[MUSIC] Forgive me while I tell you something you already know. Using art makes stories better. You know this because if you pay any attention at all to how you consume news, you'll find that the amount of news you consume through images, whether still or moving, is considerable. It really is true that a picture is worth a thousand words. You don't have to take my word for it, and you don't have to trust your own instincts, take this little test. Post something on Facebook or another social media channel, then post the same item on the same channel, but this time, post it with a picture, see what happens. When I do this, I get a lot more action on the item that includes art. We know that people are attracted to pictures more than they are to just text. The eye goes to the image. Now, let's think about it logically, many of the things that happen in the world around us are visual, they're not just a stream of words. They are a succession of pictures, or a number of stills, or a video. With these tools available to us today, it's almost crazy to not use them. Now let's extend that. Pictures and video are one thing and very helpful, but let's add all to the mix all the elements that you can tell through pictures, that includes maps, charts, and graphics. These are not difficult to make anymore. There are a lot of tools for making these just as there are a lot of great tools for making pictures and video. And sometimes, charts, maps, graphics, are the best way to tell a story. Let's take the example of stories where location is very important. If something happens at a particular location or in a key part of the area, and that's what makes that news, we should show where that happens. We should show a map when we're describing something that transpires from one place to another. Another example. In many reports, numbers carry the news, but a cloud of numbers can slow down readers and confuse them when they're just given in-text. They can become a speed bump in a written article. It can make for a tough going. A chart or a graph can turn those numbers into a picture that people can absorb in a glance and it will draw them into the story. It's another entry point, another place to come in, another reason to start reading that story. It's just like a headline or a good lead. The chart or the graph frees your writing from all those details and let's you tell a better story. Let's take this idea one step further and give readers the opportunity to take a chart or a graph, and to play with it, and to tease out of it the information they want for themselves. This is impossible with a story written in a linear fashion. But it is very possible when we have interactive graphics with our stories. You can learn to do this, if you feel you don't want to, or it's beyond you, you can certainly find people to work with you and make this happen. One more element you really want to think about is audio. Many reports are based on what people say, and in many of those, the way in which people say things can be fascinating and can carry the emotions of the story. Many of the stories we tell are audible stories. I'm not just talking about the power of audible stories you might hear on the radio or podcasts, I'm also talking about stories that have sounds in them. A storm, a fire, a concert, a sporting match. All these things have sounds that journalists can capture and bring back for readers, and in this case, readers who are also listeners. I have a backpack here. It is full of technology. And this is how, just a few years ago, journalists used to go out, calling themselves backpack journalists. I have a couple kinds of cameras in here, I have a couple kinds of microphones, I have a lot of cables, I have batteries. It's all the equipment that people needed to make a multimedia story. We can get rid of that now. Thank your aching back that those days are kind of over, with one of these, and who doesn't have one of these, we can get the photos and the video. We can write the story, we can upload the story, we can get the audio. We can do it all right here and then put it back in our pocket. So, let's drop the excuses. We have the equipment we need if it's in our pocket. Let's use everything in here. And if you don't know how to use the other functions on your phone, get busy learning them. Your audience is waiting for this. [MUSIC]
