Gina Barton
Tim Harmon
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| Gina Barton | Tim Harmon |
A novel approach
to news writing
to news writing
on storytelling techniques
By Lonny Cain
NINA President
Want to reach readers? Then tell them a story. A good story.
Now, that's not quite the same as writing a good story. Telling a story in the newspaper takes time, a commitment to space and a different technique.
Gina Barton and her former managing editor, Tim Harmon, can explain in detail. They will tell editors and reporters how to tackle this challenge at the April 27 Spring Conference hosted by the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Registration is just $10 a person.
Barton fell in love with the idea of narrative journalism after a National Writers Workshop. She knew she had a story that fit the formula: mystery, drama, murder, a 15-year-old pregnant high school girl and all the likely suspects.
The result was "Justice for Becky, a 19-part series that ran in the South Bend Tribune. Each day, another chapter in the story unfolded. It read like a novel, but it was all true. It didn't matter if you knew the ending to her story because each chapter teased the reader into the next.
Barton, now a reporter for the Indianapolis Star, will team up with Harmon again to discuss the project. She will explain how she persuaded the characters in her "plot" to share so many details. Harmon will explain why other newspapers should consider similar projects.
Barton's work on "Justice for Becky" was featured in Presstime magazine (February 2000). In the article, Harmon said nearly 6,000 people phoned or e-mailed during the run to track down segments in the series that they had missed or to hear Barton read it on audiotext.
"With any writer doing something good, the most important thing is to give them the resources and time, (and) stand back," he said.
"I learned that I'm lucky," Barton said. "They gave me the time."
Harmon has been managing editor of the South Bend Tribune since 1996. He moved there from Munster, where he was managing editor of The Times of Northwest Indiana.
During his tenure there, The Times was recognized by the Hoosier State Press Association for three years in a row as Indiana's best daily newspaper.
He previously served in management positions in the newsrooms of the Messenger-Inquirer in Owensboro, Ky., and The Journal-Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind., and as a reporter for two small California dailies.
Harmon writes a column about newspaper and media issues that appears periodically in The Sunday Tribune. A graduate of Indiana University, he is married with four daughters.
Barton now is a reporter at the Indianapolis Star. She has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and will receive a master's degree from Indiana University this spring. Barton has worked at the South Bend Tribune and the Huntington, W. Va., Herald-Dispatch, as well as free-lancing for Woman's World Magazine and Chicago Magazine.
Barton has received reporting awards from several organizations, including
the Inland Press Association, the Educational Press Association of America,
the Indiana Society of Professional Journalists and the Indiana Associated
Press Managing Editors. Her serial narrative, "Justice for Becky,"
received a first place award from the Indiana SPJ.
When: 9:30 to noon Friday, April 27.
Where: Center for Black Studies, Northern Illinois University.
Food: Continental breakfast provided. Lunch on your own.
Registration: $10, either in advance or at the door. Whatever your payment preference, please call Dana Ditrichs at (815) 753-1564, or e-mail her at dditrichs@niu.edu.
Parking: $4. Use the NIU visitor lot, which is a short walk from the
Center for Black Studies. Follow the signs off Lincoln Highway (Ill. 38).
Related links
- Read the "Justice for Becky" series
- "Narrative
Journalism: Ride the River, Scan the Banks," By Chip Scanlan,
Poynter Institute.
Back to Spring 2001 newsletter
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