NBC’s Bob Dotson says he sent out 525 resumes when he was first looking for a job.

“I got three responses and two of them were no,” says Dotson.

In the decades that followed, Dotson has produced thousands of stories and won dozens of awards.  He’s also learned quite a few things about storytelling.

“Start every story as if no cares,” says Dotson.  “Then structure the story to make them care.”

At the Broadcast Education Association Convention in Las Vegas, he built on that concept and shared his four elements of great stories.

1.  Start with a scene setter — Dotson says you have to tell people where you are — where the story begins.

2.  Include foreshadowing — Make sure your audience knows something is going to happen in the story.

3.  Develop characters — Introduce us to and build characters throughout the story.  TV news often does this through illustrating conflict.

4.  Provide a resolution — Take us someplace in the story; think about where you will end the piece.

“If you know where to get off, you know how to get there,” says Dotson.

And when it comes to ending stories, Dotson says, don’t rely on sound bites.  He wants to hear a line of narration instead.

“You become a surrogate for your audience,” Dotson says.  “Just react to [the sound bite] if you don’t think you can top it.

Dotson’s American Story airs on NBC’s Today Show and are linked on the segment’s Facebook page.

Filed under: 05. Writing the Story

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There is some good news to a tragedy we reported about two weeks ago.

Today, young eighteen-month-old Cody Johnson got out of the hospital.

Two weeks ago, police accused his father, Bill Johnson, of barricading Cody and his sister – 5-year-old Kaitlyn – inside their home in Northglenn.

Police say Johnson then set the home on fire.

Cody’s sister Kaitlyn has much more recovery. She is burned on her face, and her back. 50 percent of her body is affected, doctors have told her mom.

Rosie Jungst-Johnson also received a severe beating from her husband, she said, before he set the fire.

She showed us pictures of her left eye swollen shut and bloody, after the incident. Her right eye was only slightly better.

I interviewed Cody and Kaitlyn’s mother last Saturday and again today. She and her estranged husband Bill, are going through a divorce.

Bill, she says, acted “different” the night he’s accused of such terrible acts.

Yet Northglenn police did not think so. They say he acted normal, when they pulled him and his two kids over, just hours before the fire.

We still have not been able to reach Johnson’s family. At last update, he was still in critical condition with burns.

This story is not easy to tell. Yet, have to and we will continue

We are committed to chronicling Kaitlyn’s recovery, as she steps down from intensive care, as she goes through therapy, and eventually goes home.

The process won’t be easy. But it is my hope you can reach out to help this family. At 9News, our job is to advocate for people who need help. Two young kids need your help. We advocate, because we have such a powerful medium and an equally powerful audience.

Whatever happened between parents, Cody and Kaitlyn need help.

You can donate to the “Little Heroes Fund” at any Wells Fargo branch or the Rosie Johnson Fund 1st Bank Branch.

Here’s a story I turned with 9News Photojournalist Corky Scholl tonight. Emotional…for sure.

I took a risk on this story. My professors in journalism school always taught me a storyteller should remain unbiased and fair.

Yet I couldn’t help but get really angry at the burglars who broke into a family’s home and stole Christmas gifts.

I called the burglars “punks” in this story, and told them to get a real job. I hope they were watching to realize what they stole.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether this was over the line…