Dan Rather on Journalism & Finding the Truth in the News
Learn to ask the right questions & tell captivating stories. Practical advice for journalists & avid news consumers.
by Dan Rather
Udemy 2016
https://www.udemy.com/course/danrather/
| Notes |
|---|
| Dan Rather |
| journalism |
| Udemy |
| story hunter, story breaker, story teller |
| East Texas |
| Hugh Cunningham - Dan Rather’s journalism teacher |
| “A free and independent press. Truly independent. Fiercely independent when necessary is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy” |
| CBS news |
| 60 Minutes |
| CBS Evening News |
| assassination of JFK |
| Vietnam war |
| Watergate |
| Iraq, Afghanistan |
| Saddam Hussein |
| Nelson Mandella |
| George H W Bush |
| Rarely do people wind up in the news for being boring |
| human nature |
| politics |
| threats facing journalism |
| freedom of the press |
| democracy |
| it is our duty as citizens to participate in journalism |
| informed citizen |
| becoming a journalist |
| consumers |
| tips of the trade |
| why is journalism important? |
| the primary role of journalism is to constantly seek out the truth or get as close to the truth as possible |
| the truth is uncomfortable to many people in power |
| United States |
| democracy |
| uncover knowledge that the powerful have |
| uncover knowledge that the public needs to know |
| news is what the public needs to know that someone, somewhere, particularly someone in power, doesnt want you to know. |
| getting the public to see and understand the news is extremely challenging |
| United States bank bailout |
| the press |
| Constitution |
| Bill of Rights |
| Freedom of the Press |
| Freedom of Speech |
| Freedom of Religion |
| first ammendment |
| first ammendment is the top! |
| self-governing people need information in able to govern themselves |
| city councils |
| impartially-sourced information |
| means of distrubing news broadly |
| democracy and freedom require the press to be a check on the balance of power |
| newspaper |
| Hurricane Katrina |
| New Orleans |
| the press reported Katrina storm victims taken advantage of |
| founding fathers |
| Thomas Jefferson - if a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects but never was and never will be. |
| public perception of what news is and should be |
| mainstream/traditional news sources |
| challenging authority, ruffling feathers |
| the press is disinclined to upset the status quo |
| shouldnt be afraid to call lies lies |
| Internet news are more liekly to be driven by politics |
| partisan |
| bias |
| news outlets being biased |
| blame the messenger |
| convential wisdom |
| Fox News, MSNBC |
| Dredge Report |
| Huffington Post |
| conservative truth, liberal truth |
| cynicism |
| content, niche interests |
| used to have to buy the paper to check sports scores and thumb through headlines to get to the sports section |
| used to have to wait and watch the news for the sports to come on. |
| new news media makes us more hermetic. |
| the news is an institution in peril |
| White House |
| White House Press Corps |
| 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. |
| President of the United States |
| the president is just another citizen |
| scepticism vs cynicism |
| Iran, North Korea, Pakistan |
| foreign correspondence |
| whistle blower |
| corruption |
| tweet, Twitter |
| citizen journalist |
| citizen journalists vs professional journalists |
| blog posts |
| pressure works! |
| write and give praise where praise is due |
| news cant continue to thrive without involvement of those who have the most to lose. |
| its easier to be involved now than it ever has been |
| technology is changing the landscape of journalism |
| critical thinking |
| analytical skills |
| fast and clear writing |
| good sources are important to stories |
| good sources provide context |
| tech since the millennium has advanced at an incredible rate |
| television |
| broadcast radio |
| The Four Dark Days in Dallas |
| Lee Harvey Oswald |
| JD Tippett |
| Vietnam war was the first “living room war” |
| satellite transmissions |
| combat reporter |
| cameraman |
| Saigon |
| De Nang Vietnam |
| San Francisco |
| New York City |
| Moon Landing |
| film to digital media progression |
| film had a much more pronounced delay compared to digital |
| iPhone - 2007 |
| Arab Spring 2011 |
| iPhone is the main source of visual content now |
| Twitter became the source of breaking news worldwide |
| smartphone has revolutionized journalism |
| with great power comes great responsibility |
| smartphones = great responsibility. zero editorial control or input |
| citizen journalism has been good, but also led to misinformation |
| citizen journalism lacks training and accountability |
| old school journalism required fact checking first. new journalism has fact checking second. |
| virtual reality |
| virtual reality with journalism |
| the story is as important as the news itself; framing is super important |
| viral media/going viral |
| Vietnam war: 4-6 days from film to broadcast. iPhone: hours. sometimes minutes! |
| take news with a grain of salt |
| immediate != accurate |
| “You trust your mother but you cut the cards” – dont take anything for granted from anyone |
| Sam Houston |
| media conglomerate |
| Comcast, Disney, Viacom |
| Used to be 50+ national news companies. now, down to ~5-6 |
| Facebook/Meta, Google/Alphabet, and Twitter/X control most of the news now |
| media used to be much more competitive |
| public service |
| prestige |
| Time, Newsweek, Life magazines |
| television “killed” print media. internet killed television. |
| Houston Chronicle, Houston Post |
| advertising money |
| television network |
| broadcast network |
| NBC, CBS, ABC |
| there are a lot of choices for news now, but quality varies wildly |
| big business is in bed with Washington |
| big business pays for news that benefits them |
| news used to not be expected to make money |
| news used to be seen as a public service |
| today, news is expected to make money |
| investigative reporting |
| news gathering vs news packaging |
| test pattern |
| prime time television |
| television ratings |
| morning news, evening news |
| cable television |
| shareholders |
| bottom line |
| consolidation |
| investigative reporting has been negatively impacted by the expectation of news divisions to make massive profit |
| investigative reporting may make enemies |
| investigative reporting causes controversy; corporations do not like controversy |
| trivialization of the news |
| profiles of famous people |
| feel good stories |
| people work hard and need an escape when they get home |
| people dont have the mental bandwidth to investigate after work |
| news should make it easier for people looking for escapes or lacking bandwidth to understand the world |
| technical, depressing, deep dives, etc arent pursued as often as celebrity gossip, feel good, and trivial nonsense |
| this is largely due to the ruthless monetization of news |
| journalists feel obligated to back away from political news due to the potential to alienate half of their viewers |
| Afghanistan war coverage waned over time, despite being long-lasting |
| layoff |
| difficult stories matter |
| podcast |
| Serial podcast - murder |
| Vice |
| millennial |
| “a story well told can and will grab an audience” |
| Exercise: review several news broadcasts. which covers pop culture the most? which ones have the best ratings? |
| Exercise: choose a news organization. who owns it? who have they donated to politically? |
| news anchor |
| owners often obfuscate who they make political contributions to |
| conflict of interest |
| defense contractor |
| Hurricane Carla - September 1961 - Texas coast |
| KHOU |
| USMC |
| Gulf of Mexico |
| Yucitan Peninsula |
| astrophysics |
| Galveston Texas |
| weather station |
| radar |
| weather prediction |
| United States Weather Bureau |
| news can cause panic or save people from devastating events |
| evacuation |
| Civil Rights Movement |
| Governor Wallace |
| University of Alabama |
| Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. |
| Georgia |
| “Colored Broadcasting System”, “Communist Broadcasting System” |
| television reporters couldn’t hide because the equipment was so large |
| segregation |
| African American |
| KKK |
| lynching |
| people didn’t realize how bad it was until they saw it on TV |
| many news stations didn’t cover civil rights movement or would censor or shorten the coverage |
| prejudice |
| Kennedy assassination |
| Dallas Texas |
| Walter Cronkite |
| Lyndon Johnson |
| Democrat, Republican |
| Secret Service |
| grapefruit bags |
| Texas Schoolbook Depository |
| first lady |
| Jackie Kennedy |
| reporters have to deal with their emotions when reporting traumatic news |
| landline |
| Jack Ruby |
| Lee Harvey Oswald |
| news wasn’t always 24 hours |
| Vietnam War |
| Vietnam War was “television’s first war” |
| political leaders were telling the people one thing, but reality was different |
| Tam Ky Vietnam |
| Saigon Vietnam |
| captain, sergeant |
| civil war |
| American opinion of the war changed when soldiers started coming home missing limbs or dead |
| bully pulpit |
| skepticism |
| people being exposed to television clips depicting war changed public opinion of war |
| Richard Nixon, Watergate |
| criminal conspiracy |
| Constitution of the United States |
| shadow government |
| grand jury |
| Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein |
| “All the President’s Men” - Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein |
| Washington Post |
| they conspired to confine the story to Washington Post to downplay the story and blame it on left-leaning/liberal journalism |
| many news orgs avoided covering the story due to political pressure and risk aversion |
| Watergate Caper |
| Senate |
| Congress |
| impeach |
| Washington DC |
| American Experiment |
| constitutional republic |
| China |
| Tiananmen Square |
| foreign policy |
| George H W Bush |
| herd journalism |
| Purple Bamboo Park - Beijing |
| communism |
| Mikhail Gorbachev |
| revolution |
| protest |
| reform |
| Rather’s coverage of the protests was shut down by the Chinese government |
| Chinese military shut down the protests violently |
| Chinese government refused to acknowledge the event even happened |
| famous scene of protester standing in front of a tank |
| dictatorship |
| Afghanistan |
| Tibet |
| Christmas |
| New Year |
| Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan |
| Soviets wanted a warm water port on the Indian Ocean |
| generation |
| Andrew Lack - MSNBC |
| Pakistan |
| intelligence agency |
| pucker factor |
| Dan Rather walked into Afghanistan from Pakistan via the Khyber Pass |
| Moscow Radio put a bounty on Rather’s crew |
| Ronald Reagan |
| Afghan Resistance |
| America eventually gave support to Afghan resistance against the Soviets |
| 9/11 |
| Taliban |
| Osama Bin Laden |
| wars are easy to start or join, but difficult to finish and exit |
| Iraq War |
| Gulf War 1 and 2 |
| Saddam Hussein |
| Kuwait |
| Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait |
| George W Bush |
| persuasion |
| questionable evidence, false evidence |
| Rather criticized journalists including himself for covering Afghanistan and Iraq poorly |
| Iraq invasion was a strategic blunder |
| Killian Documents |
| Texas Air National Guard |
| “Rather Outspoken” - Dan Rather |
| “Truth” movie |
| news is distilled to headlines and sound clips |
| click bait |
| journalism is a contest based on speed |
| working too fast leads to mistakes |
| social media |
| hunch |
| crowd source |
| Election 2016 |
| Eisenhower vs Stevenson |
| both candidates had negative approval rates |
| Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton |
| presidential primary |
| general election |
| Twitter, Facebook |
| post-truth era |
| false equivalency |
| Exercise: write your own broadcast |
| The Art of the Interview |
| Who, What, When, Where, Why, How |
| preparing for an interview |
| listening |
| Pope |
| what makes a great interview? |
| learn the subject before interviewing |
| preparation is seen as a luxury now due to the tempo of news releases |
| subject matter experts can instantly sniff out unprepared interviewers |
| smartphone |
| shorter lists of questions are often better than longer lists |
| if you have 10 questions, prioritize the top 3 |
| firm handshake |
| strong eye contact |
| sound bite |
| ask yourself “what do i need from this interview?” |
| avoid simple yes or no questions |
| the subject of the interview is the star |
| avoid asking long questions |
| be prepared to change the questions if necessary |
| listen more than you speak |
| ask follow up questions |
| memorize your questions if possible |
| wait a few seconds if your interview subject pauses. they may say something profound |
| study body language, eye movement, facial expressions, hand gestures, crossed limbs, … |
| Saddam Hussein interview |
| Baghdad Palace |
| interpreter |
| people speaking other languages may use an interpreter even if they know the interviewer’s language |
| Saddam maintained eye contact, but not intimidating |
| Saddam wanted to talk about his childhood |
| Arabic |
| Saddam was imprisoned for his political belief |
| Saddam survived a lot of perilous situations |
| Saddam dreamed of becoming the modern Saladin |
| Jerusalem |
| Rather interviewed Saddam twice |
| interviews are more successful when treated as a conversation |
| adversarial interview |
| keep pressing and be patient when interviewing |
| if you dont understand an answer, your audience probably wont either. |
| ask interviewee to repeat themselves or rephrase an answer if it is unclear |
| interviews should drive the narrative of the story |
| interviews should contribute to the story |
| always be respectful in interviews, even when it is with someone you dont like or adversarial |
| always take the high road |
| Carly Simon |
| “The Big Interview” |
| AXS TV |
| Meredith DeSalazar |
| Simon Sisters |
| Rather spent a lot of time preparing for the Carly Simon interview; watched interviews, asked colleagues about them, read articles, … |
| famous people typically don’t become famous by accident |
| autobiography |
| your subject will likely be more open to you if you prepare for the interview and understand them |
| Exercise: read a lot of interviews. analyze how they added to the story, if it said anything beyond obvious, or if there are any unanswered questions |
| “writing is the bedrock of the journalism craft” |
| writing clearly requires clear thinking |
| storytelling |
| appearance and voice are more important if you are on tv |
| writing well has become less important, but is still very important |
| always improve your writing! |
| lifetime of improvement |
| writing takes hard work and practice |
| write simply, directly, and clearly |
| write quickly |
| typewriter |
| cigarette |
| you CAN improve with writing, even if you weren’t good at it in school |
| journal writing helps with improving writing |
| journal what happened and what you thought about it. |
| journal daily |
| writing discipline |
| observe other’s writing. |
| study people’s writing that you admire |
| transcript |
| writing style |
| “Writing News for Broadcast” - Patterson and Bliss |
| “The Elements of Style” - Strunk and White |
| Rather highly recommends The Elements of Style |
| Rather frames his writing as if he were explaining to his wife |
| simple and direct writing; eliminate adjective and adverbs |
| short sentences, short paragraphs |
| re-write print stories in broadcast style as an exercise |
| write in a conversational tone |
| eliminate quotes when you can |
| Exercise: re-write stories as straightforward news piece AND as if you’d explain to people at a party |
| Exercise: journal daily. write observations from journal as news pieces in third person |
| storytelling |
| pictures tell stories |
| “Tell Me a Story” - Don Hewitt |
| stories have a beginning, middle, and end |
| stories typically have one strong character |
| stories typically have a surprise reveal |
| stories have catchy, poignant endings |
| best stories take you on an adventure |
| story arc vs randomness |
| pyramid story, inverse pyramid |
| front-load stories with facts: WWWWWH of story |
| we are in the first stages of learning to write well for the Internet |
| writing for Internet is close to writing for print; newspaper, magazines, etc. |
| Internet stories with pictures/media is closer to writing for television |
| Homer, Shakespeare, Holy Bible |
| read good writers! |
| reading more leads to better quality writing |
| public speaking |
| like interviewing, preparation is key for public speaking |
| find out who the audience is |
| who do you want your message to reach within the audience? |
| what is the takeaway of the message? |
| practice in front of friends or loved ones who will give you honest feedback |
| practice public speaking |
| lead with humor |
| self-deprecation |
| Abraham Lincoln |
| envision yourself talking to one person in the audience |
| move focus to more than one person throughout the speech |
| try not to read notes/cards |
| eye contact with audience |
| focusing on a handful of people vs the entire audience |
| block out distractions, get into the zone |
| confidence vs arrogance |
| confidence stems from preparation |
| posture is important in conveying confidence |
| record yourself with smartphone and review your performance |
| audiences are forgiving if you make mistakes |
| speaking to a camera requires practice |
| picturing the camera as a loved one or friend helps |
| talk to audience vs talking at the audience |
| tone is important |
| nervousness is normal |
| deep breathing and preparation help with appearing on camera |
| develop the ability to ad lib |
| Exercise: watch sports games or events and describe what is happening in real time to develop ad lib skills |
| develop the ability to memorize scripts, talks, facts, etc |
| learn to memorize things quickly |
| Exercise: write speeches; a toast for a friend’s milestone, a graduation speech to the graduating class, and a toast at a friend’s wedding |
| practice speeches in front of a mirror |
| each speech should contain a humorous anecdote and a reveal |
| pay attention to body language, eye contact, etc |
| how to stay ahead |
| stay informed |
| staying informed is easier today due to Internet and technology |
| watch stuff with opposing viewpoints |
| take news quizzes; The Washington Post, Slate |
| Reuters |
| The Associated Press |
| if you want to write, you MUST practice; journal things. re-write things. strive for improvement |
| go above and beyond |
| very few people get ahead by doing only the assigned work |
| never think you have a monopoly on ideas |
| there’s always someone smarter |
| teamwork |
| always be curious; the curious mind is the expanding mind |
| “The Great Eight: Thoughts to Live By” |
| 1. To lead a noble life is to lead a life of service to others |
| North Star, guiding light |
| 2. six words to keep: humility, gratitude, modesty, forgiveness, mercy, love |
| 3. ten magic words: if it is to be it is up to me |
| 4. hearts can inspire other hearts with their fire |
| 5. the best leaders are excellent listeners |
| 6. the best leaders are strong communicators |
| 7. leaders generally write well; long form, short form, letters, papers, … |
| 8. leaders are critical and analytical thinkers |
| Exercise: learn the great eight and apply them to your life |
| lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way |
| good leaders work early, stay late, and work hard and smart |
| reverend |
| “One person with courage is a majority” |
| CS Lewis: “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but it is the most important one. The form of every virtue at its testing point” |
| Mother Theresa |
| South Africa |
| Nelson Mandela |
| Dalai Lama |
| Buddhism, meditation, deep study |
| astronomy, nuclear science |
| anonymous tip |
| arson |
| law enforcement |
| investigative reporting is dangerous |
| investigative reporting is addictive |
| journalists must be able to defend their stories |
| encyclopedia; the poor man’s college |
| scarlet fever |
| bombing of London |
| journalism is a noble profession |
| humans are fallible and far from perfect |
| checks and balances |
| partisan rhetoric |
| people need to ask tough questions and tough follow up questions |
| watch dog |
| lap dog |
| attack dog |
| consumer choice affects the bottom line of news organizations |
| free and independent press |
| thirst for information |