The Opposite of Clickbait: Storytelling in Journalism | An Interview with Dr. Les Sillars and Emma Perley

What makes a good story? And what role does storytelling play in journalism? In this episode, HSLDA President Jim Mason talks with Dr. Les Sillars (Patrick Henry College Professor of Journalism) and Emma Perley (a journalism student at Patrick Henry College) about the creation of Doubletake, a new student-run podcast produced in collaboration with World News Group. They discuss the gargantuan effort required to produce an investigative podcast that effectively tells genuine and compelling stories.   "In order to tell a really good narrative story, you have to really know the people. You have to really do your research. You have to do the interviews. You have to really be thoughtful in the way that you approach these people's stories because a lot of them are really difficult. . . . When you put together an hour-long podcast, you really get to the truth of things and you really can dig down deep into what's behind these people's stories. Like what motivates them? What do they believe? What do they understand about the world?"—Emma Perley