Notes from the News Capital: Washington Semester: WAMU-FM: 88.5

Wednesday we got to hear from some of my all-time favorite rock-star idols : the folks over at NPR - that oh-so-fabulous public organization that consistently refused (well, if we're going to be completely honest, failed to even acknowledge) my several internship applications.

I guess I assumed that my status as a passionate and committed listener would somehow heighten my standing among the endless list of hopeful interns-but we all know how far assuming gets us.

But don't fear, NPR, I have not deserted you. I shall remain a loyal devotee as long as you continue to provide your slightly high brow, but ever-so-intriguing, material, cost-free to us humble plebeian folk back home.

Anyhow, you can imagine how thrilled I was Wednesday to be able to share the same air space with these legendary and elusive elite, even if the chairs in said space were packed so unnecessarily close to one another to make for some lovely and considerably uncomfortable shared moments between me and the random girl seated next to me. (awkward shoulder brush, anyone?)

Susanne Reber, NPR Deputy Managing Editor of Investigations, and Keith Jenkins, Senior Supervising Producer for NPR Multimedia, along with Kathy Kiely who works for USA Today, talked with us about journalism and new media - a topic we've heard nothing about thus far. (note the sarcasm)

They made some interesting points, about having to be a "lifetime learner", and how the medium should be driven by the story. Ultimately, the theme seemed to be to not let technology or new media determine what the story should be, but instead adapt the technology in whatever way will best tell your story.

Quality over quantity came up again and again. Don't just throw together whatever bits of multimedia you can, but really think through how best to present your topic and subjects. "Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should."

The people from NPR then gave us some good examples of the types of unique stories that NPR investigates, and why it is different from so many other news organizations and outlets. For example, instead of focusing on the BP oil spill, they decided to find a blast survivor and tell his story. And instead of leaving the Virginia coal mine when the hard news story began to die out like all the other reporters, they stuck around to gain the trust and respect of the community, and are now better able to investigate the causes behind the tragedy.

They focused most, however, on their recent "Brain Wars" series, a look into the brain damage that returning soldiers suffer and how it's been largely ignored by doctors, psychologists and most other organizations - to the enormous detriment of the soldiers. (see it here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127402851)

It was really eye-opening to see the amount of work that goes on to produce such a comprehensive story; first researching the best "character", then building a relationship with the subject, choosing the right media to document his struggle, finding supplementary footage and images, editing it all together and eventually designing a web page to support the carefully assimilated material (and don't think that just because they're this prestigious organization that they're not plotting and planning and devising the best ways to increase web-hits like the rest of 'em, because they certainly are).

I came away from the little forum just salivating at how cool it would be to work for someplace like NPR. You'd have all of these resources allotted to you (not to mention the NPR name to throw around) with this expectation that you are going to create a news piece different from anything else the other mainstream news outlets are producing. Your story is going to have a deeper meaning, and it's going to delve into issues that go beyond the hard news to find the underlying concerns and the affected parties - It won't just stop at the who, what & where - but really examine the how & why.

*sigh*

and thus I reluctantly end my ode to NPR (and don't think I'm not aware of how desperate I sound - because I very very very much am) to retire to the comfort of Netflix Instant Play - after all, there's nothing a good episode of Veronica Mars can't fix.

Cheerio mate