Practicing Convergence Journalism

Practicing Convergence Journalism teaches journalists how to make the most of digital technology to tell their stories effectively across multiple media platforms—in print, audio, video, and online. In this text, Janet Kolodzy identifies two types of journalistic stories: the short-form, or immediate, quick turn-around story, once called "spot news," and the longer-form or depth news feature that involves a more narrative and interactive "arc." She addresses multi-media and cross-media thinking, organizing, reporting and producing for both types of news stories. Her approach focuses on storytelling principles, not just specific technical practices, providing journalists with the mindset and skills to use and adapt their writing and reporting for the tools of today and tomorrow.

With this text, students learn how to:

• Develop a cross-media way of journalistic thinking that blends the values and approaches from traditional media into planning, gathering, organizing and producing news for a fast-paced, multitasking and mobile audience

• Prepare an easy, facile and adaptive way of using words to get news and information across to audiences who have varying amounts of time to read and absorb it, as well as visuals to get news and information across to audiences who want to experience it

• Decide when visuals are useful and necessary, and how to capture, select and organize them to effectively enhance the understanding of a story

• Put together various elements of storytelling (writing, audio, moving and still pictures) for a journalistic experience the audience ultimately controls.

Janet Kolodzy is Associate Professor of Journalism at Emerson College. She is the author of Convergence Journalism: Writing and Reporting across the News Media, and has been a reporter, writer, and producer for newspapers and broadcast news.