Multimedia gives an article purpose. Yes, the writing is the true focus, spreading information and making an impact on the world, but any argument needs evidence and numbers to support it, and that's just what multimedia does. It keeps your audience invested in the page and able to push through the thousands of words, so I always have at least one piece per, whether that's infographics, story maps, the classic chart, an infobox, or an image juxtapose. Scroll down to see some of my favorite data visualizations and other multimedia.
Audio (SoundCloud)
As someone who loves to go into great detail and write thousands upon thousands of words for every article, audio gives me the ability to appeal to a wide range of audiences, from high-level college and adult readers to younger students. Not everyone wants or is able to scroll through paragraphs and paragraphs of writing, so adding an audio summary at the top, spliced with recordings of my interviewees and my own narration, lets them take in the news in a quick, five to 10-minute, bite-sized chunk.
Multimedia
Charts + Timelines (Flourish)
Story Map (Genially)
Genially story maps allow me to make my multimedia interactive, as readers can click to enter new sections and explore more. In this way, I can make the information less cluttered, while at the same time more interesting.
Juxtapose (Knight Lab)
Although only useful for specific articles that include a visual comparison, when applicable, KnightLab's image juxtaposition lets me show the "before and after" of something, and viewers can slide to see both sides fully.
I use Flourish's charts in almost every single one of my articles. It provides a simple and effective way of displaying data with so many different options, from bar charts, to line graphs, pie charts, maps, and more.