Monthly Archives: March 2022

VIDEO: How narrative structures can help you write quicker, and better

In the latest video post on narrative concepts (you can see the previous two here), this video looks at narrative structure — in particular, how Cortazzi‘s typical narrative structure can help us identify common patterns across different journalistic formats, from the inverted pyramid to the WSJ feature formula.

Being able to identify these structures means we can adapt more quickly to new formats — including those on new platforms.

The video also touches on the use of temporality in storytelling, and how stories might jump back and forth in time to keep readers engaged.

The video was made for students on the MA in Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism and the MA in Data Journalism at Birmingham City University. The series of video posts can be found at this link.

VIDEO: Elements of narrative for factual storytellers

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Building on last week’s video post on narrative concepts, this latest video explores how journalists can think about different elements of narrative and their role in our stories — from Mieke Bal’s fabula, stories and texts, to considering character and settings, and how both can be used to create movement to engage the audience.

The video was made for students on the MA in Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism and the MA in Data Journalism at Birmingham City University. A couple of other videos are mentioned in it: firstly, this Twitter video story made using Apple Clips; and secondly, Ira Glass’s advice on storytelling, embedded below.

A series of video posts from my teaching can be found at this link.

VIDEO: How narrative concepts can help journalists

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Having a critical awareness of narrative concepts and techniques can help journalists report in a more engaging — and a more ethical — way.

In the video below, made for students on the MA in Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism and the MA in Data Journalism at Birmingham City University, I talk about what research tells us about narrative’s impact on audiences of news, how concepts like the ‘Law of narrative gravity‘ can make us more aware of potential negative impacts, and how using concepts like genre and audience can help when adapting to new platforms.

This video was first made for students on the MA in Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism and the MA in Data Journalism at Birmingham City University and is shared as part of a series of video posts.

VIDEO PLAYLIST: Finding stories in company accounts

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Company accounts can be a goldmine of story leads — from “following the money” and uncovering complex webs of relationships, to simply reporting concerns and individual payments.

I’ve put together a playlist of videos covering a number of different techniques you can use to find stories. Those are:

What stories can be found in company accounts
How to find stories in the text section at the front of company accounts
Finding stories in the cash flow statement
Using accounts to find stories about relationships and potential conflicts of interest
Tools and tips for journalists using company accounts
Finding stories about tax, pay, debt and other leads

The entire playlist is embedded below.

You can also read my posts on teaching journalists how to find stories in company accounts; how one journalist used these techniques to tell a story about a social media platform for sex workers; and tips from a story about a fashion charity.

You can find resources related to the video in this GitHub repo including examples of accounts and links to stories using these techniques.

The video was first made for students on the MA in Data Journalism at Birmingham City University and is shared here as part of a series of video posts.

How CORRECTIV launched a live sanctions tracker in under a week

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German investigative non-profit CORRECTIV launched its sanctions tracker less than a week after the invasion of Ukraine. In an interview with OJB, Olaya Argüeso Perez talks about the background to the project, how it’s been used — and what they’ve learned since.

“It was my co-editor-in-chief Justus von Daniels who had the idea”

“We were discussing how to address the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a non-daily investigative outlet,” Olaya says. “And very soon we realized that the sanctions were going to play key role as the main and maybe only Western tool against Russia and its allies.”

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VIDEO: Computational thinking in data journalism

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I’ve written previously about the importance of computational thinking as a technique in data journalism, as well as some examples of that.

In this video — first made for students on the MA in Data Journalism at Birmingham City University and shared as part of a series of video posts — I explain what computational thinking is and how it can improve your ability to work with data as a journalist, with some exercises and examples that help you exercise your own computational thinking.

Links mentioned in the video include Adrian Holovaty’s post A fundamental way newspaper sites need to change; Politifact; and How BuzzFeed News Used Betting Data To Investigate Match-Fixing In Tennis;

Computational thinking challenges can be found here.

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Video plays 4 roles online — here’s a video all about that

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When making video for the web there are four broad roles that it is likely to play: it might illustrate a story; add to it; distil the story; or tell it.

In the video below, made for students on the MA in Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism at Birmingham City University, I talk through examples of each type of video, as well as some tips on considering variety of shots, and sequence. You can find links to the examples below.

Videos mentioned:

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VIDEO: Mapping for data journalists

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If you’re using maps as a data journalist it’s important to be aware of the editorial choices you are making — and how they can skew your reporting.

In this video — first made for students on the MA in Data Journalism at Birmingham City University and shared as part of a series of video posts — I introduce critical cartography, the different types of maps you might choose to use to tell a story, and the different types of stories that they can tell.

I also give some examples of geography-based stories that might be better told with other charts, and list some tools and tips that can be used to tell geographical stories.

Links mentioned in the video include Theo Kindynis’s research on critical cartography; and Stories Behind A Line. And there are two related videos I refer to which are embedded below. First, a West Wing clip on mapping (more on that here):

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