
What do you notice at first glance about the data?.Click on the one labeled "drug abuse violations.” What do you notice about the data? (If you're confused, read the introduction this FBI report). In this exercise, you'll practice basic computer-assisted reporting (CAR) skills to analyze a data set and develop story ideas.ĭownload this FBI data set ( see file) of arrest rates to your desktop and open it with Microsoft Excel or convert it to a similar spreadsheet program.Īt the bottom of the spreadsheet, you will see four tabs.

Take a look at Chapter 4 to review how journalists use data. One way to find stories and report them with depth and context is to analyze data.
#STORYTELLING EXERCISES TV#
How did Josh Hinkle's TV story take advantage of the strengths of broadcast?.Questions-Taking Advantage of a Medium’s Strengths You can refer to Chapter 1 to review the strengths of different media. Josh Hinkle told his story differently for different media. Hinkle and producer David Barer also wrote a long-form text version of the story that was published by a partner news organization, the Texas Tribune. The web version of Fallen included graphics and six additional videos, as well as links to organizations that provide resources to people with mental illness and their families. Online, the three TV stories were loaded into a special player on Day 1 so users could “binge watch” them all.įallen | The Special from Josh Hinkle on Vimeo.
#STORYTELLING EXERCISES SERIES#
The investigation culminated in a television series that aired on three successive nights.

One key finding was that more than a quarter of all peace officers killed in a 17-year period died at the hands of someone with mental illness. Using the state public information act, the station obtained court records and police reports on 79 deadly shootings to produce Fallen. Hinkle and his investigative team spent 10 months looking into the killings of peace officers across Texas. Actually, our story started with two questions on the other side of those conversations: what do these killers have in common, and could the answer to that question help prevent more deaths?” “We didn't set out to tell a story about racism, firearms or police shooting other people,” Hinkle wrote. It started with the murder of five police officers in Dallas, the latest in a string of police killings nationwide. We will have questions for you afterward. Learn how he found and reported the story, watch the video, look through the online package, and read his article in the Texas Tribune.
#STORYTELLING EXERCISES PROFESSIONAL#
His long-form TV story “Fallen,” about the killings of peace officers across the state, won a Sigma Delta Chi award for best television documentary from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Josh Hinkle of KXAN-TV in Austin, Texas, often reports for television, print, and the web.
