"You can win a Pulitzer prize and never leave your back yard."

"Much of the mainstream has given up on storytelling."

"The Internet is the ultimate megaphone for free speech."

"It's the chronology, stupid."

These and many more messages of encouragement were relayed by journalism professionals at the National Writers Workshop last weekend [April 24 and 25] at Seattle Center.

Approximately 250 students and professionals attended the event, which was sponsored by The Seattle Times and chaired by The Poynter Institute. Those presenting workshops included reporters, columnists and editors from several media outlets including The LA Times, The New York Times, The Poynter Institute, The Seattle Times, The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun, The San Jose Mercury News, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Bill Plaschke, sports columnist for the LA Times, discussed how he writes about people in the shadows, stories so offbeat and not mainstream.

Whether it's a kid who juggles sports and caring for his dying mother or centering the USC/UCLA rivalry around two guys who jog around the Rose Bowl, Plaschke plucks the tales of average, everyday people out of obscurity and makes them seem more newsworthy than the latest Lakers fiasco.

"There are stories everywhere," Plaschke said. "We have power with words . . . to move people."

Plaschke, formerly a Seattle Times reporter, explained that such stories are a draw because they can be completed on the reporter's own time, there's (usually) no travel involved and they generate a positive reader response.

"Editors don't like this kind of stuff; other writers are gonna maybe mock this stuff . . . . Readers like these stories," Plaschke said.

"All it takes is you and gas mileage," he added.

Another individual who offered an interesting perspective - to say the least - about the mainstream was New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell.

Titled 'Creative Use of White Space,' Mitchell's session centered on a variety of film elements, such as how "Jaws" moved films away from the theater, "Kill Bill," dramatic logic, and "Final Fantasy," which Mitchell dubbed "the world's most expensive screensaver."

Though Mitchell emphasized that many of today's films fail to deliver the drama, the film may not necessarily have to be great to seem great.

"When a movie has that emotional savy, we feel like we're in the presence of greatness," Mitchell said.

Good movies, he added, get characterization across.

Jacqui Banaszynski of the Seattle Times discussed profiles, which, she said, are "one way to get people engaged, and one thing we do not do very well."

Banaszynski described the different types of profiles, what each entails and how the journalist acquires them. Regardless of type, she stressed that profiles - which don't offer the traditional news hook - should focus on who the person is and not what he or she does.

"(A person's) external resume gives hint of things to start exploring the internal resume," Banaszynski said.

In addition, Banaszynski emphasized that profiles don't have to be about people. "Profiles have to be about character," she said.

Following Saturday's sessions, a reception was held at Experience Music Project's Sky Church, allowing NWW participants to socialize and mingle with the journalism professionals.

Copyright © 2004, Talia M. Wilson
written April 2004; revised & posted Aug. 4, 2004

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