Live coverage and incremental reporting
Welcome!
Today’s speakers: Check out our Storify for some good Teryl Franklin, platform content manager, madison.com/Wisconsin examples of live and incremental reporting State Journal within Lee. Chris Coates, editor, Sioux City Journal, Iowa You can find it at: http://bit.ly/195Hz2B Edith Brady-Lunny, reporter, The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill. Kimberlee Kruesi, reporter, Times-News of Twin Falls, Idaho Graham Kislingbury, online editor, Democrat-Herald, Gazette-Times, and The Express, Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Ore. Send more examples to [email protected] and Rob Hernandez, online sports editor, madison.com post them on the class discussion board. Live coverage & incremental reporting
Why is it important? ● Conveys immediacy - audience expects it. ● Showcases when you get something first. ● Encourages people to return to your website more often. ● Appeals to a growing mobile audience. ● Creates value for digital subscribers. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Which method to use?
● Incremental stories: Trials, crashes, court rulings, any breaking news (doable with limited staffing). ● Blogs: Evolving events like elections, protests, court hearings, council debates, festivals or natural disasters typically covered by multiple staffers. ● Chats: Niches like politics, sports and topics in the news, as well as lifestyle content. ● Storify: Public events that draw social media interest - athletics, festivals, political events. Live coverage &
incremental reporting What is incremental reporting?
● Mix of Twitter, live blog and wire The St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted a running story on Illinois’ same-sex marriage debate, updating service. throughout the day with time stamps as the story evolved: ● A way to update stories with new information as we learn it. ● Instead of writing one final story, we post what we know as soon as we know it. >> ● Great for breaking news, but we should also use a hybrid of this for routine stories. Post preview, update later. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Incremental reporting: Why do it? ● Conveys to the reader we’re on top of a developing story: Tell me what The Daily Journal in Park Hills, Mo., one of Lee’s smallest papers, repeatedly updated a story on a high- is happening right now. profile car crash, getting about five times as many page views as usual. Their updates to social media also drove clicks. ● It generates more clicks as people return to check for new details. >> ● It creates distinct digital and print products. People go to our website to see stories unfold; print offers a deeper look, analysis. ● Key is to fully embrace digital first. We don’t hold on to stories. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Incremental reporting scenario
● You hear about a serious car crash on a busy street. ● Confirm and post something online quickly. Two sentences is enough to start with. Write: “Check back here for more details.” ● As information comes in, add details to the top of the story and a new headline. Use labels like “Our earlier story.” ● Later updates include hyperlinks, embedded materials, reader interaction and links to social media. ● Post updates to social media. Consider push notification. Live coverage & incremental reporting Incremental reporting scenario http://bit.ly/1cddlrQ
Curating content.
Driving people back to check for updates. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Live blogs: Best practices
The Wisconsin State Journal ran a combined live ● Staff and prep appropriately. chat/blog during oral arguments for a big state Supreme Court case. Traffic was strong, and readers Make sure you’ll have enough spent an average of 19 minutes in the blog. It also reinforced to the audience that this is the place to go posts to keep it lively. >> for real-time information on topics they care about. ● Editors can add value and volume from a desk, offering links and context. ● Pulling in other hashtags, tweets can expand your reach. ● Encourage engagement. You can mix it up with readers and still respect ethical boundaries. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Live chats: Think outside the box
● Doesn’t require a big staff. One or two people can pull it off. ● Great way to cap a big project or show off your beat expertise in sports, news or lifestyles. ● Consider a chat organized around an ongoing storyline that’ s capturing attention. ● Be prepared to talk to each other if you don’t get many comments.
Live coverage &
incremental reporting
Live blogs & chats: Maximizing web traffic
● Promote in social media, on the website, in print. (People with big Twitter followings get more traffic.) >> ● Make them prominent. Put sports on the homepage. ● Set chats for peak traffic times. ● Send a push notification. ● Use a “replay:” Afterward, change the headline and time stamp and let it run through your news feed.
● Keep all platforms in mind. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Using Storify
The Lincoln Journal Star got more than ● Great for events that draw social media 37,000 views for its Storify on NU Coach reaction: a festival, election night or sports Bo Pelini’s rant about fans.
controversy. ● Good for small staffs. You can provide a feel for an event without sending a lot of people. ● Can be done quickly and easily embedded onto your website. ● When people can't get enough of a big storyline, one more way to capitalize on it. ● Allows for a more curated live presentation. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Reporter tips: Using Twitter as your notebook
● Learn to Tweet everything like you write down everything. ● Notes will be much clearer because Twitter forces you to write in cogent phrases or sentences. ● When you write your story, you've got a timeline of what happened right in front of you. ● Work out a plan with editors that allows them to use your Twitter feed to update the website. Allows more reporting time. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Case study: Bloomington murder trial
● Started the day with a setup story online. ● Rewrote it three times as the day wore on. ● Fed an incremental live blog on an article page with regular noteworthy updates. ● Wrote a final story for print and web, using much of what she’d already done. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Planning for live coverage
● Decide what format you'll use -- live blog, running story, etc. ● Put someone in charge and set roles. When possible, set up links and other content to feed the blog in slow times. ● Coordinate with everyone who is part of the live blog or incremental reporting effort so they know the roles and expectations. ● Remember to take care of yourself, especially if you’re out in the weather. ● Make a checklist of what you need: water, snacks, etc. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Planning for live coverage
● Set up your blog in ScribbleLive well in advance: time, template, invitations, Twitter handles and a hashtag when appropriate. ● Make sure the blog displays correctly across platforms (for example, if you have a mobile app). ● Make sure those working with smartphones to provide text, photos and videos are trained for it. Get close to subjects, tweet, etc. ● Decide how and when to end live blog. Use a replay and create a link asset to include with web coverage. Live coverage &
incremental reporting Leveraging other media, public ● Can pull other Twitter handles & hashtags into a live blog to keep it full of content. ● Can be especially useful in sports to help extend your reach beyond your own staff. Great for big prep nights or balancing perspective from pro/college games with voices from the opposing market. ● Also works with news, essentially crowd- sourcing in real time. ● Possible downsides include language and overload, but that can be managed. Contacts: Need support?
If you have more questions, our presenters may be able to offer some help:
Teryl Franklin, platform content manager, madison.com/Wisconsin State Journal, [email protected], 608-252-6117
Chris Coates, editor, Sioux City Journal, Iowa, [email protected], 712-293-4273
Graham Kislingbury, online editor, Democrat Herald , Albany, Ore., [email protected], 541-812-6111
Rob Hernandez, online sports editor, madison.com, [email protected], 608-252-6175
Kimberlee Kruesi, reporter, Times-News of Twin Falls, Idaho, [email protected], 208-735-3376
Edith Brady-Lunny, reporter, The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill., [email protected], 309-820-3276 Live coverage and incremental reporting Training reminders
EditorialMatters.lee.net/training ● Today’s slides ● Tip sheet of main takeaways, other handouts ● Link to Storify collection of examples ● Recording to be posted soon ● Link to class discussion forum: https://leehelp.zendesk.com/entries/29489443- Third-Semester-Digital-News-Training-Live-and-Incremental-Coverage Homework (Win Prizes!): Post to your class discussion forum by Thursday, December 19 at 5 p.m. central ● What to post: Your main takeaways from today’s class, links to examples of your work putting today’s lessons into practice.
Want to take more classes? Contact [email protected] or KRickhoff@BillingsGazette. com.