Jake Berent

The capability to tell a vivid story has been vastly increased by the Internet. Writer’s are not limited to 400 or 600 words, producers are not limited to simple video clips. The ease of generating multimedia content combined with the sheer magnitude of information and images  the internet offers make it easier than ever to grab audience attention.

However, as Homer Simpson so eloquently put it, “(It’s the fourth quarter) The Lord gave us the atoms. It’s up to us to make ’em dance.” The stories are there to be reported, it’s up to individual journalists to make them sizzle.

We have the resources available now to tell stories that are more vivid, more bold, more lifelike.  From databases, to calculation tools, to photo libraries, journalists are using every tool available to them to round out their work and deliver a total package to the audience.

Two journalist’s I follow very closely across several media is Chuck Garfien and Chris Rongey.  Each hosts the White Sox pre-game and postgame shows on TV and radio respectively.  In addition to their daily lead in and wrap up duties, the two are very keen to social media.

Garfien & Rongey are especially adept Twitter, as each has a strong following.  During our home game batting practice, for instance, Garfien might tweet about the mammoth shots Tyler Flowers was hitting or how John Danks said his arm felt last night. This is information that a hungry audience might like to know, but not read 200 words about.

Rongey is more active than most when it comes to tweeting back to fan questions and comments.  On game days, he is active online for hours before the first pitch, while he’s watching from the press box, and well after everyone’s left the ballpark.  When his own knowledge may fail him, database tools such as baseball-reference.com come in handy. Hidden trends and startling statistics can be drawn using the site and its countless number of filters.

Similar to baseball-reference.com, yet much more lucid is fangraphs.com, which allows users to take stats and splits, and visualize them using a different number of graphs and charts.  Fangraphs.com also uses video replay, still frames, and .gif’s to bring to life its content; Jeff Sullivan uses all three to point out that only one triple has been hit by right handed batters at Progressive Field this year.

Twitter is one of the best ways to reach audiences with content, or, to be your sole source of content. Andy Gray uses his twitter solely to post old Sports Illustrated photos on a daily basis. His pictures are fascinating and topical, ranging from celebrating Mr. T’s birthday with entire gallery spanning four decades, or photos of the best tailgates around the country on an October Saturday.

The opportunities are endless, and the resources are plenty. It’s up to the journalist’s to master their digital domain.

I recently watched a PBS Frontline documentary on high school football that outlined the immense pressure some programs are under to win, and the rising health risks that are becoming more and more prevalent in the sport at this level.  The program instantly grabbed my attention, as it told the story of several players who were directly affected by heat stroke or concussions that could/should have been prevented.

As the program went on, my curiosity was sparked more and more. They touched on topics such as state regulations on high school sports safety and the heavy recruitment of stud athletes, and I wanted to know more, I had questions about the documentary that I wanted answered. Sure, I could go on Google for a few hours and try and look up the information I was looking for . . or I could simply scroll down the page and find the answers to nearly all of my questions provided by PBS. This new style of complete coverage in media supplies its audience with content one wouldn’t normally get from traditional, or “legacy” media coverage(meaning the New York Times newspaper or an ABC News broadcast on television).

The PBS Frontline website provides a wealth of information not contained in the documentary. Whether I wanted to know the specifics of concussion studies mentioned in the documentary, or the fate of some of the star players that the program followed, it’s all there at my fingertips.  Whereas legacy media coverage ends when the last line in print or an anchor’s sign off, this new style of coverage goes deeper, and offers its audience much more than ever before.

Another program I viewed on the PBS website concerning the NCAA Basketball Tournament was equally as riveting, and equally as question-raising.  This documentary was concerned with the millions of dollars the non-for-profit NCAA makes on its annual Tournament. The most gripping interview was that of Mark Emmert, NCAA President.  Though only a few clips of it aired on the program, the transcript of the entire interview can be found on the Frontline website, along with every other interview that aired in the program.  Years ago, this type of content was never available to the audience. Online coverage allows a story to be told more in-depth and with greater detail than ever before.