Archive: Sep 2009

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The Oregonian’s Shawn Levy on how to find the story

By Short Takes September 28, 2009

At last weekend’s American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors conference, keynote speaker Shawn Levy spoke about "getting the story" and the connections between writing books and journalism. The film critic at The Oregonian, Levy has written five books, including King of Comedy, about comedian Jerry Lewis, and his most recent biography—Paul Newman: A Life. In addition to his work at The Oregonian, he blogs about film and professional soccer, and tweets compusively, suffering from what he calls “monkey brain.” Levy suggested reporters should “look high, look low, and look sideways” when researching, and he praised the investigative reporters who taught him how to dig for a story. He talked about the “high”—academic institutions and libraries that offer arcane documents and details. He connected the “low” with tabloid accounts and stories on a subject, and the concept of looking “sideways” with looking for what else was happening in the life and community of a subject at any given point in his life. Read more from his talk. Read more

End of the Line

By Notable Narratives September 25, 2009

If fictional detective Philip Marlowe closed up shop and started traveling the country as an itinerant reporter, he might sound something like Charlie LeDuff in “End of the Line,” our latest Notable Narrative. This feature from Mother Jones chronicles … Read more

The Boo Radley character

By Short Takes September 24, 2009

Today at the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors (AASFE) conference, St. Petersburg Times reporter Lane DeGregory talked about how her Pulitzer-winning feature “The Girl in the Window” came together. The multimedia project … Read more

Interview with Ed Kashi: Taking it beyond the media

By Digital Storytelling September 3, 2009

We talked with photojournalist Ed Kashi about visual storytelling, advocacy journalism, and his photo series on Trans Amadi Slaughter, an abattoir on the Niger Delta. Q: At the Digest, we’ve talked about whether a series of photos needs to work the same way as a print story: a character, a conflict, rising tension, climax, resolution. Do you think a photo montage or a slide show functions by the same rules? Or does it have a different narrative structure? A: I think it can go both ways. The beauty or the exciting aspect of multimedia is that we can try new things. It seems like some proponents are saying there’s only one way to tell a narrative: the beginning, the middle, transformation, and the end. There’s nothing wrong with classic modes of storytelling. They’re effective, and they’ll continue to be effective. There’s a reason they work. Read full interview ... Read more