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Steve McKinsty, graphics editor, The Oregonian, “Creating Pulitzer Worthy Graphics” & Steve Ringman, photojounalist for The Seattle Times, BVJC Part III, Realtime,

July 19, 2008 10:00 by Rich

Steve McKinsty, graphics editor, The Oregonian, “Creating Pulitzer Worthy Graphics”

    Editor’s Note: Realtime blog with quick edit, blemishes and images to follow   Very clever, amusing presenter who makes a delicate distinction between “worthy” versus “winning,” given his graphics were nominated for Pulitzer but didn’t quite make that final step. Regardless The Oregonian, or Velvet Coffin as insiders call it, is renowned for its quality of work.
   Steve explains judging at Syracuse S-I Newhouse, in wintertime. He explains that judges each have colored chips and how one in the red cup is good, blue cup is bad and a Yellow cups existence means a dispute is in progress.
   McKinstry shows pieces of steroid use: Dubai and fort; richest people and comparative states: circle charts with fruity colors showing population basis across the glob, looking at movement of ants, great charts on Hillary usage of Barack’s name and visa versa. ALL of these are from The New York Times. They are a powerhouse, according to McKinstry.
Rebuilding Johanna’s face” shows how facial reconstruction surgery was accomplished after a shotgun injury. “This graphic moved me,” he said. It was at such a high order of detail and sensitivity that it made moved me emotionally.” See: http://www.snd.org/index.html
   Rule #1 Ruby Slippers rule: No Place Like Home, the best stories come from your own back yard.
            Minde your community for the best piece that has legs. It’s there. Dig for it, S. McKinstry said. “We take for granted the covering of Nike, Intel. These are large inst. That influence our town, our   region and the world.
                Rule #2 EYE CHART: Have A Vision, Have a beginning, a middle and an end, Visually.
                Rule #3: Take a Chance.
                Rules #4 MLK: I Have A Dream
               Rule #5 The Fog: One Step At A Time (Editors have a hard time seeing it while in production. Steve let’s “the success of one piece build on the success of the last piece” Steve didn’t even tell the reporter where they were going. He specifically cites “The Intell” piece on what a chip looks like.)
              Rule #6 Buy Insurance: Have A Plan B
              Rule #6 Stuff Happens
              Rule #7 The Shortstop: Cover the Bases
              Rule #8 When It Goes Good, e.g. “The Revolutionalry Transistor”Great Work (They Say) They are the Pulitzer Board speaking about why the Intel work was given recognition This is relevant because in our profession, your work is “canonized” when you are recognized by a Pulitzer. Steve quotes the Pulitzer Board: Awarded to Amy Harmon of The New York Times for her striking examination of the dilemmas and ethical issues that accompany DNA testing, using human stories to sharpen her reports. Also nominated as finalists in this category were: Beth Daley of The Boston Globe for her evocative exploration of how global warming affects New Englanders, from ice fishermen to blueberry farmers, and the Staff of The Oregonian, Portland, for its richly illustrated reports on a breakthrough in producing the microprocessors that are a technological cornerstone of modern life. Steve savors every one of these words. See original: http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2008,Explanatory+Reporting

Rule #9 THE MOSES: Let My People Go
Rule #10 GET SMART: Use Latest Gadgets Good work uses best phots, the newest visual graphics and audio tools to tell the readers about an important story. “Autopsy Reveals Hidden Clues” is rolling the dice. The work he, Steve, is most proud of is at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1210901106123140.xml&coll=7

   Steve Ringman, photojournalist The Seattle Times, “Reflections on Three Stories from the Past Year”
    You’re not there to rip them off; you are there to document what happens. Camera is a ticket into so many peoples’ lives but you must not step on them.
   I’ve used to shooting earthqueakes in S.F. and in Mexico and Central America. But up here, I’m in floods. And you get to know what the rhythm is for getting certain images and then trying to get back out to get the images out. It’s chaos. Levees break and suddenly people are reacting to it, seeing their animals drowning in front of them. I want to react to it.
Clearcutting on steep hillsides is something everyone is aware of. But, we were seeing so much mud over so much of Chehalis, that we knew something was wrong. Something was off. Hal Burton, reporter, kept saying something was wrong.
HOW DO YOU CAPTURE CAPTION MATERIAL? It’s all notes and very specific. Out of cell phone range a lot of time. The desk was clueless. We stayed up there. There wasn’t a lot of back and forth. The Weyerhauser people… The Seattle Times: “Mudlside damages spus look at logging practices”.
   Story of Girl, 11-year-old daughter, with neuroblastoma. Reporter was a sports writer, Jerry ___, normally. Struggles with where to put it in the newspaper. People, readers, were online and some upset that this family was not using traditional medicine at some point. I became one of the babysitters. You hang in for the critical images. Otherwise you fade away. Gloria was taking meds, because there was so much pain. Gloria was into fashion. She criticized me for wearing white shirt and jeans over and over. The brothers would come up to me and jab me with their swords.
    But as her condition went down, the mood of the family changed. The Prayer Warriors, Catholics, would come into Childrens Hospital and pray for Gloria. Steve would bring in camera in a brown paper bag with a single lens. The PR flak was upset. The Times mgt. and flak came to an agreement that we could come in twice a week. Jerry, the reporter, was posting jerry’s updates online. “Jerry’s writing is what drew people in.”
   Ringman said: “I’m not a religious person. I’m a middle of the road journalist. But this affected me. I’m still in contact with the family.”
   Malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa and Gates Foundation. We spent 6 weeks in Africa, Tanzania, Zambia. It was difficult. Some of hospitals and administrators lived through the first wave of AIDS coverage. They felt burned. They have Internet and have seen what the coverage was. We cam in and asked for permission. Drug trials were going on in Tanzania. Healthy kids wer going through these drug trials. Talk of expensive malaria pills, wearing BuzzOff clothing, etc., he used expensive pills but clothing was impregnated, too hot and gave him a rash. BEAUTIFUL IMAGE of bed nets being used for fishing nets. People struggling, would rather use them to secure food than safety and sleep.