New York Times reporter Amy O’Leary is speaking this year at the Power of Storytelling (October 17-18) about digital trends that are changing the way we tell stories. Here is a preview Q&A with her about social media, innovative newsrooms and her advice for young journalists.

1. Why is storytelling important to you?

Storytelling is how we, as human beings connect with one another. In our digital age, it can be easy to feel disconnected and there is nothing as powerful as a story to reassert the common truths and lived experiences of people across distance and time.

2. What is the one digital trend that has reshaped storytelling the most?

The rise of social media is probably one of the most transformative trends that journalists are either taking advantage of, or misunderstanding, today. Things like Facebook and Twitter have created new challenges — but also new opportunities — for the promotion and distribution of our stories.
Some young people today say that they think “the news will find them.” If this is our new reality, how do you make sure your stories find people? It’s a question I’m very interested in.

3. You’ve worked in print, radio and digital media. Do you think there are certain types of stories that work better with one medium or the other?

Absolutely.  Certain mediums tell certain types of stories better than others. Audio, for example, is wonderful for hearing the emotion in someone’s voice, or getting a sense of what is authentic in an eyewitness account. Images can have very strong emotional pull, and describe the relationship between people, things and their environment.

Text is perhaps the most flexible medium, since it engages most directly with the imagination. But also, text has the unique ability to provide abstract analysis, conceptualization and to do the most important thing of all that a story can do: create meaning. In the hands of a skilled crafts person, written stories can be so broad as to reach every kind of person, but so deep as to pierce your very own heart.

4. What are, in your opinion, the most innovative newsrooms these days? 

Everyone is trying to be innovative right now. I try to pay attention to newsrooms that are the most different from The New York Times, so I can learn from their experiments. I am interested in the way that Vice, Mashable and Buzzfeed are covering international stories right now, and I am particularly interested in the way that the Washington Post will transform, now that its owner is Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon.com. I imagine they will make some impressive changes soon.

5. What basic elements do you require for a good story, regardless of the medium it is? 

A good story is one that you have never heard before. Surprising details are the best way to engage the curiosity of the human mind, and the wonderful thing about journalism is that our job is to go out in the world and discover surprising details about the world.

6. What advice would you give to a young journalist?

I think that young journalists should use their research skills to investigate their own careers. So, if you want to become a journalist, you should read and study a lot of current journalism. After reading and experiencing everything you can, you should make a list of your heroes and study their careers to see what experiences they had, how they became excellent at their work, and then copy their best strategies to build your own career.

About Amy O’Leary and The Power of Storytelling

Amy has worked for The New York Times as a reporter, editor and multimedia producer specializing in digital storytelling and print-digital newsroom integration since 2007. Before coming to the Times, she was a producer for the popular public radio documentary program, This American Life, where she produced radio documentaries and feature stories.

Amy is one of the 10 amazing journalists and storytellers coming to Bucharest for the fourth edition of The Power of Storytelling, taking place in Bucharest on October 17-18. The only in-depth narrative journalism conference in Eastern Europe brings together international Award-winning journalists, as well as business and marketing specialists, to show the potential of stories to connect people, to heal wounds, to move to action, and to drive change.

More information can be found on the conference website and on our Facebook page.

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