Tip of the Week Archive

A Tool To See What Media Is Covering

Posted May 14, 2019 by Bill Wheelhouse

Our IBA Newsroom Tip Of The Week comes from Samantha Sunne at Tools For Reporters.  Be sure to sign up for its mailings.

You can use Media Cloud to search the text published by news outlets to see what they’re covering.  Sunne says “There’s a LOT of claims out there about “the media covers this,  More  

The Dreaded Passive Voice Revisited

Posted May 1, 2019 by Bill Wheelhouse

This was one of the most popular  Tips Of The Week on our site this past year.

 

Thanks to Ken Keller.  A good chunk of this article came from an INBA Tune In back in the 1990’s (based on the original article mentioning Governor Jim Edgar.)

With Mr.  More  

Too Soon? Not Soon Enough? This Week’s Tip.

Posted April 24, 2019 by Bill Wheelhouse

 

I hear and see it a lot.  A reporter telling me a town may soon see a new business.  Citizens may soon see higher garbage rates. The state may soon be home to… you get my point.     Perhaps telling your audience something may be coming soon works good enough.   More  

The Importance Of Being Focused

Posted April 16, 2019 by Bill Wheelhouse

Minneapolis TV Reporter Boyd Huppert emphasized that importance of knowing the focus of your story, when speaking to the Illinois News Broadcasters Association over the weekend.

It motivated me to focus on FOCUS in future Tips of the Week.

Huppert’s working definition of focus is “Character,  More  

The Importance Of Having Your Story Focused

Posted by Bill Wheelhouse

Minneapolis TV Reporter Boyd Huppert emphasized that importance of knowing the focus of your story, when speaking to the Illinois News Broadcasters Association over the weekend.

It motivated me to focus on FOCUS in future Tips of the Week.

Huppert’s working definition of focus is “Character,  More  

10 Brief Reporting Lessons Available On Sound Cloud

Posted April 9, 2019 by Bill Wheelhouse

Do you wish you could make it to a conference of the Investigative Reporters & Editors? At the group’s NICAR (better known now as “data journalism”) meeting last month, experts in several areas offered up “Lightning talks” which give you good lessons ranging from  stopping the feeling that you are an impostor to data tracking of 911 calls.     More  

Check Those Facts! Get It Right Everytime

Posted April 2, 2019 by Bill Wheelhouse

Today (April 2) is International Fact Checking Day.    Check your favorite journalism sites and you will likely see excellent suggestions for snooping our fake news and doing a better job of fact checking.   I found some advice from across the pond that may be helpful, especially for reporters trying to do investigative work.     More  

Check Those Facts. Smart Suggestions To Get It Right.

Posted by Bill Wheelhouse

Today (April 2) is International Fact Checking Day.    Check your favorite journalism sites and you will likely see excellent suggestions for snooping our fake news and doing a better job of fact checking.   I found some advice from across the pond that may be helpful, especially for reporters trying to do investigative work.     More