Behind the Scenes: NYTimes' multimedia reporter
New York Times science reporter Andrew C. Revkin has been doing excellent multimedia reporting for nearly a year now (See related entry from last year). Revkin recently filed a fresh multimedia report from the far north, this time from the Arctic coast of Alaska's NorthSlope. This time, along wth a Canon G-1, he brought along a small digicorder for the first time. Even with the incredibly difficult conditions to do anything electronic -- 40-below wind chill, 24-hour darkness -- Revkin was able to shoot photos and grab audio for another excellent narrated slideshow. Revkin answered some questions about his multimedia reporting in an e-mail interview with CyberJournalist.net's Jonathan Dube.
Revkin says he has "always been a fan of the total package, understanding that words are great tools, but are very limited in building a full sense of the experience of being in an usual place or seeing unusual events. Now the definition of 'total package' has changed, thanks to the other media (sounds, animation, moving image clips) that can be incorporated into what for me was always just words and, maybe, a few pictures or graphs."
Here is a photo of Revkin that helps convey the challenges of this kind of work -- showing him sitting up in tent transmitting photos and story by satellite phone (dangling from above) in a tent near the North Pole on the floating sea ice:
(Credit: Peter West, National Science Foundation)
Q: What led you to start creating audio slide shows?
REVKIN: The Times' Web unit has been eager to translate reporters' work into richer presentations for several years. I came to the paper in 1995 after more than a decade in the magazine world (Science Digest, Discover), where meshing pictures and words is a keystone.
I also have long done photography as a sideline, and the subjects I deal with, mainly revolving around global environmental change, are pretty vivid visually. All of that adds up to a lot of potential for Web work.
Early last year, I started planning together with Rebecca DuMoulin from Times on the Web in advance of my North Pole trip.
Q: How did you gather the multimedia material? What tools did you use?
REVKIN: When I went to the North Pole last April with a team of climate and ocean scientists, I not only was thinking of the Web but also of the Times nascent television efforts (there's a separate unit developing documentaries for the Discovery-Times cable channel, Nova, etc). So I brought my Canon G-1 camera, pads and pencils (ink freezes!), my IBM Thinkpad (don't boot up if it's cold if you like an intact LCD screen), 2 Canon Mini DV digital video camcorders and a shotgun microphone.
And a power strip, of course. Up there it got complicated because the base camp was run by Russians, so it was 220 power off a couple of diesel generators, but some of the engineers along for the ride were able to cobble things together to keep things humming.
And an Iridium satellite telephone. It took up to 45 minutes to transmit individual photos from the Pole.
At the North Slope, we retreated to an oil-industry hostelry each night. The innovation there was a recording Walkman with a stereo microphone, which Rebecca DuMoulin, the Times' web editor for Science, suggested.
It was incredibly aggravating trying to deal with the 'record', 'stop' and other functions on the slippery Walkman in 40-below temperatures, but I was able to get a few sounds, including the dry "zhling, zhling, zhling" sound of a sliding hammerlike device used to measure the hardness of the thawing tundra.
Q: Did juggling these extra responsibilities detract at all from your time or focus on the written story (a concern many print journalists express when resisting doing such work)?
REVKIN: I was always concerned first with getting the story, meaning the print story. But both at the North Pole and on the tundra of Alaska there was lots of time when there was no way to take notes in any case. Frankly, I find the photos also help my reporting by capturing visual details that -- while on the run -- I can't possibly remember or note.
And I'm a big fan of the idea that whatever story I am telling is being told in all the media -- graphics, images, words, and -- this time -- sound. So the overall benefit of collecting the extra imagery etc far outweighs any inconvenience or slight hampering of the reporting.
This also came through in a special Web package we did last summer on the overfished oceans. This link has the Pole, Tundra, and Fisheries features all in one place: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/earth/
Q: In what way do you feel telling stories through audio slide shows advances the stories in a way the written version can't?
REVKIN: Often science is perceived by the public only through the results. Some finding is published and that's it. The public rarely gets an intimate view of the process of science, which can be dangerous, dull, exhausting, painful, exhilarating. The slide shows particularly provide a feel for the process of science. And they also allow a reporter, at least a little bit, to convey a sense of how journalism is done as well, which is also something that readers rarely get to understand.
Q: How closely did you work with the Web producers on these projects? Your latest piece nicely blends ambient sounds, such as the pounding of tools and the roar of engines, with your commentary. After you gathered your material, how involved were you in creating the final product?
REVKIN: I stay in close contact with the producers by email mainly (there in a different building) and bounced a lot of suggestions their way. They are always receptive, although there are staff and budget limits that constrain what ultimately gets on the site.
Q: What have you learned from this experience? What advice do you have for other print reporters who have never done multimedia reporting?
REVKIN: I encourage any reporter to think of his or her job in the broadest possible way. The key question to ask yourself is, given the tools available now, how can I best enrich the experience of readers and ensure they are absorbing the essential ideas in what I'm reporting?
Anyone who sees the answer to that question only in black and white (print content) has not yet crossed over into the new century.
Also, I get the strong feeling that all of our Times Web efforts so far are the meagerest babysteps into this new multi-dimensional world.
Another pioneer in this is clearly Nick Kristof, our world-wandering Op Ed columnist (his latest columns from Cambodia are indicative of the potential of the medium, but his Arcitc National Wlidlife Refuge series last summer really breaks new ground, I think, in the opinion universe).
Jan 23, 2004 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(1)
Discussion
1 comments about 'Behind the Scenes: NYTimes' multimedia reporter'The Andrew C, Revkin story was great. I am a journalist student and a firm believer in multi media reporting. My son has worked with Jay alison at Transom.org.I like this web site. I have showed this to my fellow students but they don't want to spend the time. Thanks.
Posted by craig walker at February 7, 2004 4:38 AM
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