Telling The Story

The great thing about the 99% Invisible podcast is that feels like a well-kept secret -- even as it has risen the ranks to become one of the most downloaded podcasts on iTunes. Seemingly improbably, Roman Mars has created and built a beautiful podcast that discusses the virtues of design and architecture -- visual subjects that are tackled in audio form. It is a tricky challenge, but Mars and his team regularly prove worthy of it, captivating their audience with vignettes about subjects like city streets, slot machines, and -- most perplexingly, from my vantage point -- rebar. In the process, Mars has developed a reputation as "the Ira Glass of design", and that reputation is warranted -- to a point. As a listener of both, I feel like Mars has developed his own persona, with more asides and unbridled enthusiasm. Both are terrific, and Mars is quickly becoming just as popular as Glass. I was honored to interview Roman Mars for the sixth episode of the "Telling The Story" podcast. READ MORE >> → The post POD

To this point, the Telling The Story podcast has focused on short-form storytellers. I have interviewed a multimedia journalist, a former sports anchor, a television photographer, and a newspaper photographer. Each person produces his or her work quickly, usually on deadline, in the often ephemeral format of daily media. Not this guest. Andrew Carroll joins me on the fifth episode of the Telling The Story podcast. He has just released a mammoth, 450-page tome called Here Is Where, which tells a giant handful of forgotten stories from America's history. In researching and putting together this book, Carroll has produced a phenomenal piece of storytelling. I wrote about Here Is Where several weeks ago in a book review that focused both on Carroll's storytelling and his themes. The book left me spellbound by its conclusions about the role of history in present society. Here is what I wrote at the time: Here Is Where is absolutely worth a read. It is the first book I can remember that captivated me with its cont

Last month, a group of work colleagues and I visited the Newseum in Washington, D.C. The museum features numerous exhibits, many of which are both informative and absorbing. But one exhibit stood out above all: The Pulitzer Prize-winning photos. On the first floor of the Newseum, one can see "the most comprehensive collection of Pulitzer Prize-winning photos ever assembled," according to the museum's web site. It is an impressive sight: iconic photographs, one after the other, often as chilling as they are impressive. We all loved the Pulitzer exhibit. We all stood spellbound at the gallery for far longer than we expected. Deep down, I think, journalists truly appreciate the value of the photograph. And then, there's this. As the month of May came to a close, management at the Chicago Sun-Times made the decision to lay off its entire photography staff. They would instead rely on national feeds, freelancers, and reporters who would shoot photos with their camera-phones. Is this a one-time thing or a sign of t

Try to follow the career path on this one. Anne Herbst studied journalism in college with the intentions of being a newspaper reporter. Her professor said she was better at shooting video, so she became a staff photographer at a TV station. She got hired as a staff photographer at KUSA-TV in Denver -- one of the top shops in the country for video journalism -- but gradually began writing her own stories ... to which reporters would then put their voices. She left KUSA to become a solo video journalist at the Denver Post. If you're scoring at home, Herbst went from a TV station to a newspaper and went from being a traditional photographer to doing everything herself. This past year, she returned to TV as the assistant chief photographer at KDVR-TV, Denver's FOX affiliate. Herbst is a hallmark of developing numerous skills and leveraging one's talent to find high-quality positions in the field of journalism. She has charted her own course in many ways, always finding ways to progress and improve. Oh, and it he

At the end of my latest podcast interview, with my former co-worker and dean of Buffalo sportscasters Ed Kilgore, the former WGRZ-TV sports anchor reminded me of a conversation we once had during a slow moment at work. Apparently (and I vaguely remember this), I asked Kilgore -- in all sincerity -- if he felt Tommy Lee Jones had underachieved. And then, he recalls, we seriously discussed this topic for several minutes. Such is the spirit of Ed Kilgore. He is a man who enjoys discussion, no matter what the topic. I shared a cubicle with Kilgore during my time at WGRZ-TV, the NBC affiliate in Buffalo, and I always knew I could rope him into a deep conversation if I so desired. Kilgore, like myself, enjoys thinking about and dissecting topics -- even a topic as seemingly silly as Tommy Lee Jones' movie career. Kilgore joined me for Episode #2 of the Telling the Story podcast. A quick bio: he worked at WGRZ-TV for 40 years before retiring last month. He covered four Super Bowls, the Miracle on Ice, and pretty mu

Let the next chapter begin. Two months after kicking off the Telling the Story blog, I am proud to introduce the Telling the Story podcast. This will continue the discussion about how journalists -- and all of us -- reach the world. Each episode of the podcast will feature an esteemed storyteller, answering questions and conversing about both the craft of storytelling and its role in the changing media landscape. I could not be more thrilled to begin the podcast with one of my favorite storytellers: WXIA-TV reporter Jon Shirek. Jon is a friend and colleague of mine. We have worked together for four years at the NBC affiliate in Atlanta; of course, I arrived just as Jon was beginning his fourth decade at the station. He is, I would say, the most respected and veteran storyteller in a newsroom that houses many great ones. He also recently made a big change. Five years ago Jon was asked to become a backpack journalist, meaning he would have to shoot and edit his own stories instead of working with a photographer