Lily Dallow, KEYT digital news director and a freelance reporter for Noozhawk, talked about the convergence of media platforms and multimedia storytelling in the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina.

“There’s print journalism and there’s broadcast journalism, now there’s sort of this in-between social media where anyone can kind of be a journalist,” Dallow says. “If there is fire going on, you just go outside and take a picture.”

Dallow talks about the importance of maintaining ethical journalism standards while still telling stories in formats that appeal to a generation that never knew life without a smart phone.

Stories in online or print format can be longer, but many readers today also want video, audio and social media components. Together, all of the elements can create a more enhanced story.

“It’s finding this balance of how to maintain journalism ethics and still be able to produce a good story in the end,” Dallow said.

Dallow spoke to Molina’s Journalism 101 class at Santa Barbara City College. In the video, she answers questions about social media reporting, career options, storytelling and the rise of artificial intelligence in newsreporting.

“AI is sort of like when the internet started out, you either get on the train or you miss it,” Dallow said. “It’s going to be really interesting to see if people learn to work with AI, especially reporters, if that’s ever going to play into our workflow.”

In the video, Dallow also explains her process for reporting the Noozhawk feature on Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto, the grand marshal of the Fiesta parade, a Chumash Barbareno elder. The report includes words, audio and video.

Dallow and Molina are currently working on a multimedia project covering the rise of Friday Night Lights flag football.

Joshua Molina is journalist who currently writes for Noozhawk and teaches journalism at Santa Barbara City College. He formerly covered politics and land use for the San Jose Mercury News. Santa Barbara Talks is an independently owned podcast where Molina looks to bring together voices from all perspectives to discuss and provide solutions to the challenges related to housing, education, transportation and other community issues. Subscribe to his podcast here and consider a contribution here.