Scott Libin’s List

I attended my first NPPA TV Workshop in 1986. It was, as most attendees describe it, a life changing experience.

I can still recall with clarity some of the important things I learned at that workshop. Larry Hatteburg, a key presenter, delivered one of the best lectures I’ve ever heard. I remember Larry saying that “there is nothing new under the sun”, meaning that storytelling and what it takes to tell a compelling story hasn’t changed over time and shouldn’t change.

I see TV news continuing to slice and dice to achieve skeleton staffs to produce the same amount of news programming. I’ll admit, there has been some “fat” in TV news budgets for sometime and probably still are some redundancies that could be re-thought, re-figured and re-assigned.

I’ve been to several workshops but haven’t been in a while and I was curious to know if anything has changed. I found a hand-out from a 1999 workshop from Scott Libin who has spent time teaching at Poynter Institute and managing news departments in Minneapolis.

I communicated with Scott recently and asked him to review his original handout and to let me know if anything has changed in his mind since he wrote it. He responded that nothing has changed in his mind and in fact I was missing some of the original writing.

With Scott’s permission, I pass long to you:

Libin’s List:  Write This Way

Practice selection, not compression

Select stories – not subjects, events, or issues.  Narrow your focus to something manageable that helps viewers understand a broader topic.  Remember that a package is at best the middle of the story.  Each story needs a beginning and end, too.  Write anchor the anchor lead-in first.  Think like a producer.  Use sidebars, tags, and other tools to include additional story elements, but don’t jam it all into a package.

Produce for the viewer... 

...  not the boss, the competition, or the contest judges.  And don’t mistake yourself for a viewer.  Your concerns and interests might be quite different from those of your audience.  Get to know your customers. 

Fight formulas.

Don’t get caught in the trap of believing that every newscast must have a certain number of packages, every package a certain number of soundbites, every soundbite a certain number of seconds.  Viewers don’t understand or care about format.  They watch for information.  Provide it in any way that will work best for them.  Try something you haven’t seen dozens of times. 

Remember the meaning of “live.” 

A reporter standing in a dark parking lot in front of a locked building does nothing to enhance storytelling.  Don’t let “going live” mean more to you than it does to your viewers.  If it’s live, make it matter by interacting with what’s going on at the moment.  Make reference to time, weather, traffic, light, and other current conditions.  Don’t script phony Q & A.  (“Biff, will residents rally again anytime soon?”  “Good question, Buffy.  As a matter of fact, they will….  “)  See separate handout, The Meaning of Live.

Do standups that stand out.

Don’t just stand there, but don’t do the “walk to nowhere.”  In real life, that’s called “pacing.”  Talk, don’t read or recite.  Show, don’t just tell.  Don’t act.  Be real. 

Find first-person, subjective sound and dialogue. 

Get people to talk about themselves – their own emotions, experiences, and opinions – not about others.  Listen for pronouns like “I,” “we,” and “me,” rather than “he,” “she,” or “they.”  Use sound to convey information you can’t more effectively put into your own words:  eyewitness accounts, vivid memories, personal feelings.  Avoid official sound.  Ask questions that will elicit insight, perspective, and understanding -- not recitations of fact.  Listen to people as they talk to each other.   

Overcome overwriting.     

Let a good story tell itself.  Complement what you have on tape; don’t compete with it.  Use short, declarative sentences.  Use strong nouns and verbs.  Keep subjective, loaded language in soundbites, where it belongs.  (Subjective:  “The room was incredibly filthy.”  Objective – and more descriptive:  “Walking across the room, you could feel your feet stick to the floor.”) 

Recognize the power of pictures.

Write to the obtrusive and the unusual.  Refer directly to what’s on the screen.  Don’t make viewers choose between what they see and what they hear; they won’t be able to pay full attention to either.  Tie goes to the video.  Think about showing vacation snapshots to a friend:  Explain each important image. 

Rethink, don’t reinforce, stereotypes.

Find some new experts.  Talk to people of color, other minorities, and those with disabilities -- even on stories that aren’t about “their” issues.  Introduce viewers to people they might not otherwise meet.  Get some new voices into your work, on the air and off. 

Be clear.

Don’t be a mindless conduit.  Translate.  What does it mean?  If you don’t know, find out.  Don’t leave it to your viewers.  It’s your job.  Never raise a question you don’t answer, or at least acknowledge. 

Be conversational. 

Say nothing on the air you would not say in real life.  Avoid jargon.  Resist clichés -- especially “journalese.”  Use the active voice.  Beware of the Synonym Syndrome.  

Be credible.       

Demonstrate that you are neither stupid nor oblivious.  Address obvious gaps in information or odd elements in your stories.  Anticipate your viewers’ reaction to what they see and hear.  Use language with precision. 

This is sage, sound, clear and concise instruction that worked yesterday, work today and will work tomorrow.