Signature March/April 2015 - (Page 48)

signingoff THE TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH? There will be no story embellishing in the age of the Internet of Things, so people better fall back in love with the simple truth. BY CARLA KALOGERIDIS As I write this, Brian Williams has just been suspended from NBC for six months without pay because he fabricated parts of a story he reported. In fact, the latest news is that he embellished numerous other stories over the years as well. Why would someone with so much to lose risk saying he was shot down in a helicopter in Iraq when several credible people were there who could easily state he was lying (which they eventually did)? Is the truth no longer enough? Every day, it gets harder and harder to lie. The Internet of Things will eventually capture most of our lives in video, pictures, and sound. There will be no undiscoverable embellishing in the age of the Internet of Things, so the media must get used to making the truth work for them and their audiences - now. Unfortunately, it's kind of like how you eat strawberries for years and you think they taste great - and then someone gives them to you with a little sugar sprinkled on top - and suddenly, you don't like the plain strawberries as much. Once you've had the sweetened ones, the real thing doesn't taste as good anymore. Have we educated our audiences to only like stories with added sugar? What if there truly is a good story in every assignment - and that we can help our audiences re-discover the delight in natural strawberry stories - how do we find it? 48 MARCH/APRIL 15 signature Don't be afraid to get personal - in the age of social media, business is personal these days. There are 26 inches of snow on the ground outside my window right now, and the temperature is -3 F, so let's use this analogy: The fact that you help your neighbor shovel the snow off his driveway is not a very interesting story. The fact that you help your neighbor shovel snow off his driveway - despite a long-standing tension between the two of you, due to his dog going potty in your yard for years - could be an interesting story. What motivated you to put the spat aside? Do you regret that you let it go on for so long? How did your neighbor respond? How will it change your life moving forward? What did the neighborhood kids learn from your actions? The point is, as association publishers, we owe it to our members to dig deeper. Bottom line: Find the story. As long as living creatures with emotions and histories and trials and triumphs are part of the assignment, you can tell it in a way that is both truthful and tantalizing. In a world increasingly dominated by pictures and video, writers and editors feel the pressure to tell an eye-grabbing story. And we're told we have to do it in much fewer words because "people don't like to read long articles anymore." Really? I think people don't like to read boring articles. They never did. It's just that now, they have so many more options on what to read or listen to or watch. So I leave you with this thought: Despite how many deadlines we have or how little time, it is our responsibility as association publishers to dig deeper. Be genuinely interested. Ask the questions you'd want to know as a reader. And don't be afraid to get personal - in the age of social media, business is personal these days. We humans are wonderfully made. Even if you're writing about technology, there's a human involved in there somewhere. And if there's a human involved, the truth can be an interesting story - if that's the one you're willing to tell. n Carla Kalogeridis (ckalogeridis@ associationmediaandpublishing. org) is editorial director of Association Media & Publishing.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signature March/April 2015

Under the Covers
Members Only
Short Runs
Ads and Editorial
A New Tune in E-Flat
Profiles in Publishing
Tried and True
Legal Ease
Home Page
New Editions
Signing Off

Signature March/April 2015