Training visual students in high quality journalism

Upon taking the position at ThreeSixty this past July, I had no previous experience in journalism. In fact, the students from this summer probably had more training in journalism than me. In that sense, I felt very similar to most of the teens we work with every day, many of whom know little about what it means to be a journalist. Like them, I felt nervous, puzzled, and a little overwhelmed.

But like many of the students we recruit, I have a passion for writing and imagery. My whole life I have written poetry and short stories. I can remember being a first-grader and creating pictures that teachers said were very advanced for my age. I continued to pursue these talents throughout high school and college. In May 2008, I graduated with a degree in English and double minors in African American studies and studio art. In my senior year, I nailed down my motto: writing is my expression, art is my passion.

As ThreeSixty’s marketing manager, I continue to do all the things I love, but in an adapted form. I write for our e-newsletters and marketing materials. I work with imagery, creating digital art and graphics for the website. I love what I do because I get to work creatively every day.

While my job title indicates I will market ThreeSixty to get more people to support and engage with our program, another goal of mine is to encourage students like me who have a knack for creative storytelling to consider using their talents in newsrooms as well. When Lynda first asked me to work with teens on visual storytelling, I was excited and willing, but immediately hit a roadblock. Like many other young students and artists I know, I thought “how does art play into news?” This bothered me for some time, before I realized I was limiting myself by only thinking like an artist.

So I did some digging around, looking into images used in newspapers, the photographs chosen for online magazines and news, graphics and visual storytelling. I was immediately impressed with the New York Times website and how they use images, photos and slide shows to lure the reader in and capture their interest. Scroll down and take a close look at “Inside nytimes.com” – an image takes up the most of each box. The viewer can then scroll through and see a variety of images, photos and art work. These images are probably what provoke the viewer to click on to read the story. This is just one reason why photographers and graphic artists are crucial to the newsroom. Not to mention all the visual minds it takes to layout and design a newspaper or magazine.

At that moment I was hooked and I wanted to find more reasons why we need to teach artistic students to become journalists. Then I remembered viewing the best photo slide show I had ever seen: a slide show created for the inauguration of President Obama. I remember this slide show clearly because I learned more about the impact and history of other people and cultures in the slide show than I would have ever gotten from reading about it.

There is an intense attention to detail regarding subject matter, lighting, scope, feeling and emotion. Looking at those images makes me feel like I was standing right there with the photographer, capturing that exact moment and feeling. Pay close attention to the detailed yet concise captions for each image. Each caption gives just enough information to answer the five W’s but is short enough to give attention to the image. That is what I call excellent visual storytelling.

We all want to know the facts and truth, but not all of us are able to best relate that information to others. That is why it is crucial that ThreeSixty continues to train young writers and artists to become the next generation of journalists. News comes in all forms – text, audio, video, photos and even images and graphics. Just as I had to adapt my skills and talents to best help ThreeSixty, ThreeSixty adapts to provide high quality journalism in the form the reader or viewer wishes to receive it. And we need students with all sorts of interests and talents to tackle that.