Nieman Narrative Digest & Nieman Storyboard
Narrative journalism has a distinguished history of using literary devices to tell compelling news stories. For more than three years, the Nieman Narrative Digest (
www.narrativedigest.org) has offered journalists the opportunity to read exceptional new narratives, learn from critiques, and access helpful resources.
We regularly highlight excellence in narrative journalism via “Notable Narratives,” as well as sharing nuts-and-bolts information and best practices from master practitioners via interviews and essays. During the last year, we have reflected the larger shift in journalism by including more examples of multimedia narrative projects, from blogs to documentary projects.
In October 2009, we also launched a sister site, Nieman Storyboard (
www.niemanstoryboard.org), which offers a daily look at how news narratives work within and across all media. The Storyboard aims to help journalists incorporate the best storytelling techniques from the print past into the digital future and examine emerging story forms that offer new possibilities.
Multiple studies have suggested that news stories are best understood and retained when they are presented as narratives, and so the Digest and Storyboard serve journalists and educators looking for ways to convey news in story form rather than dissociated nuggets or sound bites.
We will continue to highlight outstanding projects and to explore which narrative approaches are most effective. In addition, we will connect with a larger pool of advisors and contributors from all media, drawing in ideas from news organizations, academia, business and the arts, in order to keep the conversation on the future of narrative journalism as broad and innovative as possible.
– Andrea Pitzer
Editor