News Video Workshop

Julie Jones, an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications, took over as chair of NPPA’s News Video Workshop with the departure of long-time chair Sharon Levy Freed. Jones has been a long-time member of the workshop faculty, having first attended in 1982

 Dr. Jones is an award winning television journalist and digital media scholar. She began her photojournalism career at KIVA-TV in Farmington, New Mexico as a general news photographer in 1982. Twenty-years later, she left her job as special projects producer and photojournalist at ABC15 in Phoenix to pursue her doctorate degree at the University of Minnesota. Her work earned numerous Rocky Mountain Emmys, National Press Photographers Association, and Arizona Press Club awards. In addition, she was twice she was NPPA’s region 10 Photographer of the Year twice, earned three Emmys for Photojournalistic Enterprise and was Arizona Press Club’s Photographer of the Year. While working for ABC15 and KPNX in Phoenix, Jones was one of the first “one-man bands.” Her stories ranged from general news to investigative to documentaries. 

 None of these accomplishments could have been achieved without the NPPA Television Video Workshop.

As a green photographer, Jones attended the 1982 Workshop as a shooting participant. This experience was invaluable to her photojournalism skills, ethics, and sensibility. She still considers Darrell Barton and Bob Brandon as pivotal mentors in her career. 

Jones returned to Norman as a Workshop faculty member in 1993 and was honored to take over leadership in 2013.  

 Jones is an innovator in digital journalism as well. She, along with her Gaylord colleague John Schmeltzer, are developing a mobile app that allows for easy-to-use real-time, place-based, video reporting from smartphones and tablets. This technology, dubbed OU StormCrowd, was first used during the 2012 severe weather season in Oklahoma.  Gaylord journalism and meteorology students used iPod Touches with Sennheiser microphones to report on weather events from the field and to post their reports as close to real time as possible.  On Friday April 13th, the mojos – as the students liked to be called –were ready to cover the EF 2 tornado that touched down in numerous locations in Norman. Their reports beat all news organizations to “air.”

 Dr. Jones’ academic work centers on the participatory nature of online news and visual platforms. Her work has been published in New Media & Society, ACM publications and she is an active member of AEJMC’s Communication Technology division. Along with Schmeltzer, she was awarded one of the first AEJMC/Knight Bridge grants used to develop StormCrowd and was a semi-finalist for Knight News Challenge Grant’s mobile app call. In 2012, Kappa Alpha Theta named Jones one of the 10 Outstanding Faculty Members in the nation. 

Stan Heist is the News Talent Manager for Sinclair Broadcast Group, and a Co-Director of the NPPA News Video Workshop. This will be his seventh year on the Workshop faculty.

Stan earned his first paycheck in broadcasting while still in High School, working as a part-time board operator for WCHE-AM, in West Chester, PA.  He began his television career soon after graduating from the University of Dayton, as a news photographer and editor for the local NBC affiliate, WKEF-TV (now ABC22). It was in Dayton, where Stan first learned about the NPPA, when a co-worker left behind a copy of News Photographer magazine in the photog room.  He applied for membership the next day.

In 1997, Stan joined the staff at Richmond’s WTVR-TV, first as a staff photographer, and later as Chief Photographer. In 2000, he attended the Workshop as an observer, and began to apply the lessons learned during that week slowly into his daily assignments. This is where his “small victories” philosophy began to form. 

Three years after the Workshop, Stan moved up the I-95 corridor to Baltimore to join WBFF-TV, where he was promoted to Chief Photographer two years later. While in Baltimore, the staff was named a finalist for the NPPA’s Station of the Year three times. During his career, Stan was awarded ten regional Emmys, two NPPA Regional Photographer of the Year awards, and was honored nationally as the 2005 NPPA Ernie Crisp Television News Photographer of the Year.

Stan left daily newsgathering in 2008 to teach television journalism and pursue a master’s degree at the University of Maryland, where he researched best practices for traditional photographers and reporters transitioning to become multimedia journalists. He has taught at more than 30 professional seminars in the United States and abroad. 

In his current role at Sinclair, Stan works as an executive in their corporate offices leading major recruitment and retention efforts, and providing training for their visual storytellers in Sinclair’s local newsrooms across the country. 

Tim Underhill Ball State University Telecommunications instructor Tim Underhill joined the TCOM faculty full-time during a six-year stint as the Production Manager for NewsLink Indiana at Ball State University. Tim serves as an instructor teaching such courses as visual storytelling, video production, copywriting and news writing.

A 1984 graduate, he returned to Ball State in 1990 after several years in television news. In 2009 Tim earned his Masters Degree in Digital Storytelling.

Tim has a passion for storytelling and can often be found with a camera in his hands. Tim has worked for network affiliates in Rockford, Illinois; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Indianapolis, Indiana. He continues to keep up to date by freelancing for various networks. Tim’s work has appeared several national and regional networks including, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, ESPN, The Big Ten Network and FOX. He has covered the Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400, NBA playoffs, Pan Am Games, NCAA championships, the World Basketball Championships, NFL Monday Night Football plus other college and professional sporting events.

In 1997 Tim was named to the faculty of Television News Video Workshop sponsored by the National Press Photographers Association. In addition to presentations at the “storytelling boot camp,” he continues to work as a room captain for the critique sessions and is in charge of the lighting and sound for the annual event in Norman, Oklahoma.

Tim has served as a judge for several video contests including the Emmy Awards, NPPA, SPJ and other competitions.

Tim’s work has earned awards from many of those same organizations including NPPA, AP, and the Emmy Awards.

In 2001 Tim was presented with the Ball State Alumni Association’s top award for service to the University, the “Benny” Award.

In the summer of 2010 Tim accepted an appointment to be videographer at the National Boy Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. Tim’s video was seen on television station across the country and on numerous web sites as well as being featured in the Boys Life Magazine Souvenir Video. As a result of his first jamboree success, he was invited to the 2013 National Scout Jamboree and served as multimedia editor for Jamboree Today.

When he isn’t working he can be found enjoying family life with his wife and 2 sons camping, backpacking or pedaling his bicycle across Indiana.

Tim’s volunteer work for the Boy Scouts of America covers a lot of ground. He is course director for White Stage National Youth Leadership Training. He works as the district communications chair and merit badge counselor and serves as the Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 22.

Before joining the CBS O&O in Baltimore in 1993, Mike told stories in Cape Girardeau, MO, Louisville, and Indianapolis. Mike has worked for about a dozen general managers and news directors, all who have very different thoughts about what news should look and sound like. He has successfully adapted what he's learned here to keep his bosses happy while at the same time producing stories which keep him excited about his job. He is happy to discuss survival techniques.

A Bakers Dozen of Sensible Schuh's:

1. Be a good employee.
2. Don't whine.
3. Pretend you are a freelancer — like you must impress the bosses every day or you won't be able to afford food.
4. Surprise the producers. Give them more than they asked for in less time.
5. Work hard on the little story and the boss will give you the big ones.
6. Keep your mind on the story, not on the station gossip. Spend at least 5-10 minutes exchanging ideas about the story on the way to the story. Good ideas snowball.
7. Communicate expectations, communicate needs, communicate wants.
8. What do I have? What do I need?
9. On the ride home, go through the sequences about what will work where.
10. Offer solutions, not just problems.
11. Stand up straight.
12. Eat your vegetables.
13. Wear glasses if you need them.

Matt Mrozinski is a 9 time Emmy award winning Photojournalist with two wins in his craft, photography, on the east and west coast. He has only entered the contest 4 times with over 15 nominations. Mrozinski has been named in the top 6 for three straight years for photojournalism’s highest honor, the NPPA Ernie Crisp Photographer of the Year. Mrozinski was runner-up for the award in 2010. Also in 2010, Matt was named the best photojournalist in the nation by his peers as b-roll.net’s Photographer of the Year. In the last 5 years of his career, Matt has been a member of 4 NPPA Station of the Year awards. Mrozinski and his colleagues helped jump start WAVY’s 4 straight Medium Market SOY wins with awards in 2009 and 2010. He joined KING-TV in time for a his 3rd and 4th Station of the Year wins. He won the last two National Headliner awards for feature. In 2013, Matt won the coveted SPJ Sigma Delta Chi award with NBC News Correspondent, Joe Fryer. He is the reigning NPPA West Coast Photographer of the Year.

Matt’s contributions to journalism have only just begun. He is the brains behind the popular Facebook forum and website known as “Storytellers”. Nearly 5,000 journalists and students frequent the site for advice and critique. It has become one of the premier resources for professional development & education. “I just wanted to start the conversation”, said Mrozinski, “it was dumb luck”. In 2012, Matt and two of his colleagues used its success to inspire the Northwest Video News Workshop (NWVW). He is a returning faculty member for the NPPA News Video Workshop. Matt also has experience teaching at the KNPA Workshop, Ignite Your Passion Workshop, Seattle University, and has presented for journalists from all the way from Denmark. “I’ll do everything I can to help shape the future of Journalism”, Mrozinski adds.

Mrozinski's strengths are team building, team storytelling, deadline storytelling, “shooting for the viewer”, ethics, telling the lead “story”, and having a great attitude.

Matt is a proud uncle, son, brother, and Pittsburgh, PA native.

Joe Mahoney is a photojournalist with I-News at Rocky Mountain PBS in Denver, a not-for-profit corporation developing as a very small team of highly-skilled, highly-efficient reporters with proven investigative skills. Our focus is high-impact, investigative journalism with an emphasis on data analysis, statistical analysis, data visualization and public records research. These are skills most newsrooms currently lack. However, these are skills that are urgently needed to produce policy-changing, public-interest journalism.(2010-Present)

Previously, he worked for ten years as photojournalist at the Rocky Mountain News and, later, as the assistant director of multimedia until the paper closed in 2009. Mahoney was part of the teams that won Pulitzer Prizes for Breaking News in 2000 and again in 2003. In 2009, he was an associate producer and photographer for "Final Edition" that won a regional Emmy for Topical Documentary.

Mahoney has coached at the NewsVideo workshop since 2010 and at the NPPA's Multimedia Immersion since 2009. He is an adjunct faculty at Metro State University in Denver teaching photojournalism and is in graduate school at the University of Colorado studying Political Science.

He is married with two children and "Sam the Wonder Dog."

^{As a correspondent for PBS and NBC News, John Larson’s work is among the most awarded in the broadcast news industry. In 2012, his investigations of the US Border Patrol resulted in 2 Federal Grand Jury investigations of the Patrol, and protests in a dozen US cities. Of Larson’s 2012 series on “Main Street America”, Bill Moyer said, “such focused journalism puts the networks to shame.” In 2010, John Larson won a George Foster Peabody Award, and a DuPont Columbia Silver Baton for his work on “Cannabis Cowboys,” an investigation of Mexican drug cartels and pot farming in California.}

^{As West Coast Correspondent for Dateline NBC beginning in 1994, Larson excelled in investigative, breaking and feature news reporting for Dateline NBC, NBC Nightly News and The Today Show. His investigation of the insurance industry for Dateline NBC, "The Paper Chase", remains one of the most honored broadcasts in broadcast journalism history. Larson has received extensive national recognition — 4 DuPont Columbia Silver Batons, 2 George Foster Peabody Awards, and 2 National Emmy Awards for reporting on Racial Profiling, the Insurance Industry, Hurricane Katrina, and corrupt police in Lousiana.} 

^{Larson is also a much sought after speaker, teacher and motivator. He consults for the E.W Scripps Company -- motivating more than 400 working journalists. He also was selected as the 2011 Distinguished Ottaway Professor of Journalism for the State University of New York. He speaks regularly at the National Writer's Workshops, the Poynter Institute, and the National Press Photographers' National Workshop. He has participated in the Committee of Concerned Journalists, sponsored by the Nieman Foundation of Harvard University.} 

^{In 2009, Larson left NBC to work as an international correspondent for PBS — contributing to “World Focus,” “Need to Know” and “Southern California Connected”. He also launched his own production company, began training in digital journalism, and began consulting with media companies.} 

^{In 2008, Larson co-authored "Television Field Production and Reporting" - one of the most widely distributed college broadcast journalism textbooks in the country.} 

^{Larson's career has taken him to the corners of the world: to investigate the sinking of a passenger ferry in Indonesia, and to tell the story of a 5-year-old Buddhist Monk in Nepal. He examined corrupt police in Mexico City. He revisited a bloody terrorist attack in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Central Africa. He reported on the Aids epidemic in Zambia, and micro-loans in Kenya. Recently, he has reported on renewable energy in Denmark.} 

^{In the United States Larson has covered everything from snake handlers in Appalachia and diets that relieve epilepsy in children, to ecstasy dealers and the 2008 Presidential Campaign. John lives with his wife and children in San Diego, CA.}

It was nearly 3 decades ago that I first walked into a television station as an employee. It was a time just after film cameras, and a time of new video cameras and video tape. That was in Pueblo Colorado. I remember my first camera, it was a TK 76, and a 3/4 inch over the shoulder tape player/recorder. Those were the good ole days, tape editing, one live shot a day, and local news meant, news down the street. Now it's a new time, digital tape, HD cameras, and tape less cameras.

I currently work at KCNC TV, where I have worked for the past 28 years. I started out on the over night shift, later moved to a night shift. I thought I would be there forever. So I changed my way of thinking. I started to think more 'out da box', I started to look at video differently, I started to look at my role as more than just a photographer. So what happen? I made my way to become Director of Photography for a nationally syndicated kids program called “News for Kids.” While there I introduced a 'MTV' style of shooting and editing. The shows won an Emmy for Best Kids Program. I later moved to sports where I became a producer. I shot and produced collage coaches shows. I was all ways a restless photog. I returned to the news department where I worked general assignment, and special projects. I earned a Murrow for “Use of Video” for a photo piece that I shot and produced. This was a time before photogs were ever receiving Murrows. I also have produced 1/2 and 1 hour news and sport programs. I am a 3 time Photographer of the Year, given to me by the Colorado chapter of the National Association of Black Journalist.

I now work in the investigative unit at KCNC TV in Denver. In 2005 we received the prestiges Peabody award for a series of stories on Army recruiting. I learned a great deal about undercover cameras and working undercover. I have even built a few undercover camera rigs. Stop me and we'll talk about undercover gear.

My words of wisdom to you is to do your job to the best of you ability, and continue in this industry because you love to be a story teller. Take a step back and think “out the box”. And lastly, Life is about opportunity and challenges, you look for opportunities that challenge you, if you not challenged, look for new opportunities.

Have a great week!! Show me you tape!! Buy me a beer!!

Evelio Contreras is a video producer for CNN Digital’s Original Video team. He is based in New York. Previously, he worked as a video journalist at The Washington Post, Las Vegas Sun and The Roanoke Times.

His work has been recognized by The National Press Photographers Association, Society of News Design and the Capital Emmys. He has coached students and taught multimedia at workshops including NPPA’s Multimedia Immersion in Syracuse, NY.

He grew up in Eagle Pass, a small border town on the Texas and Mexico border. It was there working at El Gram, a bilingual newspaper, where he learned about his interests in telling stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. He likes meeting new people and finding new ways to tell their stories.

If you've heard anything about the NPPA workshop, you've probably heard the name Darrell Barton. As one of the veteran Workshop faculty members, Darrell is best known for his...shall we say... honest...critiques. He's straightforward, he's tough. But with credentials like Darrell's, he has every right to be.

Barton's camera's been on his shoulder for nearly thirty years, shooting television news and documentaries. In 1983 Darrell went out on his own and is known as an extremely successful freelance photojournalist. Prior to that, Barton was chief news cameraman and director of photography for KTVY-TV (now KFOR) in Oklahoma City from 1969 to 1983. Named NPPA's Television News Cameraman of the Year in 1974 and 1981, he is the recipient of more than 60 awards for television photography and production, including a gold award from the Chicago Film Festival and an EMMY nomination. In 1999 Darrell received the highest award given in the NPPA, recognizing him for all his accomplishments and the lives he's touched, The Sprague Award.

Darrell travels worldwide on assignments for ABC, NBC and CBS news; ABC's "20/20"; CBS's "48 Hours"; and many others. His business manager, wife and saint, Marilyn, runs the freelance business from his small farm north of Edmond, Oklahoma. It's a place to check out old cars and hit golf balls at trains from his office. It's the assignment desk to some great places!!! Barton's projects include documentaries made in the Holy Lands and Guatemala, news coverage in the Persian Gulf, Panama, Haiti, and Afghanistan, as well as numerous domestic assignments. He was a featured speaker on the 1994 NPPA Flying Short Course.

I love being a storyteller. It can be the most frustrating and fulfilling craft at the same time. The lure of our profession can be compared to a fragment of this Robert Frost poem.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

When I began my journey into “The woods,” I never thought this farm kid from southwest Kansas would have adventures I only read about or watched on TV while growing up. I’ve worked and taught in Japan, Denmark, China and 20 U.S. states. I’ve worked up close with U.S. and foreign heads of state, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NHRA, Olympic and NCAA athletes. I covered the Oklahoma City Bombing and the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Did I mention my news truck was set on fire while covering a riot?

My first step into visual storytelling began with a crappy Kodak Disc camera in high school. It was an automatic and the negative was equal to a digital 1 MB file. It was actually worse than crappy. I graduated from Fort Hays State University, a small college on the west plains of Kansas. My passion for TV news was sparked by a hard-nosed, take no prisoners and old school professor Mike Leikem. I was a very challenging student, but I owe a lot of what I am to Mike.

My 25-year career in a nutshell after college:

• KSNC-TV, Great Bend, Kansas (commercial producer – shooter, writer, editor)
• WIBW-TV, Topeka, Kansas (news photographer, live truck operator)
• WDAF-TV, Kansas City, Missouri (news photog., field producer, reporter, helicopter photog. sports photog., promotions grip)
• KARE-TV, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Director of Photography, news photog., field producer, reporter, helicopter photog., sports photog.)
• Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN (Senior Video Producer, show creator, news photog., promotions producer)
• KSHB-TV, Kansas City, MO (Assistant News Director)
• University of Kansas (currently the Journalism School Media Director and Content Strategist – When you know what that means, please tell me! J)
• 21 regional Emmys at two TV stations and a newspaper
• Regional and national Edward R. Murrow awards at KARE-TV and the Star Tribune
• Led KARE-TV staff to 4 NPPA Station of the Year awards (including three-in-a-row)
• NPPA TV Runner-Up Photographer of the Year
• 4-time NPPA TV Regional Photographer of the Year

The word “lucky” comes to mind when I reflect on my career and that luck comes from the passion I have for storytelling. I’ll encourage the student’s passion at the NPPA Video Workshop so they can find their own luck. Finally, I’ll leave you with these lyrics from the Beastie Boys and hope you feel the same way about the pursuit of storytelling.

Foot on the pedal never ever false metal

Engine running hotter than a boiling kettle

My Job’s ain’t a job it’s a damn good time

Akagi video links:

https://vimeo.com/65650634

https://vimeo.com/65613430

https://vimeo.com/65824568

Bob Dotson

NBC News National Correspondent and New York Times Best Selling Author

Bob Dotson has been in more motel rooms than the Gideon Bible, crisscrossing this country, four million miles, practically non-stop, for forty years, searching for people who are practically invisible, the ones who change our lives, but don’t take time to Twitter and tell us about it.

Dotson’s long running series, "The American Story with Bob Dotson," is a regular feature on “Today,” and his third book American Story, a Lifetime Search for Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things became a New York Times Best Seller. His literary works have won the Christopher Award for outstanding non-fiction in 2014 and the George Washington Honor Medal for excellence. He has also received more than 100 awards for his work in broadcast journalism, including eight National Emmys and eleven nominations. The Radio Television Digital News Association has honored Dotson with a record five Edward R. Murrow Awards – for "Best Network News Writing” and more than a dozen other awards for his reporting. The Society of Professional Journalists cited him three times for “Best Network Television News Series.” Dotson’s work has won top journalism awards from the National Press Photographers, Dupont-Columbia and Robert F. Kennedy And William Allen White Foundations.

His stories have taken him to every state, many times, and around the world. Dotson is an internationally acclaimed documentary producer. His film, El Capitan's Courageous Climbers (NBC Productions,) was the winner of seven International Film and Video Festivals and was awarded documentary's highest honor, the CINE Grand Prize. He was also the writer and host of “Bob Dotson's America,” a series of half-hour programs on the Travel Channel.

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