Articles by Steve Buttry

Steve Buttry Director of Tailored Programs , American Press Institute E-mail: sbuttry@americanpressinstitute.org

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Journalists in Compelling Storytelling Innovations spent an eye-opening week examining different ways to tell stories.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Don't presume you won't get that interview, story assignment, fellowship or job that you want. Ask. Presume that the answer will be yes.

Friday, December 30, 2005

Amid lots of sour news in 2005, here are developments, organizations and people who give cause for hope.

Monday, December 19, 2005

We've seen some excellent examples recently of the kinds of important stories that journalists couldn't tell without using confidential sources. Unfortunately, we also see stories that let unnamed and unaccountable sources snipe and spin.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Kevin Aliro worked tirelessly to train journalists in Uganda, where Idi Amin had exiled or exterminated an entire generation of journalists.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Judith Miller isn't the only journalist who accepts her sources' word too readily. Journalists are getting too many stories wrong because reporters and editors are paying too little attention to verification.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

People waging the political battles of our day try to frame the issue in terms that favor their viewpoints. Trainers should teach journalists to avoid using loaded labels such as pro-life, pro-choice, judicial activists and strict constructionists.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

An API survey shows the value that leadership development programs can deliver.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

We need to ask reporters after traumatic experiences to reflect on what they experienced, so they can acknowledge the emotional cost of a story (and we can refer them to the appropriate help if they need more than a debriefing).

Thursday, September 08, 2005

API offers a Tailored Programs seminar to help newspapers clarify, teach and uphold their ethical standards.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

A slightly updated column from last year about learning from disasters and some links where you can read about the journalists who are covering Hurricane Katrina.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

We have to make an obstacle part of the war story of our success, not the excuse for our failure.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Any reporter (however good he or she is) who says "I don't need to know that" is missing out on stories and on information for stories. That reporter is at the mercy of officials to analyze data their own way and tell the reporter what it means.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

In many if not most newsrooms, expectations that reporters will embrace skills training are more like hopes. How do you turn it around? Start by demonstrating why the training is important to their jobs.

Friday, July 15, 2005

In the fast-moving news business, you often aren't around to see when the seeds you plant blossom. If you ever learn that they blossomed, you may not even remember planting them. Keep planting them anyway.

Friday, July 08, 2005

In training and education programs for budding journalists and veterans alike, we need to explain what the First Amendment means and how important the free press is to our democracy and our society. We need to teach journalists their responsibility to understand and defend that freedom.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

We need to stop using the term "computer-assisted reporting." We don't refer to "telephone-assisted reporting" or "notebook-assisted reporting." Computers are an essential tool of the craft, and not just for writing.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Anonymous sources must receive heavy emphasis in training programs for editors and reporters as the newspaper industry tries to move beyond the scandals that have damaged our credibility. But we also need to teach skepticism of named sources.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Training is important enough to make time for. If you wait until you have abundant time to develop your staff, you never will. They will move on to a place where they can grow.

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Steve Buttry, a Director of Tailored Programs at API, shares some of the lessons he learned after attending API’s first “Train the Trainer” seminar. This article was originally sent to a list-serv of seminar attendees.