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153 Chapter 11 Think Ahead to Beat the Competition and Be Ready for the Future The retrenchment of the mainstream media may mean we will never again see the likes of Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, or Peter Jennings, who became household names as they delivered the day’s news in our living rooms.1 Yet the efficiency of working alone, the increasing use of VJs and the unprecedented explosion of new media video opportunities give solo videojournalists an opportunity to make their mark and establish their own brand in a niched market for video storytelling. The downsizing of the established media means fewer journalists will have the largesse of major companies to back them in the pursuit of their stories. So those who seek to brand themselves as twenty-first-century VJs will have to not only improve their writing and video skills, they will have to nurture their enterprising skills: digging out untold stories, developing them in creative ways, and then finding markets to sell the work in order to make a living. CNN photojournalist Bethany Swain found herself working as a solo videojournalist , shooting, writing, and developing a half-hour continuing series called “In Focus.” But she admits spending as much time selling ideas for the stories to her bosses as she does actually producing the projects.“When you put your heart and soul into a story,”says Swain,“you want show producers to know so people can see it.”2 Let’s face it. Journalism is an extremely competitive field. It’s a reporter’s job to ferret out other peoples’ information—often tidbits that those people don’t 154 Going Solo want others to know. Reporters and news operations that can do that consistently better than their competition will likely have a bigger audience than their competition down the street or at another address down the Web. Reporters who consistently are enterprising in digging up information that others don’t have will be valued assets in their organization–breaking more stories, getting more air time or space online, and probably moving on to the most prized jobs the profession has to offer. For many journalists there is no better feeling than finding consequential information that has not been published before and developing that information into a well-told story that is relevant to the medium’s audience. Better still is the rush one gets when the story uncovers some public malfeasance, helps nail some bad guys or warns the public of some danger or fraud. Those are the kinds of stories that reporters dream about. Those are the kinds of stories that don’t happen every day. Those are the kinds of stories that have to be pursued step-by-step, link-by-link, source-by-source by someone who cares about doing journalism in the public interest. Caring about the stories you do is the key ingredient. Former NBC Dateline correspondent John Larson says, “You always have to have one story you’re working on that you’re passionate about.”3 Journalists are more likely to be passionate about their stories if they dig them up themselves instead of just being handed the story from an editor or assignment desk. Being an enterprising VJ means you will break stories, follow up on them, and be the journalistic expert on that issue.You will own the story from beginning to end; people will be calling you when they want your report, background information, or a panelist to discuss just how you broke the story. In developing your brand as a consistent enterpriser, you constantly increase your value as a reporter and video storyteller. How do solo videojournalists make sure they are always enterprising stories that they are passionate about? The short answer is THINK AHEAD. Here are ten tips using that acronym as a guide that will give aVJ the tools to dig out new information and be there before the competition to turn it into a story. Try to Make Friends with the Assignment Editor This is especially important for students getting their first job in a newsroom or reporters moving into a new market or even freelancers who have to make a living selling their work to multiple organizations. Rather than flailing about trying to develop sources and come up with their own stories, novice reporters should rely at first on others who have more experience in the market. That will save new reporters time and energy, plus send a message that they are...

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