Covering a courtroom drama

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Melissa Worden

Trent Nelson, a photographer from the Salt Lake Tribune, was at the Warren Jeffs trial last week and blogged about his experience. It’s an interesting read, particularly since it makes me feel like I’m really getting an inside look at what a pool photographer goes through during a trial like this.

I also like the 60-second audio slideshow updates he produced for each day. What a nice way to enhance the audio, even in a situation where the photos may be limited.

You can watch the audio slideshow series here (unfortunately the index page doesn’t list all of them): Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9

A video of the reading of the verdict also was published by the newspaper to YouTube. Interestingly, this clip is linked from the paper’s Web site — meaning it seems that they ONLY published it to YouTube and don’t have it on their site at all.

I’ve noticed more and more papers are using YouTube. I think it’s a great form of viral marketing, but if you’re going to do this, you should take full advantage of the marketing potential by branding the video and including links to your site in the summaries.

Speaking of opportunities, the index page shows some missed ones. The long list of links doesn’t invite the reader. If it weren’t for the subject matter, my eyes would glaze over. But this page, the video and audio slideshows are great examples of how content can make up for any obstacles to quality (the style of the video, repetition of some photos and audio levels).

If you’re interested in this case or even the least bit fascinated by the polygamist lifestyle, you’ll watch/read it all and be hungry for more — not just because of the topic, but because of how the content is presented. THAT’s what makes storytelling skills so important. THAT’s what makes journalists unique.

In addition to the missing 60-second update archives, the leadership tree and community comparison graphics could have been so sweet if they were interactive. I know the constraints of resources, time and newsroom priorities; I deal with that every day at my newspaper. But I think this story warranted the extra time to create the interactive graphics and a better overall design.

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Tags: audio slideshows, storytelling, video

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