Reporting via text and images part 2!

1. Writing for Media
Session #3, Part 2
“Reporting with Text & Images”
UCSD Extension Spring 2012

2. Photography
• Know how to use a camera
• Carry a camera always (iPhone)
• Edit photos (basic skills)
• Integrate photos with stories

3. Concepts of Photos
• Drama (something is going on here)
• Action (fires the imagination)
• Expression (tells a good story)
• Unusualness (normally do not see)

4. ‘Threes’ of Photos
• Long Range (entire scene/envrionment:
disasters, big events)
• Midrange (bring closer to subject: sports)
• Close-up (detailed info, value, won’t get)
• Thirds (gets photogs away from centering
photos, more natural placement
• Cutlines or captions (explains photos)

5. Cutlines/Captions
• What is the picture about?
• What is its relationship with the story?
• Who are the people in it?
• Where/when are the events taking place?
• What does the picture mean?

6. Caption Rules
• Use present tense to describe picture
• Confirm IDs of people in picture
• Be as specific as possible
• Avoid cliches (“...is pictured...”)
• Be accurate

7. Reporting w/ Graphics
• Numbers
• bar charts, pie charts, line charts
• No numbers
• Maps, flow charts, org charts

8. Chart Characteristics
• Accuracy
• Clarity
• Simplicity
• Attribution
• Numerical data
• bar, line, pie

9. Bar Charts
• Columns
• Shows amounts and relationships
• shows change over time
• Shows single set of data or multiple sets
• Compare pieces or sets of data

10. Line Charts
• Must show change over time (stocks)
• change in relationships
• Data on Y-axis
• Time on X-axis

11. Pie Chart
• Shows data divided up as a whole
• compare sets of data
• Time not an element
• Usually expressed in percentages adding up
to 100%

12. Good Graphic Contains
• Headline (ID info)
• Chart (appropriate for data it represents)
• Labels (show elements)
• Explainer box (caption)
• Legend (data used)
• Source/credits (who built it, where it came
from)

13. Building a Chart
• Excel
• Google Docs
• Keynote

14. Know Your Math
• Mean or average
• Media
• Percentage
• Percentage of change
• Ratios

15. Questions...