Obit Research

I think we can all agree that we would like to steal emulate the Washington Post’s “Post Mortem” blog. The writers break down the most recent obituaries concisely, delivering the most interesting aspects of a person’s obit in easily digestible blog entries.

A post from a few days ago caught my eye, mainly because it had the word Publix in it. Anyone else who is from or has lived in Florida will know why my eyes got so excited.

The blog post was in reference to the obituary of Joe Slattery, the voice behind radio and TV commercials for Jewel grocery stores, in the Chicago Tribune. Slattery’s deep voice was what made him famous, and the WaPo blogger begged for a recording of his claim to fame.

She also asked for some photographs of arrangements designed by the late florist, Haruko Crawford.

Multimedia content, such as audio recordings and photos, has been a popular topic of conversation among our research group. As new journalists, trying to publish a story without additional multimedia content is basically unacceptable—so why shouldn’t that apply to obituaries, one of the most popular subjects at a paper?

Personally I can only see how short videos, photo slideshows, songs or other audio recordings might enhance an obituary, if done in a tasteful manner. However we have been getting mixed feedback on the idea as we have been conducting our research.

This specific blog post also included summaries of the obituaries of a Native American tribe elder famous for transforming canoe journeys, and a famous Hollywood stuntwoman. Seeing the sites or hearing the sounds of one of Frederick “Sonny” Woodruff Jr’s famous canoe trips, or watching old video clips of Jewell Jordan Mason perform stunts in movies that included “Wuthering Heights” and “Tarzan Escapes.”

However I’m not quite sure how to integrate multimedia or interactivity into the obit of David Lake, one of Washington states most renowned wine makers. Any suggestions?