May 25, 2007

Immediate reporting and multimedia court online audience

By Bethany Emerson
Mass Communications student at Virginia Commonwealth University

RICHMOND - Online articles should be structured for immediacy with alluring headlines and timely words such as “today,” said Virginia Commonwealth University Associate Professor Debora Wenger.

During an online writing training session at the Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 2 Conference on March 31, 2006, Wenger discussed the elements of strong online writing and how to create multimedia packages.

“The audience owns the story,” Wenger said.

The online audience continues to explode and create a massive demand for online news, so Wenger supplied journalists with tactics to report updated online news that draws readership.

Wenger said an online story must begin with the most updated news – what has just occurred. A reporter should think “radio” because radio stresses immediacy, she explained.

She said reporters should strive to create appealing headlines because headlines are often the only element that pulls an audience in to stop and read an article.

The use of the word “today,” within the first sentence is a requirement, Wenger said, to keep the article timely.

Also, it is important to include a posted time-stamp at the top of the story to show recent updates.

One attendee said he realized he must structure his stories differently and rework them to be applicable for online sources.

Another audience member said, “When we plan events we should plan the events around what we want to put on our Web site.”

In the story writing process, Wenger said it is important to distinguish between pertinent information the audience will want to read and information that will make the audience move on to another story.

Wenger said the online writing process involves brainstorming about what online capabilities to use and how to integrate them into a report.

“Essentially pulling all the things we gathered and making a new package – a truly multimedia presentation,” Wenger said of the multimedia process.

Multimedia presentations can include video or audio clips, photographs arranged in slideshows, links to primary sources or other Web sites, comments from readers, reviews and PDF files with news clips.

News organizations, Wenger said, often make the mistake of trying to create a multimedia package for every story. Multimedia packages are vital to readership, but have a large production time factor.

Martha Steger, director of public relations for the Virginia Tourism Office said, “It’s been a great review of online writing and has reconfirmed … my company’s daily work.”

Steger also added that the resources she gained for multimedia ideas were informative and helpful.