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If I had a dollar for every shot of generic video in a story, I would be rich, on the beach living the high life! It’s so common, it’s almost become accepted in the industry. And that’s a big mistake because generic video does nothing to help viewers trust that you...
The TV news industry is in flux. Crisis point: finding and retaining producers. Consider this: Your job will remain if reporters are phased out in the digital age. There is always a need for content finders and editorial context. Producers must be the best truth...
Our cliche list is still the most read section of Survive: 10 years later! So it seems like a good time to remind of a few ways to avoid cliche writing. In the past, we’ve discussed trimming words away, to eliminate a cliche. We discussed reading copy aloud in...
It is no secret that you will likely move several times as a journalist. It can be hard to make a good living at first, and you just have to move to make ends meet longterm. So let’s talk about how to quickly and easily transition into a new market. The goal is to...
This is a million dollar question in a lot of ways: How do I figure out what should be in a TV story vs a digital story? There are teams of researchers, consulting groups, and higher ups in the broadcast industry weighing this question every day. But you are a...
Over the last several months especially, FTVLive.com has called out a lot of journalists for inflammatory remarks made on their social media including their personal Facebook posts. At times these Facebook or Instagram pages are “locked down” meaning someone has to...
This isn’t easy to admit. I get that. But if you keep writing fact errors, you need to own up to it and do these things to stop. In newsrooms nowadays, prevention techniques are not being taught much, and many times scripts aren’t being reviewed for accuracy. So...
Writers are being asked to write more, in different formats and faster than before. You have to decide what is better served on a digital platform (more on that in an upcoming article), or shown on a big monitor. You are told the pacing has to be high, but still...
If you read industry blogs, you have seen plenty of cases of reporters tweeting a smiling face at a murder scene, natural disaster or some other similarly toned story. Facebook postings about meeting the national correspondent hero and taking a selfie get...
Hyperlocal is THE buzzword right now, across journalism circles, digital, streaming, on Substack, and TV. Yet when you ask what hyperlocal is, you often get convoluted descriptions, especially from local television and streaming thought leaders. So how does a local...
My new book is now available at the link below. You can also get it from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Here is the link. Please leave a review. https://store.bookbaby.com/book/what-you-sawand-what-you-didnt Use the QR code to link to purchase page...
Survive was asked to help spread the word on this survey. The fear of increasing burnout among journalists was a huge motivator to start this website. Unfortunately the problem keeps getting worse. Helping with training gaps is not enough to solve it. Please share...
Another Top News Talent coaching success story!
Two new studies confirm what nearly every TV news journalist has known for a while. Burnout is exceptionally high. The hope is corporate broadcasting leaders will read the study headlines and let this concept truly absorb: Newsroom structure must change. This...
Journalists want more mental health support. Stations need to start to take this need more seriously. But this is a huge issue, and hard to know where to start. Some ideas:Set up one on one meetings with your staff and make them routine. Managers meet with their...
The most obvious takeaway is while it can be hard to wrap your head around how, if you take the plunge and hire remotely, the level of experienced journalists you get access to is remarkable. Think of experienced journalists, who you usually never would be able...
I went to visit my client, Ilya Neyman, at KCBS/KCAL as he was settling in. Ilya is the new Weather Producer for the stations. It is a new position, created to enhance the weather product in the #2 market in the nation. Ilya has been an instructor of meteorology and...
Top News Talent is proud to announce that our client, Ilya Neyman, is joining the news team in the #2 market at KCBS in Los Angeles. He is creating a new position for KCBS as a weather producer. Ilya is sealed meteorologist, who knows so much about weather, he’s...