On February 11, energy reporter Kat Friedrich took to Twitter to declare:
IMO, energy journalism needs a massive infusion of narrative/storytelling, human interest, and juicy quotes. (1/2)
— Kat Friedrich (@katsciwriter) February 11, 2015
Also, energy journalism could benefit from a hefty dose of multimedia to liven up its content. (2/2)
— Kat Friedrich (@katsciwriter) February 12, 2015
Intrigued, I contacted Kat and she told me that she had recently started working with Kari Lydersen as her editor for stories at Midwest Energy News and Kari had made her a recent convert to storytelling in environmental stories – even if they’re on notoriously dry subjects like energy. (For my follow up interview with Kari, click here.)
Here is an excerpt of my conversation with Kat:
[Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes]
How do you decide which story to tell when writing a piece?
It is partly an artistic process of listening for the story line to emerge, but it is also a conscious process of framing the story. Newsgathering is like putting together a collage. But the framing aspect of choosing a story can be very political and often reflects the social views of the reporter, the news publication, and the interviewees. Academics spend years analyzing how news is framed. That’s what I did for my graduate thesis.
What are some examples of storytelling journalism that you’ve worked on in the past and what the biggest challenges/hurdles were?
I try to use storytelling techniques in almost all of the energy news I produce now. These are usually hard news stories, not opinion pieces or narrative journalism. I do this because energy research tends to be heavy on text and analysis but light on metaphors, visual analogies, and human interest. Using quotes really helps to make sources and stories personable and approachable. Most people I meet find engineers intimidating. As a former engineer, I see this communication gap all the time, and I think journalism can help bridge this divide. Most engineers I interview say very quotable things.
Why is energy reporting in specific in need of storytelling?
Energy and climate are two beats that are both crucial to the future well-being of human beings and the planet we inhabit.
Reporters working on both of these beats face massive challenges in transforming the technical, abstract data science organizations produce into stories that are clear, concise and compelling.
Our job is generally not to motivate specific actions, but to tell the stories that need to be told.
In the energy beat, the information writers receive is often generated by companies and by researchers. Press releases from companies are often out of sync with the ideas that may resonate with our audiences. And research papers tend to bury the most compelling facts. They sometimes also lack practical relevance because they favor abstract concepts over concrete application.
Sometimes people argue that narrative journalism unfairly “tugs at the heartstrings” and reveals the reporter’s biases. How do you make sure that storytelling and narrative journalism remains as unbiased as possible?
To minimize bias, we can explore talking with stakeholders whom we might not otherwise interview. We can provide counterpoints to show that there are differences of opinion in the field. We can write balanced stories.
But even when we try to be highly data-focused, that does not mean we are neutral. Even our choices of subject matter indicate that we are not giving equal coverage to every topic. And anyone with professional experience in a field will have a perspective that informs his or her writing.
Who does storytelling based energy reporting well?
Elisa Wood, with whom I collaborate, introduces human interest into her stories often. Julia Pyper, at Greentech Media, uses humor on Twitter and makes her stories personal by interviewing people from local communities. At Grist, David Roberts uses entertaining graphics and jokes to lighten up his reporting. Breaking Energy is publishing a series of quote-focused articles. I have also seen some good energy-related storytelling in Christian Science Monitor.
You can find out more about Kat and her work at www.katfriedrich.com. For the follow up interview with Kari Lydersen, click here.
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