by Beth Johnson | Honing Skills, Survival Kit, The Latest
It’s no secret TV news is “finding itself” right now. There’s a lot of experimentation. A lot of questioning and a lot of talk of “speaking at the key demo’s level.” We see this play out in the clip that’s gone viral from WTOL, that was meant for school kids...
by Beth Johnson | App Articles, Honing Skills, Survival Kit, Writing Help
Unfortunately covering mass shootings keeps happening. I might even argue that journalism schools should seriously consider offering courses or at least workshops on the ethical challenges of covering these types of events. Journalists need guidelines. The coverage of...
by Beth Johnson | App Articles, Honing Skills, Survival Kit, Writing Help
Recently, two stations in Boston were accused of not properly attributing a story by a competitor when writing off the AP wire. The AP copy attributed the story to a specific TV station. Two competitors did not mention that station in the story, but extensively used...
by Beth Johnson | App Articles, Honing Skills, Survival Kit
One thing about TV people… they love numbers: May ratings were up .5 at 6pm in the P25-54 demo. We’re number 2 at 6am, but just .1 behind station X. Year 2 of my contract begins in 2 months and I’m getting a 3% raise. I can’t believe my co-anchor makes $3,000 more...
by Beth Johnson | Honing Skills, Reporting, Survival Kit
Recently a reporter emailed “Survive” for advice on how to learn to ad lib while in the field. The main concern, how to get around technical problems. So I asked a veteran reporter for advice. Here goes… History is filled with quotes about the...
by Beth Johnson | App Articles, Honing Skills, Survival Kit
When journalists contact me, one of the first questions I ask is “What is your news philosophy?” Most cannot tell me clearly. I end up having to ask a series of questions, then define it for them. (This, by the way, includes many news managers who call me looking...
