Newspaper Wins DuPont Broadcast Award

What's remarkable about the 13 recipients of this year's Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for national broadcast journalism is that, amidst the usual alphabet-soup suspects (ABC, CBS, PBS, BBC, NPR), we find the Las Vegas Sun.

Videojournalism stories on the Websites of print newspapers (such as the Detroit Free Press) have started winning Emmy Awards, which were previously bestowed only upon TV productions. But this is the first time that the prestigious DuPont award has gone to a print newspaper -- in this case, for "Bottoming Out," an online multimedia package about gambling addiction.

(Needless to say, the video was originally showcased on KobreGuide to the Web's Best Videojournalism at the time of publication.)

The cornerstone of the three-part package is a video self-portrait by Tony McDew, who documented his own Las Vegas casino slot machine addiction with the hope of helping others, and in the process ended up quitting gambling himself.

The series is strengthened by a powerful video diary following one man’s descent into gambling addiction with strong interactive engagement. The Las Vegas Sun explored problem gambling three ways — through the experiences of an addict; by examining what happens inside the brain of an addict; and by considering the role of slot machine designs in feeding gambling addictions. The web site also provides support and resources to help gambling addicts.

Part 1: Tony's Story
The pull of a drug, a push to the brink

Part 2: The Physiology
Illness theory gaining ground for gambling addiction

Part 3: The Machines
Could the game be partly to blame for addiction?



LINKS:

* Las Vegas Sun's award-winning multimedia package on gambling addiction.

* Las Vegas Sun story about DuPont Award

* "Bottoming Out" on KobreGuide

* 2011 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award Winners

In Memoriam: TV News Giant Don Hewitt

Without Don Hewitt, there would be no KobreGuide.

Hewitt, who died today at 86, single-handedly invented not just TV news but also the TV newsmagazine, arguably the progenitor of the highest quality videojournalism stories showcased on KobreGuide.

By the time he started CBS's '60 Minutes' stopwatch ticking in 1968, Hewitt's accomplishments were already monumental:

In 1948, Hewitt directed the first network television newscast (featuring Douglas Edwards).

In 1960, he produced the first televised presidential debate (Kennedy vs. Nixon).

In 1963, he created the first half-hour network newscast ('CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite').

Hewitt's technical innovations abounded: cue cards for newsreaders (forerunner of today's TelePrompTer); "supers" or type in the lower third of the TV screen; and all the now-familiar camera positions and angles still used to cover news events and political conventions today.

But Hewitt's crowning achievement was envisioning and executing a TV version of Life magazine, unabashedly combining in-depth celebrity profiles with hard-hitting news investigations. He went on to produce '60 Minutes' for 36 years, during which time it became the biggest hit in the medium’s history.

A Sunday evening fixture, '60 Minutes' ranked among the top 10 primetime shows for more than two decades, and was TV's top-rated show four times, most recently in 1992-93. At its peak, in the 1979-1980 television season, it was seen in an estimated 28 million homes. It has since maintained a spot in the Top 20, an unparalelled stretch of more than 30 years.

Its popularity was matched only by its excellence. Under Hewitt's stewardship, which ended in 2004, '60 Minutes' won 73 Emmys, 13 DuPont/Columbia University Awards and nine Peabody Awards.

As with the best videojournalism it eventually spawned, its secret formula consisted of marrying the highest quality visuals and journalism. Instead of following the conventional TV wisdom of putting words to pictures, Hewitt pioneered the concept of putting pictures to words.

But the ingredient that most distinguishes '60 Minutes' -- and, likewise, the most outstanding videojournalism today -- can be found in the title of Hewitt's own 2001 autobiography, 'Tell Me a Story.'

The driving force behind Hewitt's new mini-documentary format was its incorporation of old-fashioned showbiz principles, as he'd be the first to brag about. At the heart of every '60 Minutes' segment is a solid story, with a strong protagonist, a dramatic hook, and a compelling narrative arc that keeps audiences informed and, yes, enthralled.

“We could make the news entertaining, without compromising our integrity,” he wrote. "The formula is simple, and it's reduced to four words every kid in the world knows: Tell me a story. It's that easy."

This Sunday, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. '60 Minutes' correspondents will devote the entire hour to their boss and his lasting contributions to the television news industry. It's a helluva story.

CBS News obit here; New York Times obit here.

First '60 Minutes':



Don Hewitt on Creating '60 Minutes':



Don Hewitt's Obituary:

Lessons From '60 Minutes'

Lessons for all videojournalists from 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley:

1. On finding a subject:

"We emphasize the telling of a story as opposed to an issue. Once in a while, a producer will come to the door and say, 'Clean coal.' And I'll say, 'That's an issue. Go find a story.' Steven Spielberg did not do a movie called The Holocaust. He did a movie called Schindler's List. It completely encompassed the entire issue, but it's about this guy and his story.... (60 Minutes creator) Don Hewitt used to tell us, 'Find people who can tell the story better than we can.'"

2. On writing your script:

"The writing process is very collaborative, and there's no such thing as good writing, just good rewriting. We probably cut a piece four or five times before we think it's ready to see. We'll write the perfect script on the first draft, go into the edit booth, cut the thing, and it's awful. We do another pass, it's still bad but some things are beginning to work. Third, fourth pass, it's starting to look like a 60 Minutes piece, but it's 18 minutes long, has to be 12. Another pass, it's 12:30, looking like a piece ready to show to (the executive editor and executive producer). Sometimes they eviscerate it."

3. On structuring your story:

"I often think of 60 Minutes stories as three-act plays. In classic newspaper writing, the story peters out by the end. At 60 Minutes, you want the arc to build, the piece to become more fascinating with every passing minute as it crescendos somewhere in that third act. It builds and builds and builds. It needs to ring like a bell at the end."

-- 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, quoted in Written By (Dec. 2008), the magazine of the Writers Guild of America.