THE NEWS STORYThe art and science of packaging the news

Nov. 16, 2009

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Wednesday—free day to shoot video. Next Monday: Nov. 23 meet at ISS for

introduction to iMovie editing. Come armed with video to download.

Office hours 1-4 p.m. on Wednesday Blog this week: stay with your blog topic or

use your blog to begin writing about your individual project. Do an interview, find research, create a source

list. Use your blog as an archive of information for your final project.

VIDEOS

Favorites from the blogs Natural sound Transitions Quotes

THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT NEWS STORY

The idea—a great idea will get you started and sustain you throughout the project Focus. What is your story about? In three words? Could you write a focus statement for your story? How do you find this focus? Story Mapping or Outline

THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT NEWS STORY

Your sources—they are the lifeblood of a story either as quotes in a written story or voices in an audio story or visuals in a video story. Choose sources wisely—not easily. Interview more people than you think you need. The

more interviews, the more reporting you do, the easier a story will be to write or construct in audio or video.

Keep a source list so you have easy access to their name (spelled correctly), phone, email, and other contact information

THE INTERVIEW

Always go into an interview with a list of questions—and no I can’t tell you how many questions are enough questions. This is particularly important for audio and visual

storytelling. You may need a specific quote—a piece of information that you want someone to tell you to drive the story along.

You may have only 15 minutes for an interview—hit the ground running with the most important questions

Save a Cinderella question for last—what will keep your interviewee in the room talking—even if they need to dash out

THE INTERVIEW CONTINUED

• Ask the interviewee if they know anyone else you can talk to.

• Make certain you can either call or email them with follow-up questions.

• Be professional. Be on time. DO NOT change your appointment the day of the appointment.

• Do reflect who you are interviewing. You wouldn’t interview a ceo wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT NEWS STORY

Your research Research—data and documents give your story the

depth and weight that makes your news story more than a series of interviews with a few people

Research gives your story the necessary universality that is required in a news story

Research grounds you and makes you less susceptible to be led by your sources. You should know as much as possible about the subject before you show up for an interview.

STATISTICS AND SURVEYS

Why is this important? News stories tell a larger story than the

people you are interviewing—it is taking the specific and personal and making it universal.

What statistics will you look for in your stories?

INTERVIEW: PRINT

Handwritten notes are notoriously difficult to read after the first day. Go home and immediately write them up on the computer

Check out a recorder from ISS or the Duderstadt Center.

Ask more questions and ask for more information than you think you need.

Always keep an open mind—never assume that you know the whole story until after you have done all your interviews

INTERVIEW: AUDIO

Take handwritten notes as a back up and to help you keep track of where on the tape the great quotes can be found

Use a video camera instead of a voice recorder. The video camera records great sound that can be easily downloaded into most podcasting or video editing programs

Check sound levels, get background noise. Don’t think only of voice, but what are other sounds that will make the story come alive. Natural sound

INTERVIEW: VIDEO

Be prepared with your questions—who is your interviewer going to be?

Will you have an anchor as well as someone doing interviews from off camera?

Who will be your video person? Sound person? Your producer?

Again someone should be taking notes so that you can remember what interviewee said one great quote or if there are facts and information that you will need to verify.

THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT NEWS STORY

Good journalism involves selection, not compression— Too many facts, too many facets of a story, too many

points of view will only serve to confuse the reader. The less time you have to write, the more time you

should take to think about it…Well…even if you have a lot of time, you should think first, write second.

Think first, shoot video second. Think first, interview for audio sound bites. The lesson: Think first before you do anything.

THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT NEWS STORY

How to organize your reporting Create a story file with your documents, data, source list.

Add to it your interview notes Keep handwritten notes as well as recorded audio files of

interviews Review your notes immediately after the interview—circle the

great quotes you want to use. Note what you don’t understand or didn’t fully grasp.

Determine what you are missing from the reporting—do you need to do a follow-up interview either via phone or email?

Repeat…until you think you have the story fully reported

THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT NEWS STORY

How to organize your reporting—for multimedia Video shows emotion and immediacy—keep a log of what video

clips express the best parts of your story. What b-roll gives context and depth?

Keep notes on what data and statistics you will want to use—generally this information will be expressed in voice-overs or in graphs or text slides. Don’t use sources to explain what you can do better. Use interviews to advance the emotional elements of a story

Photos, graphic elements, illustrations—think about where these will be used to your advantage—inside the video or written story or as separate elements on your news websites.

THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT NEW STORY

Now you’re ready to write… Now you’re ready to outline first…

What five things do you want your reader to know about this story?

Go back to your thinking on your story focus. How would you sum up the story in three words?

Read “Prepare Thee for Some Serious Marketing.” (go to www.nytimes.com and search for “fara warner” and

religion for all dates. What’s this story about…what paragraph tells you that? Why isn’t it the first paragraph? Why did I choose the lede I did?

THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT NEWS STORY

In your outline: What is your lede? What are the quotes, anecdotes,

descriptions that you want to use? Your “universal” graph—what is this story about? The tension? Where do you see this in the religious marketing

story—is religion like Wal-Mart? The “history/explanatory graphs”—where is that in the

religious marketing story? Powerful quotes throughout to lead the reader, to engage the

reader: “We have adults who seem to have suffered a spiritual stroke….” “The younger generation sees the megachurches as too production-oriented, as too precise…”

THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT NEWS STORY

In your outline: Data and statistics—where do they belong? How can they create a powerful message? 18-30 year

olds were much more likely to have no religious affiliation than 65 year olds.

$3.5 million ad campaigns—for a religion? 3,000 people in an auditorium that can seat 7,000?

THE ELEMENTS OF A GREAT NEWS STORY

Go outline your story… As much of it as you can…you can go back and fill in the

blanks At the very, very, very least, tell me what your story is

about in three words The work you do now will help you create a better news

story, or video, or audio in the next few weeks

WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR STORY TO DO?

It doesn’t matter what the medium—you should ask yourself this question.

Journalism isn’t (or shouldn’t be) defined by technology—it is defined by the function that news plays in people’s lives.

The primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing. But it can also entertain, teach, amuse, enrage…

Heat or light—Mike Wallace Voice to the voiceless and questioning power in all

forms