The Writing Coach Podcast 9: Longform articles and short documentaries with Christopher Clark
09: Longform articles and short documentaries with Christopher Clark Christopher Clark is a freelance journalist and filmmaker. He recently co-directed two documentaries about people living on the fringes of South African society for Al Jazeera and the BBC. Subscribe to The Writing Coach Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, or RSS. Christopher Clark is a freelance journalist and filmmaker. He’s reported from […]
Modern Journalist Toolkit 14: Saving and organizing clips
[2019 update:] Click to listen to an adapted version of this post on the Writing Coach Podcast: The Writing Coach Podcast with Rebecca L. Weber: WCP41 Sorting and archiving freelance articles Whether your articles are published online or in print, you need to be able to make them readily available for potential clients to read […]
Modern Journalist Toolkit 12: What’s in my bag
When you’re out on a freelance writing assignment, you want to find a good balance between bringing everything you might need and packing light. I normally like to keep all my gear in a regular backpack. Some of you may disagree, and opt for something that is more stylish or that more plainly says, “Hey! […]
7 most popular posts of 2016
Would you be surprised to hear that this Backstory blog was originally conceived of as a place to post comics about what goes on behind the scenes when writing articles? A few years ago, I was not imagining that I would be making videos, teaching freelance writers how to pitch, leading goal-planning challenges, or even […]
Modern Journalist Toolkit 10: Color Me Quick
One antidote to overresearching, overreporting, overthinking, and overwriting is a really tight deadline. This video offers some takeaway tips on quick reporting in the field: For many freelancers, breaking news is part of a mix that keeps things fresh and exciting. For writers who are used to working in isolation, there’s a satisfying sense of […]
Modern Journalist Toolkit 6: Yusuf Omar on Reporting with Snapchat
Yusuf Omar is a cell-phone trailblazer. He finds unconventional uses for apps like Snapchat, Facebook Live, and 360 video for telling serious news stories, most of which are viewed on small screens. Omar is the new mobile editor at the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English newspapers, with a print circulation of more than […]
On My Bookshelf: It’s What I Do by Lynsey Addario
An afternoon shopping at New York’s Strand bookstore is an exercise in both decadence and restraint. Like most book lovers, I’ve back and forthed my reading habits to acknowledge the portability and economy of an e-reader. My criteria for buying physical books have become more specific: art and reference books, and out-of-print titles are the […]
What to watch: Movies for the media
This trio of films have all found audiences with the general public, but may have particular resonance with journalists, photographers, and related members of the media. Finding Vivan Maier “Finding Vivan Maier” is both an introduction to the work of the prolific street photographer, as well as a dive into who she was and why […]
On Instagram and Scooping Yourself
This morning, after I’d briefed the photographer about the story in progress, we waited in the parking lot of a community hall for a source to arrive and escort us to a new location. I walked to the slightly crumbling mural of O.R. Tambo, snapped a photo, and posted it to my nascent Instagram account. […]
Chicken stalker
For a forthcoming feature about food in Cape Town, I stalked this rooster for the better part of an hour.
Can a writer take pictures too?
Recently a writer made a crack on freelance message board about how the quality of the publications must be poor if they let the same person handle both words and images. I understand the reasoning behind hiring specialists to focus on the area that they handle best, but when for whatever reason the publication isn’t […]
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