Henry Schuster and Storytelling

Journalism has a plethora of mottos.
“Be first.”
“Be objective.”
“Tell the truth.”
These simple phrases are all part of what makes journalism function as a profession, but none of them get at the heart of journalism.
The heart of journalism is storytelling.
In a discussion with “60 Minutes” producer Henry Schuster, the one piece of advice he gave to a room of aspiring journalists was to remember that you are telling a story.
He said it did not matter if you told the tale through photos, video or text, but no matter what you do, your focus should be on how can I effectively and creatively communicate a message to viewers.
At “60 Minutes” they have the luxury of creativity.
They do not have 1:30 packages that they must churn out on a daily basis. They do not have to run scripts over with the bosses over and over before taking it on a test run.
It’s about the feature at “60 Minutes.”
Schuster said some stories take weeks while other can take months, even years, depending on who they need to talk to. They can spend weeks making edits on a story or trimming it down.
At “60 Minutes,” it is quality over quantity. Unfortunately, this is a message that is lost on most journalism students.
From the moment students enroll, they are thrust into classes that teach them how to edit video, write a lead, cover an event and take the photo within two hours time. You are a one-man-band that has to keep constantly churning out content.
These skills are all valuable, but where is the storytelling and the life lessons that we hope students absorb?
Schuster said internships are one of the best ways to get a feel for the field because much of the training he received was on-the-job. This is where you learn to tell those stories and where you fall in love with your profession.
It becomes so much more than a profession.
Schuster added that journalism involves a level of curiosity. Now, some may say that “curiosity killed the cat,” but others might say it is just what we need to produce some of the next top-notch storytellers.