Don’t let multimedia bury the story

Helen Kaiao Chang has written a thought-provoking piece at About Freelance Writing, on the nature of multimedia and its relationship with the wider story.

In short, during the judging of some journalism awards, Chang looked at online entries with a variety of multimedia elements – and had to stop and do a double-take when she realised she hadn’t necessarily considered what each multimedia element had added to the story.

She’s hit on something I think is very important. Having all these tools available to us, and having the hardware on hand to record everything we want almost simultaneously, means that it’s getting easier to grab as much media as you can imagine.

But journalists of any sort need to remember that the story itself comes first. The multimedia might look or sound amazing, but if they don’t add to or explain the story, is it right to include them at all?

Putting together a package means making choices. Some stuff is going to be worth including, because it advances the story and provides what the audience needs. Like the best wordsmiths, multimedia journalists need to kill their darlings, and cut out the stuff that doesn’t help tell the story. No matter how amazing it looks.