Checklist: 10 Things to Think About When Writing a News Story

I have compiled a list from a wide variety of sources (among them Poynter's Roy Peter Clark and my own executive editor, Traci Bauer) of what I consider to be the top 10 things to keep in mind when you're writing a news story.

There are others, primarily specific to the type of news story that you are writing, and some of the items on this list should be de-emphasized based on circumstance — depth, for example, is not as important on a breaking news story, though I would argue that is true more often than we might think.

This is, in all honesty, my list. Your list might be completely different.

What’s Important

10 Things To Look Out For

Authoritative voice

If NPR was covering the issue on air, would they call you up? Be the definitive source on the subject.

Concise and precise writing

Are you writing what needs to be written or are you padding for inches? Can that extra info be dropped or transformed into a story told in an alternative manner?

Context and perspective

Compare apples to apples, but also look at orchards. And then compare orchards to orchards.

Relevancy

Why does this matter to our readers? Is it relevant to our area? Is it old news?

Depth

Be concise, but plumb what depths need to be plumbed. Ask questions even if you think you already know the answer. A song with one note isn’t a very good song.

Sense of place

These communities are unique -- treat them as such. Give every story a scene.

Time management

Is the story taking too long? Set a deadline and meet it -- maybe you need more than a deadline, maybe you need a timeline looking forward -- a coverage plan.

Varied formatting

How can this story be told in another way? Be creative -- there are tools to be used both online and in the manner in which the story is told.

News peg

A hard news lede might not always be the best course of action, but pegging a feature to something actually happening in the world is preferable.

Solutions

News very often identifies problems. Try identifying a solution, perhaps through a source. Use journalism as a way to fix the world.

Lessons on reporting, from a group of education reporters

One of the best online resources out there for reporters — that I’ve come across, anyway — is the Education Writers’ Association.

It’s a shame they limit their scope in that way, because the resource is worthwhile for every reporter, regardless of what beat they cover. (That being said, education reporters will find the most value here. Such is the way of the world).

There’s a lot to go through on the site in terms of resources, but I particularly like the EWA’s brief on standards and practices. 

I’ll bullet out a few of the best lessons, though I’ll alter them a bit, to make sure the relevance to the wider newsroom isn’t lost.

• First, do no harm. Journalists should be careful not to add to a victim’s trauma or pain when reporting highly sensitive or controversial stories. Sometimes sources and victims lack sophistication concerning the media; other times they may be too traumatized themselves to protect their child adequately. In such cases, reporters must use their own judgment, remembering that safety and well-being should take precedence over competitive media pressures.
• Understand political dynamics. Reporters need to be skillful in detecting when school politics are in play at the local, state, and federal levels. Elected and appointed officials, school board members, teachers’ unions, and administrators all engage in political tugs for control or power. Governors, lawmakers, and mayors sometimes promote specific policies or changes with broader political goals in sight.
• Use technology & social media. Journalists need to be comfortable telling their stories using multiple platforms. They should also be able to generate story ideas and engage readers via social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Across all beats, journalists are expected to do more multimedia reporting (online, in print, through video and audio), social media promotion, and online reader engagement.
• Use spreadsheets & database programs. Journalists must possess at least basic proficiency with spreadsheet and database programs. Reporters will also find that knowledge of these programs enhances their ability to sort, summarize, and analyze education-related data of all types
• Report & interview on a broad range of subjects. Journalists must be both specialists and generalists. Most reporters will find they have to cover a broad range of stories, including politics, business, breaking news, and human interest. Beats can (and should) overlap with others. Education can, for example, overlap with politics, social welfare, crime, and economic development. Learn the major sources and issues on those beats as well as your own.

I am, as you might have expected, paraphrasing quite a bit. I have also not delved at all in the “ethics” portion of the “standards and ethics” brief, which is very interesting by itself.

The best training tool for investigative journalists ever

The Dutch European Journalism Centre has developed "The Verification Handbook," on online resource for journalists, sand we should all bask in its glory. But now — bow down to "The Verification Handbook for Investigative Journalists."

There have been more than one sad tale of journalistic sloppiness lately, in particular the Rolling Stone piece that relied on a victim who might not have actually been a victim at all.

The Verification Handbook is the perfect answer to newsrooms (quite rightly) worried that a similar problem might crop up. It's a free, online textbook on journalistic verification, offering real-world examples and real solutions to problems newsrooms face every day.

And no — nobody has paid me to write this.

Here's an excerpt from chapter 2 in the original handbook, on the necessity of verification techniques, as written by handbook contributor Steve Buttry.

The need for verification starts with the simple fact that many of our information sources are wrong. They may be lying maliciously or innocently passing along misinformation. They may have faulty memories or lack context or understanding. They may be in harm's way and unable to provide everything they know, or unable to see the full picture of events as they unfold.

 The investigative version goes into far greater detail, so much so that most journalists might find it a difficult read. It really is a master class in verification.

Here's an excerpt from the chapter on the use of data and methods of data verification, as written by contributor Giannina Segnini:

The rise in the volume and speed of data production might be overwhelming for many journalists, many of whom are not used to using large amounts of data for research and storytelling. But the urgency and eagerness to make use of data, and the technology available to process it, should not distract us from our underlying quest for accuracy. To fully capture the value of data, we must be able to distinguish between questionable and quality information, and be able to find real stories amid all of the noise.

The Rule of One

“Not a wasted word. This has been a main point to my literary thinking all my life.” — Hunter S. Thompson

I was reminded yesterday of an editor I served under a decade or so ago, we'll call him Adam, who remains my image of what a writing, journalism and storytelling coach should be. Always patient, soft spoken and thoughtful, Adam was — and remains, I assume — one of the best writers I ever met.

At the time, I was struggling with a complexity issue. I was using words and clauses like they were parts of an erector set, screwing one on to the next until the whole badly engineered thing came
crashing down.
Adam made me live by the Rule of One.

One Idea Per Sentence — One Sentence Per Graph

Take, for example, the following graph:

Johnny McDanielson, the area’s only Irish-American head high school soccer coach, has a hefty 17 students on his varsity team and another 16 playing junior varsity at Mount Hollyhock High. But even with eight out of 17 Irish-American varsity players and 15 out of 16 playing junior varsity, McDanielson said, of soccer, “It’s a dying sport, especially in the Irish community.”

Adam would have made me change that to:

Johnny McDanielson is the area’s only Irish-American head high school soccer coach.
He has 17 students on his varsity soccer team and another 16 playing junior varsity at Mount Hollyhock High.
Of the 17 kids playing varsity, eight are Irish-American, plus 15 out of the 16 junior varsity players.
Nonetheless, McDanielson said, “It’s a dying sport, especially in the Irish community.”

It doesn't make for exciting copy, but it's clean and readable. Please note, I am not suggesting that every story should be written in this way but if, like me, you have a tendency to bolt one clause or phrase onto the next, this is a good, basic structure that keeps your writing honest, as it were.

So I guess it's not a rule, but rather a "Guideline of One."

Adam believed that brevity is the soul of wit (I ask then, what are boxers the soul of, but I digress) and we would sometimes play games to keep our work punchy and short. For example, we would write calendar items in Haiku form, like:

Battle of the Bands
6:30 p.m., high school
August Seventeenth