1. CREATING A SPACE FOR
UNDERREPRESENTED
AND MARGINALIZED
VOICES THROUGH
ALTERNATIVE
STORYTELLING FORMATS
FOR LOCAL DIGITAL
NEWS MEDIA
PLATFORMS
Prepared by: Nzinga Blake
DIGIPUBLISH LA
4. I. MILESTONES
-Effort to have Google News and Youtube to work with the news
industry to help journalism thrive in the digital age.
Applied for the grant with the idea of telling stories from our
audiences that go unnoticed with the through line of changing the
way we create video on digital platforms.
-Through different ways of storytelling, we influence a new
conversation on how to create and stay on top of trends in digital
journalism.
WHAT IS IT?
We were encouraged by Google and Youtube to apply for
funding for the Google News Initiative.
5. WE MADE IT, NOW
WHERE CAN WE PUT IT?
Distribution isn’t bound only to Youtube, we can tell these
stories wherever we want!
Shared through Tribune Media Wire, but here are some other
places:
“Featured Zone” on website
Crossposted through Social Media
Possibility of dedicated playlists through our Connected TV
APPS
What excited us the most is that we now have an avenue to create
great digital-specific national franchises that can attract a new
audience while re-energizing our existing audiences. Cross /
multiplatform integration!
6. "THE SINGLE STORYCREATES
STEREOTYPES, AND THE
PROBLEM WITH STEREOTYPES IS
NOT THAT THEY ARE UNTRUE,
BUT THAT THEY ARE
INCOMPLETE. THEY MAKE
THE ONE STORY BECOME THE
ONLY STORY"
Thought for the Day
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
7. THE RISE OF
SHORT
DOCUMENTARY
STYLE VIDEO
‘Storytelling’ is the marketing
buzzword du jour, and video
content naturally lends itself to
this method of communicating
brand identity.
If stories are universally
appealing to audiences, a short
film or documentary style video
offers a bigger and better
vehicle for delivering them than
a traditional short-form video.
Reflecting the move away from
overt marketing, documentary-
style video provides a way for
brands to use other people’s
stories to indirectly
communicate something about
themselves.
11. MILESTONES
The overall goal for my position was to build out a storytelling arm that highlights voices
of marginalized and underrepresented communities in respective Tribune markets by
branding and launching a storytelling arm entitled VOICES with the following series
which we have successfully launched thus far:
Allies & Allies Highlight
TransformNation
Mental State Short Doc Series & Mental State LIVE
Convo Starter
12. As part of the Google News Initiative Storytelling arm dedicated to marginalized
and underrepresented communities, "Voices" presents the following series that
highlight stories from our audiences that go unnoticed with the short
documentary storytelling formats.
13. ALLIES
Allies is a series that features individuals who exemplify what it
means to be an ally to underrepresented/marginalized groups,
voices or social issues that need more attention in our
communities.
14. TRANSFORMNATION
Transformation, is a series that is dedicated to giving the
transgender community a voice by sharing their stories in efforts
to transform the negative perceptions of trans people across the
nation.
15. MENTAL STATE
LIVE
Mental State, explores the state of mental health and
challenges facing various communities across the nation in
efforts to normalize the conversation around mental wellness.
Mental State LIVE brings groups from the community to discuss
social issues that affect their mental well being.
16. Convo Starter is a micro series that
explores the opportunity of distributing
content that invites the audience to
continue the conversation online. This
could be another format that could be
great for the 2020 campaign season as a
way to get the community to use their
voice to discuss social issues within their
community that could be affected by the
election.
CONVO STARTER
17. MILESTONES
The goal was to help change
the culture of how stories
across news rooms are told
using different formats and
styles of storytelling by
traveling to different Tribune
Stations around the nation,
which I have also
accomplished through
visiting stations in the
following cities:
Los Angeles
Sacramento
Salt Lake City
Chicago
Indianapolis
Cleveland
New York
18. MILESTONES
Worked with Creative Services department to create the
brand, look, feel and vibe of the VOICES storytelling arm.
Used our content to produce on air promos and promos
on IG driving people back to the Voices vertical online.
Worked with the team to launch IGTV content, and
YouTube live pilot, which we are using as a test case to
see how streaming a live talk / issue related series
performs on the YouTube.
We developed a style guide that we shared with the
groups and have been able to share stories across all
platforms including news broadcasts, social media, local
news websites. (See next slide for example from style
guide).
19. 80%
THE STATS ARE IN!
OF VIEWERS WANT CONTENT TO
ADDRESS SOCIAL ISSUES.
8 0 % O F A M E R I C A N
M O V I E A N D T V
V I E W E R S S A Y T H E Y
A R E A T T R A C T E D T O
M O V I E S A N D
D O C U M E N T A R I E S
A D D R E S S I N G
I M P O R T A N T S O C I A L
I S S U E S O R C A U S E S ,
A N D 8 0 % A L S O
F E E L T H A T T H E
E N T E R T A I N M E N T
I N D U S T R Y S H O U L D
P R O D U C E M O R E
M O V I E S A N D T V
S E R I E S E X P L O R I N G
S U C H I S S U E S .
- J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 9 ,
P O L L A R A
S T R A T E G I C
I N S G H T S
20. VISUAL ARTISTIC STORYTELLING
Thinking outside the box of traditional creating a
new visual format that is compelling and further
drives the curiosity of our audience.
Poetic projection
Experiential drone filming
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
The VOICES storytelling arm has sparked interdepartmental
collaborations and has stimulated new creative thinking and
processes particularly for the creative services department.
We have been able to attract influencer and celebrity talent
share their voices and they have also helped to share our
content on their social media channels.
21. CURIOSITY IS THE CURE
FOR IGNORANCE....
HOW CAN WE CREATE AN APPETITE FOR
CURIOSITY?
IT STARTS WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION
Then that transcends into the content we
create so that our audience can start looking
at other people through a lens that doesn’t
reflect their own preconceived notions, but
rather look at people who differ through a
lens of curiosity.
IT'S OK TO ASK QUESTIONS
Be mindful of how you ask questions!
(Storytime 2008 Election night)
22. Ask to understand as opposed to asking to react
and be defensive regarding things I didn't know
any thing about or felt uncomfortable with.
This is the approach that I took when I created
TransformNation.
I had to ask questions to understand - most
importantly I had to take myself out of the story
entirely because I had to ask Becca what she
wanted an audience to understand about her
experience that usually isn’t reflected in the
media.
When you are making content that is inclusive
collaboration with a diverse team is key!
WHAT I LEARNED
23. Another important thing we have to do when
thinking about creating content for
underrepresented and marginalized voices - we have
to ask ourselves:
WHAT AM I SO AFRAID OF?
What am I so afraid of by including voices of people I
haven’t been exposed to or subject matters I don't
feel comfortable talking about?
24. We have to be ok with being
uncomfortable:
It allows us to a place of
understanding, a place of trying to find
common ground, a place where we can
connect through the human
experience:
One thing we can all relate to is pain, joy,
and love. Because when you know love
and feel love for yourself and for someone
else - it becomes more comfortable to
extend that love for others who aren’t like
you. What is the harm in that? Ask
yourself.
