JOU 498
The Courage to Win
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed in magna at erat blandit tincidunt rhoncus in arcu. Sed vehicula posuere viverra. Suspendisse felis lectus, maximus eget tincidunt eu, dignissim sagittis ex. Sed ac mattis mauris, vel imperdiet metus. Vivamus sed sollicitudin metus.
Analytics tools in story decision-making
Surprisingly, sports and basketball stories are few and far between in regards to the other stories toping the Herald-Leader charts. Typically, stories about the Kentucky governor, both past and present are the top stories as well as anything mentioning Mitch McConnell. An outlier, but also the Herald-Leader’s top story is about Tyler Childer’s Grammy nomination.
In the past year, the top three stories by the Herald-Leader were:
- Tyler Childers nominated for Grammy award for “All Your’n” by Mike Stunson. Read it here.
- Matt Bevin pardons man convicted of beheading Kentucky woman by Dan Desrochers. Read it here.
- Plague of ticks are drinking moose to death in Vermont by Mark Price. Read it here.
Stunson’s story about Childers’ Grammy nomination had 121.3K likes and 19.4K shares on Facebook. Tyler Childers is a widely successful country music star from Kentucky that the entire state stands behind and supports. Kentuckians are proud and that being the Herald-Leader’s prime audience, it would make sense that the story about Childers being nominated for a Grammy would be a successful story.
Desrocher’s story about Bevin’s pardon received 55K likes and 19K shares. The story about Bevin’s pardon is also a high-conflict and high conversation topic for the state.
Price’s story was actually a McClatchy wire story, but received 42.2K likes and 9K shares on Facebook. It's basically clickbait. It’s a story about ticks in Vermont, but the photo accompanying the post on Facebook is gruesome in a way but also weird enough that it would push audiences to click and share.
The Herald-Leader’s top stories are a mix of pop-icon, journalism and borderline-clickbait, but there is no noticeable advantage in the way they shared on Facebook that contributes to the success of those stories.
Based on these findings, I believe these two stories would do well on the Herald-Leader’s website and social media:
What are the lasting effects of Bevin’s administration? Governor Andy Beshear and the legislature are now working to undo Bevin’s tidings and prevent another governor from doing the same in the future.
This story would do well because it falls within the trending topics of Matt Bevin and GovernorAndy Beshear
A House Resolution was introduced to the House of Representatives in February“to erect honorary signs and include Tyler Childers on the Country MusicHighway in Lawrence County.”
The Herald-Leader’s stories about Tyler Childers have proven that they do well. Stories about politics also have high engagement. The meeting of these two topics should make for a successful Herald-Leader story.
Interview Technique
Social Viral Analysis and the 6 STEPPS
John Moore (@jbmoorephoto) tweeted out a photo of a young Honduran girl crying as her mother is patted down by border patrol on June 13, 2018. The tweet went viral, with 1.5K comments, 9K retweets and 11.8K likes on the original tweet. Moore’s posts typically have muchsmaller interaction with viewers: typically no comments, less than 50 retweetsand an average of about 100 likes. Moore’s June 13 tweet had a 180-time increase in retweets and a 11,700 percent increase in likes.
Moore’s tweet exploits the use ofthree of Johan Berger’s 6 STEPPS to viral success—social currency, emotion and public. Social currency plays on the idea that people want to appear intelligent and in-the-know to everyone around them, this means they want to seemingly beupdated on current events. At the time of Moore’s tweet, a big news topic wasthe separation of children and parents at the border. Moore’s photo was acompelling visualization of this as the tweet included the caption “A Honduran asylum seeker, 2, and her mother are taken into custody near the US-Mexico border. The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy for undocumented immigrants calls for the separation of parents and children.” It was determined later, however that the mother and daughter were not actually separated.
The second characteristic that Moore’spost used was emotion. The photo showed a young girl crying in fear and that immediately pulls on heartstrings. Viewers connected with the emotions of the young girl and were empathetic with the idea that she may be separated from her mother.
The third step that was used is ‘public.’ Again, the topic of parent-child separation was in daily conversation at the time and was a topic often covered by large media outlets. It was on the news, in the papers and all over twitter.
Of the three steps used in Moore’stweet, the most applicable characteristic to my 498 project is emotion—pulling heartstrings. My story is about a successful young boxer who is also dealing with her mother’sfight with cancer. The story is prime with elements that will bring a largenumber of emotions—pride, sadness, humor, etc. Cancer, and being successful despite this adversity, is also a topic that is constantly in the public mind, so the ‘public’ STEPP is also applicable in my story. Additionally, my project is a good story, so the story element should be an easy characteristic in viral success. If I do my project correctly, my video will be an emotional, relevant story that people consider worth sharing on Facebook.
Above is a screenshot of John Moore's viral tweet featuring an image of a young Honduran asylum seeker. The original tweet can be found here.
News Deadline Video
Students gathered for a Tree Funeral near the Kirwan-Blanding complex after the University cut down over 200 trees on UK's campus on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020.
Image Literacy
This assignment required journalists to shoot photos that fall into four categories-- informational, graphically appealing, emotional and intimate--and also include one image that falls within two of the categories for a total of five photos. I took photos walking through the East End neighborhood, during a coworker basketball game and also snapshots from moments throughout my normal routine. I chose to include two images falling under the graphically appealing category because I could not decide which was better to include.
Michael Clubb, left, Rick Childress, Tory Stephenson and Andrew Calvert play basketball on the Blue Courts in Lexington, Kentucky, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2020.
Rick Childress pauses and runs his hands through his hair on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020, while preparing his backpack and gym bag for the next morning in Lexington, Kentucky.
Narrative Analysis: Reports vs. Stories
Dylan Davidson is a coal miner who works to provide for his family, including paying for his son’s sports equipment, despite being laid off, with no notice, by American Resources Corporation (ARC) and going unpaid for his final three weeks of work. This is an analysis of the Lexington Herald-Leaders report "Miners say this company shorted them and has become ‘a cancer on the coal industry".
This story is really a story about how people are trying to continue with their lives and fighting against a corporation that refuses to pay them despite their hard work. In the written story, the Herald Leader did not include many personal statements from workers showing their hardship and how they were planning to keep the lights on. Dylan Davidson was one miner interviewed by Herald Leader visual journalist, Ryan Hermens for his video to top the article. His experience can be used to tell the story in a more emotional way than the articles list of information. His story includes his concern about being able to pay for his sons basketball equipment before this coming season.
I envision the telling of Dylan Davidson’s story to include two other small peaks before the climax of the story. The story would begin with a setup of Davidson struggling to provide for his family and include flashbacks of him as a miner with ARC. The first major plot point would be his recount of when he realized that he had not been paid for the three weeks of work and learning he had been laid off. He would then talk about how he worked to resolve that situation, creating the second plot point where he works to block the coal train with his coworkers. After that, it would be a steep incline to the climax where he eventually was paid for his wages, but the resolution would include his present, where he is determining how he now will provide for his family without his job as a miner. To him, the initial fire was put out, but now he must take the money he was paid and make that last until he can find a new way to take care of his family. His son did get his new basketball equipment, but there is uncertainty about whether he will be able to pay for next season.
Peter Clarks five Ws are who, what, when, where, and why. To turn this news report into a story, the who becomes the character, which would be Dylan Davidson. The what becomes the action, which would be Dylan choosing to help block the train. Where becomes setting, which would be Pike County, Kentucky. When becomes the chronology which would be in the past now that this event has already happened. Why becomes the motivation, which would be Davidson being laid off and going unpaid for his work at ARC and needing to provide for his family.
To turn this news report into a video story successfully, I would need to interview Davidson—this would be the driving piece of the story. As this is a past event, I would probably need to use archive footage and photos, from other outlets and from Davidson. I would also need b-roll of Davidson’s current life and the struggles he and his family are facing now. Additional interviews could include his wife, family and friends.
Kentucky coal miners block train over pay frustration - Lexington Herald-Leader