Where the news takes centre stage


Simon Creasey looks at the rise of an interactive approach to telling news stories


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edia organisations are constantly on the lookout for innovative ways of telling stories, to attract new audiences and build engagement with them. The internet opened up all manner of


different opportunities to enrich storytelling by embedding audio, video, photography and interactive data and graphics. One of the latest storytelling tools is ‘live journalism’ events, which place the emphasis on the spoken word. Some of these events take place in a physical space such as


a theatre, whereas others are held online. With widespread lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, many organisers of the physical events have had to switch to online-only. A growing number of media organisations across the globe


now organise live journalism events, many of which sell out as soon as tickets go on sale. So what’s fuelling this movement and what’s in it for the


journalists who participate in them? The trailblazer in the live journalism space is US-based Pop-Up Magazine. This ‘live magazine’ was founded in the late 2000s by a group of California-based journalists. Just a few hundred people attended the early shows, but last year Pop-Up Magazine embarked on a nationwide sell-out tour of the US and performed to a live audience of about 35,000


14 | theJournalist Raising the curtain


POP-UP Magazine took journalism live 11 years ago when it was set up by Douglas McGray, Evan Ratliff, Derek Fagerstrom and Lauren Smith. “Doug had come from a


print journalism background, and later started dabbling in some radio production,” explains Anita Badejo, executive editor and co-host. “He found it odd that, at


the time, his friends who were writers didn’t know his friends who were radio producers, and vice versa. He wanted to find a way to foster collaboration and interaction between different types of storytellers. “So, he, Evan, Derek, and


Lauren came up with the idea of a ‘live magazine’ that would feature journalists working in different mediums — writing,


filmmaking, radio, photography, art — coming together to tell stories on stage in a theatre.” The first show was at a


300-seat theatre in San Francisco; today Pop-Up Magazine tours the country three times a year and performs in 1,600-3,000 seat venues. Contributors are paid, with everyone given an “honorarium” based on the length and complexity of their story, which is multiplied by the number of shows they appear in (most storytellers tour with the show). As for the question of


why live journalism events are becoming so popular, Badejo thinks there are a few reasons. “The most obvious is that


it’s a relatively new and exciting potential source of revenue for media


companies at a time when everyone is trying to figure out how to sustain journalism as a business,” she says. “It’s also a way to reach


new audiences, in addition to engaging your existing audience more directly. It offers a platform for journalists to elevate their profiles and gain followers. “But the biggest thing that


I’ve observed in my time at Pop-Up is that it can be a much more human way of connecting journalists to audiences, and audiences to stories.”


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