Multimedia trainer Anne Medley took gear and a whole new way of thinking to eager learners.
Editor-in-Chief Jon Weber readies the Bay Citizen for launch with a multimedia approach to serving the Bay Area.
MJR staff rated the best national and Montana-based newspaper websites. Here’s how they stack up.
Newspapers cannot change fast enough, and yet they must not abandon their civic and democratic functions to the whims of the Internet.
Multimedia can function at its highest level in telling huge, complicated stories.
It’s all about the storytelling.
Partners bring different strengths to the table.
Journalistic storytelling is undergoing a revolution these days, an exciting but scary time of exploring the effective use of multiple media, or multimedia as it’s known. As managing editor Ashley Klein notes, “It’s past the point of whispers. That fear, the one of uncertainty — the unknown — is festering in the minds of students, raising stress levels almost to the point of breaking. All around the world, budding journalists and veterans can be heard screaming, ‘Is multimedia the new frontier?’” The answer, she acknowledges, is firmly, “Yes.” How J-schools, professionals young and old, citizen journalists, small-town papers and the very biggest publications, are coping with the practice and ethics of multimedia journalism is the topic of this issue. We also have a bigger and better website with online-only features, including a multimedia gallery.
Speaking of journalistic storytelling, the MJR staff would like to give a shout-out to Lynn and Bill Schwanke of Missoula, veteran journalists whose dedication is an inspiration to us all. Lynn, who worked for the Missoulian for many years before her retirement last year, cheerfully mentored many a Missoula-area youngster interested in journalism (including two of my kids) through the bi-weekly 4U and Represent sections in the Missoulian and the Midway Dispatch, the student-produced newspaper at the Western Montana Fair each summer. She was also the director of that high-drama annual event known as the state spelling bee for more than 20 years. Bill, longtime director of the Grizzly Athletic Assn. and Missoulian sports editor from 1969-71, had worked at Missoula’s KGVO. He returned to the newspaper in 2005 at age 60 as online editor. Since then, he has produced more than 300 videos for the Missoulian’s website. You’ll see him in two of our stories as the “poster child” for the typewriter-bred journalist who has adapted to 21st century ways of doing multimedia journalism. The couple also responded to MJR’s request for support, further evidence of their dedication.
Lynn and Bill have touched the lives of many young people interested in words. My daughter, Alyssa, writes, “I remember Lynn buzzing around the conference table where we used to have our Represent meetings, riffing off a story idea here, critiquing a page layout there. Her enthusiasm made us believe that people genuinely wanted to read about our experience as high school students, and I credit her with getting me to see the potential for storytelling in everything.”
