BEA 2012 Ignite presentation

2. How to ignite romance between broadcast and print media to conceive
brilliant buzz on the web
STORYTELLERS' MATING RITUAL
2012

3. Teaching objectives
 Facilitate convergent media, good storytelling
 Help students critically assess methods to convey
information: What’s the best mode to communicate a
concept?
 Illustrate complementary use of media; dispel silo mindset
of past
 Encourage students to think across platforms
 Allow students to practice summary idea through Tweet

4. Silo method: print vs. broadcast
Newspaper story Broadcast story
http://www.kdvr.com/news/k
dvr-angry-family-member-
places-fake-obituary-on-
greeley-man-
20120204,0,664213.story

5. What’s the main point?
Obituary is fake; man reads about his own death
 What other information do we need/want?
 Where and when did it happen?
 How did he discover it?
 Who was affected?
 How could this happen?
 How did he feel?
 What will be done to avoid this error in future?
 Why would someone do this?

6. What’s missing in each?
Newspaper Broadcast
 Feelings of Edgar  How he discovered he was
Balderrama “dead.”
 Wife’s reaction/emotion  Response from paper’s
 Photos editor

7. Which pieces from each?
Newspaper Broadcast
 Facts of the event  Clip of Edgar Baldarama
 Perhaps add a timeline of talking about his feelings
events when he read it.
 Names, dates, portion of  Wife explaining family
actual obituary reaction

8. What’s the lead for print?
A Greeley man overcame the shock of seeing his own
obituary Friday and says he learned how much his
family loves him.
 Identify him
 Quote from him
 Interview family
 Reaction from newspaper/how, why

9. Multimedia elements to add
 Video of Balderrama expressing weird feeling of reading
his own obit
 Timeline of events
 PDF of actual obituary
 Photo of Balderrama

10. What’s the Tweet?

11. Tweets
 Greeley man has “Final Destination” moment
when he reads of his own death in local paper
 Colorado newspaper to change obituary
policy after publishing false death of local
man
 Colorado man joins celebs in false death
reporting incident

12. Other teaching opportunities
Examine recent trend of false death reporting
 Editorial about accuracy/verifying information
 Poynter story on Paterno’s early death

13. That’s a wrap
 Good storytelling keeps reader/viewer in
forefront
 Use the method/mode that best suits the
purpose
 The more elements of media, the more likely
to reach a variety of consumers
 Remember accuracy above all