Articles and Reporting Tips

These reporting tips were originally presented at the AMS Broadcast Conference in Washington DC on August 5, 2005. Contact Paul Gross, WDIV-TV, Detroit, paulg@wdiv.com, or Dr. Kris Wilson, Emory Journalism program, Kris.Wilson@emory.edu, for more information about these materials. All articles unless otherwise noted are in PDF (.pdf) format.

Reporting Tips
General Broadcast Reporting Tips
Producing your Story
Finding and Pitching Stories
The Half-Hour Documentary
Storytelling Strategies

Articles
The Broadcast Meteorologist as Station Scientist
by Dr. Ronald McPherson, AMS
Broadcast meteorologists are often the only people in television newsrooms who have a background in science. That makes them qualified not just to deliver the weather, but also to provide more science news to the viewing audience.

Weather Reporting as Beat Journalism
by Scott M. Libin, Poynter Online
When the May rating period coincides with peak season for severe weather it produces a near perfect storm: Conditions are ideal for both the best and worst of local television news around the country.

Forecast: New Role For Weathercaster?
By Barbara Cochran, 2004 Communicator
With most surveys showing that weather is the top reason for tuning in to local newscasts, meteorologists are playing significant roles for their stations in building audience and establishing a strong news image. Increasingly, how a station performs on a breaking weather story can shift standings within a market. A key ingredient in the effectiveness of the coverage is the credibility of the meteorologist.

GUEST EDITORIAL:
COMMUNICATING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE TO THE PUBLIC AND CLIENTS
By Bob Ryan and John Toohey-Morales
Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.” This often-used quote takes on a new meaning these days because what to “expect” in the future has become a spirited, often polarized, and increasingly nonscientific “debate.” Increasing numbers of broadcast
meteorologists, to whom the public looks for information and guidance on climate change and global warming, are not offering scientific information but rather, all too often, nonscientific personal opinions in the media, including personal blogs.

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