A presentation on alternative story formats I gave for a Madison, Wisc., NewsTrain event.

1. ALTERNATIVE STORY FORMATS DAVID ARKIN | NEWSTRAIN | APRIL 2011

2. Today’s agenda — About alternative story formats — Breakout boxes — Alternative story formats — Center pieces

3. What are alternative story formats?

5. Why are they important? — Readers are looking for quicker glances of news because of time — The Web, magazines have ignited interest in new story telling opportunities — With stretched resources they are an easy way to get more local content in the newspaper — They’re fun — seriously!

6. Where do ASF’s work best? Alternative story forms seem to work best with fact-laden stories. — Providing a way to handle numbers, time, location and juxtaposition references in a simple, comparative way. — An explanatory graphic can take a reader into a situation that would be impossible to photograph. — A Q&A, timeline, fact box or by-the-numbers list can give information at a glance. — Should every story be an alternative story format?

7. Breakout Boxes — Should be short (3 inches) — unless a timeline — Byline stories should all carry a breakout — Focus on entry points, not loading full graphs — Be smart about duplicating content — Plan them, but be flexible

9. How do you plan them? — Build a list of potential breakout box ideas — Make them part of your story budget process — Don’t let space be a reason why they don’t get in — This isn’t just a copy editor/page designer duty

10. • Timeline of one family’s story, from birth to now • History of the intensive care unit • Numbers to know – how many infants, average weight, etc.

12. • Comparison of both times the proposal was on the ballot, then and now • Financial breakdown, on what money is actually needed • What’s next? How to village officials plan to move forward?

14. • A list of the beautification plans • Those for it, against it, explainer on where each stands and why • What’s next box

16. • How to give breakout box • By the numbers: How much given, this year’s goal, how much was given last year

17. • What is AYP? What is it now, and how will it change for next year? • Ranking of other schools nearby for comparison • Simple by the numbers with test scores and averages

19. • How funds for stimulus money have been spent locally • Timeline of the process of receiving funds, issues today

20. Your assignment Relay for Life, a nationally-known program that helps raise money for cancer survivors and victims, kicks off in your community on Saturday night. Your editor asks you to write a feature story advancing the festival. What kind of breakout box(es) can you produce? What about coverage of the event, what breakouts could you do?

21. Where could breakout boxes appear in your paper tomorrow or next week?

22. Alternative Story Formats — Can support narrative stories or stand on their own — Save time for everyone in the newsroom — Can transfer well online — Create library of formats for reporters to pick from — Ensure that readers aren’t left with a lack of depth

23. Reporter tips — Focus on 5Ws — Not a place for color, narrative — Great for process-oriented stories

24. The Q&A interview • News Q&A: Great for political visits, candidate profiles, advances for events, updates for ongoing news stories, etc. • Make this a furniture item in your newspaper • News topics: Weather, health, etc.

25. The Q&A interview • Consider creating anchors for different themed topics: Health care, business, public safety, volunteers, education • Form journalism can save time, spike local news

27. Current job or role: How long have you been in the role and industry? How (or why) did you got into your current role or industry? What's the most difficult challenge of your role: Why your job is rewarding: What is your and your organization's greatest achievement in the last year? What major plans do you and your organization have for the upcoming year? Advice to someone who wants to do what I do: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bio Box: Name: Age: Town: Family: Work experience:

28. Date: Dear Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, The goal of XXXXXXXXXXXX and www.ournewspaper.com is to provide our readers with a true reflection of life in our community, and we need your help. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be launching new features in our newspaper that will profile a variety of local people in our community and would like the XXXXXXXXXXX School to take part in the new feature. Every week, we would like to feature a local coach in our new “Coach of the Week” feature. This is an opportunity for readers to learn about the coaches who are teaching the community’s children how to perform on the playing field. Below is a form we would you to fill out for every coach and send back to us, along with a photo. The “Coach of the Week” feature will appear every XXXday in our newspaper. You can drop the forms off at our newspaper or e-mail them to xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.com. I will follow up with a phone call to talk about how we can work together to be sure you and your organization are included in our community partner program. Thank you, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

29. The Q&A interview > Teacher/prof profile > Public safety profile > Student profile > Athlete profile > Coach Q&A > Church profile > Religious leader profile > Health care worker profile > Business person profile > Meet your neighbor > Event advance > Event report

30. The Q&A interview

31. The Q&A interview

34. The Q&A interview Publish on A1, A2 or A3 in an anchored position Dailies: Each day Weeklies: at least one each week {

36. The People Profile • Great for profiling personalities involved in upcoming events • Business profiles perfect • Not great for human interest pieces

37. The People Profile

39. 5 things to … • Advances for events • Ongoing news coverage • Don’t use for breaking news for the first time

43. 5 things to …

44. 5 things to … Kansas bees vital to our food supply McPherson’s water park reduces hours

45. 5 things to know …

49. 5 things we want • Allows papers to have easy editorial voice • Quick comment on topics next week

50. 5 things we want to see happen this week

51. Day in the life of … • Way to find human angle to standard stories • Opportunity to weave stories in different ways New ResCare Center

52. Day in the life of …

53. Day in the life of …

54. Follow-up format

55. Follow-up format

56. Follow-up format

58. Why it’s important - More consistent ‘watch dog’ content - Opportunity to brand the content - More reader engagement - More interaction and potential for larger public service or investigative projects Public service journalism

59. What’s your problem?

60. What’s your problem?

61. What’s your problem?

62. What’s going on here?

63. What’s going on here?

64. Budget breakdown

65. Budget breakdown

66. Your questions answered

67. Your questions answered

68. Fact checker

72. Making ASFs work

73. Making ASFs work

81. Planning ASFs — Create a library of potential ASFs to use — Decide which ones to use for different events, coverage — Address what you have to report, then figure out format — Make a drawing of what it will look like with designers

82. Let’s create 1. Your state senator is coming to your newspaper to meet with the newsroom’s leaders. How can you cover this on your front page in an ASF? 2. Tomorrow night you are covering your town’s biggest high school’s graduation. You have a reporter and photographer attending. How can you cover it in an ASF? 3. Next week, the five candidates for mayor are squaring off in a public forum. How could you cover it in an ASF?

83. Stay in touch Email: darkin@gatehousemedia.com Website: GHnewsroom.com Twitter: david_arkin