Storytelling with a Time Limit
- lewopschall
- Feb 3, 2015
- 2 min read
TV news has gotten a lot of flack for “sound bites.” Reporters pick seven seconds of a press conference, personal interview, or other speaker to tell a full news story. The reality of TV news is you only have so much time to tell a story.
For example, yesterday my producer told me I was allotted no more than 1:30 for my news story. So how do you fit in all the interviews and facts you have received? The answer is you can’t always do that. A journalist has to decide what is the most crucial information for the viewer to know.
Yesterday while I was working on the story of the Miami University student, who was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend in a murder suicide, I had interviewed some students on the university’s campus to see what their reactions were. I interviewed three people. One of them I didn’t end up using at all, even though he had a different opinion about the situation.
Two girls I interviewed told me how they found out about the incident and that they were scared and a little shocked. The third interview, however, said he wasn’t concerned about the incident. He said some of his friends didn’t even know it had happened, even though the university had sent out a mass email about the incident the day before.
With only 1:30 to tell the full murder suicide story, including new details of how the young girl had called police the night before her death to ask police for help when she found out her ex-boyfriend was coming to see her, you can see how student reaction to the incident isn’t as important as the key facts to the story. However, if I had included the male student’s interview, the story might not as felt as urgent, because as I said he wasn’t that concerned, unlike the other two girls.
I tell you this because I want people to understand the media. I don’t ever want to induce panic when it is not needed or sensationalize a story. There are many ways those can be accomplished though.
If you have time I highly recommend listening to this Freakonomics podcast, "Everybody Gossips." I listen to the podcast weekly, this one talks about how news because news. It will offer great insight to how the industry works.
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