Chapter 1 – Defining Convergence

The Nieman Journalism Lab is at the forefront of examining the future of journalism. Much of what we discuss in the book in terms of using multiple forms of journalism to tell your stories can be reflected here.
These authors provide an interesting report on the “best practices” in digital journalism. One theme they touch on that will be reflected in the book is the idea of using multiple tools to tell a story effectively.
Here is a snapshot of the VSS report noted in your text. Although it focuses a great deal on sales and marketing, it is insightful as to how much time people spend with media as well as how digital has become a major player in media consumption over the past decade.

Chapter 2 – Writing Across Platforms

This is Stephen Dubner's website including links both to his podcasts and blog posts – an illustration of how one journalist can excel at both text and spoken-word writing. It's also interesting to note how similar the writing styles are between his text and spoken-word pieces.
This illustrates how electronic and print journalism truly have "converged." The New York Times website includes a section of video pieces, many produced according to the same conventions as TV news, and some taking a different approach.
On the flip side of convergence are sites associated with TV news operations: CNN, WNCT. These sites often use AP style and inverted pyramid for the text versions of their stories. WNCT is where the former student mentioned in the introduction to Chapter 2 works as a producer.

Chapter 3 – Finding Stories

Tom Huang, an adjunct faculty member at the Poynter Institute, offers a great list of ways to find stories that other journalists are missing.
Here is a trove of material on the ways to find various forms of stories. Tony Rogers, who has more than 25 years of experience in the field of journalism, offers various tips on how to find feature stories, how to follow up on stories and ways to find the local angle on a bigger story.
The blog College Media Matters and its publisher, Dan Reimold, provide great offerings to all journalism students on a variety of topics. The “One Million Story Ideas” entry here is a frequently updated posting that gives the readers a ton of interesting fodder for thought.
Professor Kenna Griffin offers a good mix of thoughts on her blog, including a nice posting of how to find stories when you find yourself in a storytelling rut.

Chapter 4 – Reporting II

Tim Carpenter, a reporter for the Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, provides a great example of trying to gather information from an unwilling source, U.S. Senate candidate Milton Wolf. Notice how Carpenter does not make judgments but asks direct questions to attempt to retrieve relevant information.
To check political comments, PolitiFact.com can help. PolitiFact researches political statements and provides a scorecard ranging from Pants on Fire (as in “liar, liar”) to True.
OpenSecrets.org does a fantastic job of tracking political financial spending. It tracks contributions made to politicians, money spent by lobbying groups and spending on political races.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides research on health issues, tracks outbreaks across the nation, and provides general information about disease and illness.
Each year, the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) selects the best investigative reporting conducted by print, broadcast and online media. Here you can discover how great reporting can result in great stories. The website also provides some outstanding resources for reporters.

Chapter 5 – Structure and Storytelling

Alexander Wolff is an incredible storyteller who mixes both a beginning that makes you care and a narrative that keeps your attention in his look at Mario “Motts” Tonelli. In his story, titled “Tonelli’s Run,” Wolff uses many of the techniques outlined in the chapter to tell the story of one man’s life during 41 months as a prisoner of war.
Here’s a simple story about crayfish anglers and how they make their living. It’s not complex and it’s fairly short, but it does the job well in grabbing your attention, working through a simple middle and ending in a way that shows you the finality of the piece.
Here is a story of a deadly shooting in Columbus, Ohio that showcases the uses of multiple tools to tell a story. WBNS uses its video acumen to provide a standard television story on the station’s website along with a text-based story for people who are more interested in read it. In addition, the media outlet layered the information nicely with the inclusion of the 911 call and a still image of the scene.
Here is an even more detailed version of this kind of layering from the Daily Mail. Notice the heavy use of outside photography, videos and more to help show additional information about the officer accused of killing his wife and their earlier lives together.

Chapter 6 – Photography

Melissa Lyttle (featured in the book): Lyttle's work mixes humor with dramatic moments. Much of her work is in black and white, which encourages viewers to engage with the subjects' emotions. Employing too much color can have the effect of distracting the viewer from subjects' emotions and expressions.
National Press Photographers Association: 2014 Domestic News Winners. The best domestic news photographs can be from events known locally, or known nationally. What they have in common is the sharing of the human experience in times of tragedy.
World Press Photography Awards: Photography is translated without words across countries and languages. Captions are important for the explanation of events, but the style and substance of photojournalism are easily understood. The more distant the subject is from the events (through location and knowledge), the more information is needed. Across borders the best photographs have interesting compositions, as well as stories of humanity.
David E. Jackson: David E. Jackson creates portraits that capture the mood and spirit of his subjects, regardless of whether they are a rocker or a professor. He makes arresting portraits to encourage the reader to stop and look at the subject.
NY Times' Snow Fall: The New York Times produced the multimedia project Snow Fall in 2012, and it encouraged journalists to think differently about packaging story contents. The Times used still photographs and videos to tell the story of skiers and snowboarders dealing with an avalanche. A slideshow offers arresting images of the location, which offers a reminder of why people take these risks. Multimedia projects have been byproducts of Snow Fall because their creators have been influenced by it.
Martin Parr: Sometimes it seems Martin Parr lives to break the rules. His "Luxury" series is an investigation into the symbols of luxury. Parr has photographed the economic and cultural elites in a variety of countries as a sort of signpost for the economy. If the wealthy are cutting back, you know the economy is in trouble. Parr breaks many of the rules of photography. He knows the rules quite well, which enables him to successfully break them. Focal points are sometimes placed on subjects we wouldn't expect to be the main subject, and faces are often obscured. However, Parr's work is a reminder of how disconnected we can feel from other people.

Chapter 7 – Information Graphics

Where Poor and Uninsured Americans Live is an interactive map based on census data developed by The New York Times. According to the map and accompanying story, “the 26 Republican-dominated states not participating in an expansion of Medicaid are home to a disproportionate share of the nation’s poorest uninsured residents. Eight million will be stranded without insurance.” The map, which can be is packed with informative data, is an excellent example of how maps can tell rich stories about a population.
In April 2014, The New York Times launched its new politics and policy website, The Upshot with the goal of helping readers better navigate the news using data, graphics and technology. Graphics and interactives, built by The Times’ award-winning graphics staff, are a central part of what The Upshot will bring to readers. The focus at the onset is squarely on politics, policy and economics, but will also will cover education, transportation, climate and other issues like sports and culture.
On July 23, 1972 the NASA launched into space the Earth Resources Technology Satellite to capture images of Earth. Eventually named Landsat, the program is responsible for capturing millions of images of the Earth’s surface over the past four decades. TIME recently unveiled these pictures in a truly captivating multimedia presentation. In collaboration with Google, TIME offers an interactive time lapse graphic that allows users to explore cities like Las Vegas and Dubai, oil sands, glaciers and Wyoming coal from a satellite view that stitches together nearly 30 years’ worth of imagery.
From thundering falls to placid-looking shallows, deadly hazards lurk in water all along the Potomac River Gorge. This Washington Post interactive blends photos, animation, interactivity and information graphics in a fascinating integrated multimedia story that chronicles the dynamics of the river.

Chapter 8 – Audio and Video

The opening shots feature visual variety in establishing the setting for this feature story that uses soundbites to convey the narrative.
Among the many examples of the short video essay from CBS Sunday Morning, this one stands out for its variety of shots from close-ups to long shots using only natural sound.
This package features an active stand-up by the reporter, as well as creative use of light in a dark setting and back-to-back soundbites.
The semantic overlap in this long-form package provides an excellent example of how to use visuals and basic post-production effects to reinforce what otherwise might be considered a “boring” news story about politics.
Find numerous examples of creative shot composition and editing on the National Association of Press Photographers’ web site of award-winning television news stories.

Chapter 9 – Data-driven Journalism

America’s Worst Charities: This collaborative project by the Tampa Bay Times and Center for Investigative Reporting is based on one of the most useful questions for a data story: Where does the money go? Reporters dug into a decade of data from thousands of charities and discovered a number of groups spending almost all the money they took in on continued fundraising rather than helping the groups they claimed to aid. A major component of the project is a searchable database.
Message Machine: Fundraising emails are an example of how political campaigns use data to target their messages: Men may get different phrases than women, previous donors different ones than longtime donors, and so on. ProPublica crowdsourced this project by asking individuals to send in the fundraising emails they received and comparing data about the recipients. You can click through different iterations of the “You Probably Don’t Know Janet” email to see who gets what.
Oklahoma Tornado Damage: Location is data too, and NPR used it to portray the destructive path of a tornado that struck Moore, Okla., on May 20, 2013. The zoomable map combines satellite imagery with color-coded zones of damage severity and adds in prominent locations such as Highland East Junior High School.
NSA Files: Decoded: Former National Security Agency computer analyst Edward Snowden revealed a wealth of classified documents about the agency’s activities to journalists at the Guardian and Washington Post. One of the many results is this, a six-part scrollable document from the Guardian with multiple interactive segments, graphics, and interviews peppered throughout. It may seem like a daunting amount of information until you consider the length and unstructured form of the original leaked documents.

Chapter 10 – Social Media

Social Media Conduct and Policies: The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) provides “10 Best Practices for Social Media: Helpful Guidelines for News Organizations,” which evaluates best practices and social media policies from major national and regional news organizations across the U.S. Major themes across these organizations are presented, along with social media policy recommendations.
Citizen Journalism: With the presence of citizen journalism, some news sites are experimenting with helping community members to develop reporting and technical skills to assist with covering the news. Among these experiments is the Akron Digital Media Center, supported through the James L. Knight Foundation. This community journalism focuses on nonprofits, arts, entertainment and social issues to give “everyone” a voice.
Best Practices for News Sites on Facebook: Facebook outlines methods for developing viral content, optimizing content for news feeds and using other features to draw audience for news stories.

Chapter 11 – Multimedia Journalism

Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt: In this multimedia journalism piece, NPR’s Planet Money gets the idea to following how a T-shirt is made, from conception to the first piece of cotton picked to its processing into thread and the final product. The project was named Best Specialized Journalism Site by the Society of Professional Journalists in its 2013 Sigma Delta Chi Awards for Excellence in Journalism.
In Their Own Words: The Boston Marathon Bombings: The constant video streams from the Boston Marathon bombings captivated Americans. While most people think of multimedia reporting as video, this piece from WBUR in Boston shows that still photography still has plenty of power. And while each photo isn’t set to 1,000 words, you do get to hear the powerful words of the photographers who captured the images and people in them in this audio slideshow.
Stepping Through, by Daniel Roth, The Crimson White, The University of Alabama: This online multimedia piece looks the past 50 years of race relations at the University of Alabama, going back to June 11, 1963, the day Vivian Malone and James Hood became the first two black students to enroll at the racially charged campus, with interviews from those who witnessed the integration through to the present day. It also looks at the Crimson White’s role in covering the desegregation of the campus. This piece shows you don’t have to be a working media professional in a major media market to produce a compelling piece of multimedia journalism – you can do this on your college campus, too.

Chapter 12 – Law

Can I record a phone call or other conversation? The Digital Media Law Project, a product of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, has put together a comprehensive guide including the laws of each state.
How can I protect confidential sources, and what should I do if I receive a subpoena demanding that I testify about my sources? The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press answers these questions related to shield laws and reporters' privilege here.
Does the right of privacy extend to trash and recycling containers a person places on the street? Willamette Week pushed the bounds by examining the trash of Portland's top officials after the same officials had said that trash was public and did not require a warrant to search. The results are in this fascinating story.
An example of Freedom of Information request in action, as MuckRock uncovers the rejected requests for vanity license plates in 25 states.
Want to know more about copyright law and policy and why it is so important in modern communication? The Electronic Frontiers Foundation offers this guide.

Chapter 13 – Ethics

The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics is considered the standard for American journalism to follow. Most reputable U.S. news organizations adhere to it, although some, such as The New York Times, have developed their own ethics rules and regulations.
Journalists sometimes find themselves in ethical situations where they face life and death decisions. Matthew LaPlante and Rick Egan won the 2012 Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism for this story because of their careful and humane decision-making in a story about ritual child killing among Ethiopian tribes.
The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma offers several tip sheets to journalists on how to handle sensitive interviews, such as those with victims and with children, and information on how journalists may cope with trauma.
Bob Steele of the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists, has developed this list of questions journalists should ask themselves and others when making ethical decisions.
Journalists are cautioned not to misrepresent themselves because of ethical tenets, but also because of legal considerations. This case study chronicles how some ABC News producers faced a lawsuit after failing to reveal they were journalists.
Photographs can speak volumes. Some critics say these two photographs from Hurricane Katrina illustrate racial bias in the media.