Journalism Education 2016 Vol 5(2): Guest Editor.

Abstract

“It’s the story that matters! Teaching journalism’s storytellers” Special Edition of Journalism Education Guest Editor: Karen Fowler-Watt, Bournemouth University, UK. Storytelling is the journalist’s craft skill. Shaped by the tenets of objectivity and accuracy, the news narrative informs the debate and brings us the human stories. If journalism is a craft, then the story is the journalist’s work of art. In a rapidly changing landscape of technological revolution, shifting business models and ethical challenges, one thing remains certain – the story still matters. As award winning BBC foreign correspondent, Fergal Keane reminds us, the journalist is first and foremost a storyteller who is ‘trying to tell them what it is like to stand where I do and see the things I see.’ But this core skill is being challenged on all sides. The demands of the 24/7 news cycle emphasise story – processing, rather than storytelling. Originality – the storyteller’s stock-in-trade - is often sacrificed as newsrooms shrink in size and journalists fail to get out of the office. The online environment moves us away from linear storytelling and focuses on the imperative of interactivity. Stories require simplicity and multi media features to engage an audience consuming in byte-size, whilst on the move. If storytelling lies at the heart of journalism practice, how do journalism educators face these challenges? How do we teach the next generation of journalists to find original stories and to tell them in innovative ways? How do we encourage young journalists to engage audiences through their storytelling techniques? How does investigative, in-depth research and long-form storytelling fit in to this digital context? This special edition of Journalism Education aims to invite discussion and debate about a range of factors currently informing the role of storytelling in journalism education. It will devote particular attention to the ways in which journalism educators are embracing multimedia and new media approaches to storytelling. Possible topics to be examined may include: - Definitions of storytelling in a digital age - Teaching storytelling to journalists: - the role of accuracy, redefining objectivity - reporting human interest, reporting conflict - Original storytelling - Influences of social media on journalistic narrative - Understanding the role of audience in storytelling - Ethical issues in storytelling - Technological innovation, experimentation and teaching multimedia storytelling techniques - Experiential approaches to teaching storytelling - Teaching storytelling using data - Selling stories - teaching entrepreneurship: pitching story ideas, getting stories commissioned Articles will be peer-reviewed in accordance with the JE guidelines for peer review Guest Editor Dr Karen Fowler-Watt is Head of the School of Journalism, English and Communication in the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University. She is a former BBC journalist and co-editor (with Stuart Allan) of Journalism: New Challenges (2013, CJCR) Contact Dr Karen Fowler-Watt Head of School, Journalism, English and CommunicationW338, Faculty of Media and Communication Bournemouth University Talbot Campus Fern Barrow Poole. Dorset. BH12 5BB Email: kfowler-watt@bournemouth.ac.uk Tel: + 44(0) 1202965129 Web: www.media.bournemouth.ac.uk “It’s the story that matters! Teaching journalism’s storytellers” Special Edition of Journalism Education Guest Editor: Karen Fowler-Watt, Bournemouth University, UK. Storytelling is the journalist’s craft skill. Shaped by the tenets of objectivity and accuracy, the news narrative informs the debate and brings us the human stories. If journalism is a craft, then the story is the journalist’s work of art. In a rapidly changing landscape of technological revolution, shifting business models and ethical challenges, one thing remains certain – the story still matters. As award winning BBC foreign correspondent, Fergal Keane reminds us, the journalist is first and foremost a storyteller who is ‘trying to tell them what it is like to stand where I do and see the things I see.’ But this core skill is being challenged on all sides. The demands of the 24/7 news cycle emphasise story – processing, rather than storytelling. Originality – the storyteller’s stock-in-trade - is often sacrificed as newsrooms shrink in size and journalists fail to get out of the office. The online environment moves us away from linear storytelling and focuses on the imperative of interactivity. Stories require simplicity and multi media features to engage an audience consuming in byte-size, whilst on the move. If storytelling lies at the heart of journalism practice, how do journalism educators face these challenges? How do we teach the next generation of journalists to find original stories and to tell them in innovative ways? How do we encourage young journalists to engage audiences through their storytelling techniques? How does investigative, in-depth research and long-form storytelling fit in to this digital context? This special edition of Journalism Education aims to invite discussion and debate about a range of factors currently informing the role of storytelling in journalism education. It will devote particular attention to the ways in which journalism educators are embracing multimedia and new media approaches to storytelling. Possible topics to be examined may include: - Definitions of storytelling in a digital age - Teaching storytelling to journalists: - the role of accuracy, redefining objectivity - reporting human interest, reporting conflict - Original storytelling - Influences of social media on journalistic narrative - Understanding the role of audience in storytelling - Ethical issues in storytelling - Technological innovation, experimentation and teaching multimedia storytelling techniques - Experiential approaches to teaching storytelling - Teaching storytelling using data - Selling stories - teaching entrepreneurship: pitching story ideas, getting stories commissioned Articles will be peer-reviewed in accordance with the JE guidelines for peer review Guest Editor Dr Karen Fowler-Watt is Head of the School of Journalism, English and Communication in the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University. She is a former BBC journalist and co-editor (with Stuart Allan) of Journalism: New Challenges (2013, CJCR) Contact Dr Karen Fowler-Watt Head of School, Journalism, English and CommunicationW338, Faculty of Media and Communication Bournemouth University Talbot Campus Fern Barrow Poole. Dorset. BH12 5BB Email: kfowler-watt@bournemouth.ac.uk Tel: + 44(0) 1202965129 Web: www.media.bournemouth.ac.uk