the person we are interviewing because journalism is about something bigger and better than all of us
• We learned about the Oregon Shield law, which is a way to protect your sources and not having to reveal them
• “You have to report the facts and let the readers decide what the truth is.”
• And he gave us all a poster of a comic book character who was journalist saying “the freedom of the press means the freedom of everyone.”