![]()
1
You, the storygatherer
Tenacity mixed with charm. Intelligence allied with common sense. Knowledge of current affairs plus a keen nose for a story. Organised. A great work ethic, can-do attitude and flexible mindset. Motivated, dynamic, self-starter, communicator and a team player. A willingness to learn.
These are the qualities you would hope to see in an aspiring news reporter.
They are all but guaranteed to be among the requirements listed in a recruitment ad for that elusive, underpaid first job.
And that’s just for starters.
News reporters will also need a good interviewing technique, understanding of the law and public administration, computer and keyboard proficiency, command of social media and shorthand and excellent English.
And why not throw into the mix some knowledge of video editing, content management systems, a bit of Photoshop and perhaps familiarity with page or web design programs, too.
Sometimes it feels as if the demands are unrealistic. (Hint: they are.)
For this book, though, we shall take them as a given.
We are more concerned with the one quality the job ads often overlook … the ability to write a story.
The first step – gathering the information – will require all of the skills and attributes listed in those job ads.
Of course, there is no typical newsroom. All have different priorities, produce different publications, have different leaders and, as a result, have different working practices.
But whatever the environment you work in and however you gather your material, there are unstated qualities which will make all the difference when it comes to your one goal … compiling a brilliant story.
Empathy is all
The best reporters have this: They are people first and journalists second. Maybe it is the way they are wired, maybe it springs from something in their upbringing, perhaps it cannot be taught or learned.
But the ability to adjust their behaviour and attitude in whatever circumstances they face and according to whomever they may have to talk to sets some reporters apart from the rest.
As this job ad puts it:
“Could you interview the Prime Minster one day and a WI committee president the next?
Western Gazette, January 2016”
The best reporters form an instant connection with anyone and everyone. It makes them likeable and trustworthy. They are social chameleons who can switch seamlessly from the awkward formality of a council chamber or business gathering, to the earthiness of a sports locker room or factory canteen, to the exposed humanity of the poor or distressed.
Best of all, they do it naturally without sounding forced (putting on a strange accent), unconvincing (throwing the odd ‘mate’ into the conversation to sound more down to earth), creepy (flirting or sycophantic) or patronising (‘I can help you, if you tell me all about it.’).
Put yourself in the place of your subject. Imagine what it would be like to be faced with the challenges and problems they face.
You might think it sensible to run from danger. So where did they find the courage to stay to tackle the fire or confront the thief? You might think it sensible not to drink too much or not to waste money on gambling. So what in their life caused them to become addicted? You might think it foolish to waste half your life campaigning on an issue when others would have let it go years ago. So why do they keep on going?
Forexample
Perhaps it is hard to sound interested when covering a story about replacement parts for a wind turbine or the intricacies of stamp collecting. But to the people you are interviewing, it is the most important thing in their lives.
The people who build the wind turbines and collect the stamps are what make the story. If they are single minded to the point of obsessive, it adds another layer. You need to get inside their world.
You will also have to climb into bed with those whose views, pet causes or personalities you find distasteful. Deal with them with grace, try to understand and to see their points of view. You can empathise without agreeing.
On the other hand, the encounter where you are charmed may mean you are also disarmed. It is just as much of a challenge to set aside feelings for those you find likeable as it is for those you do not.
Empathy should make you ask the right questions. That’s half the job done.
Scepticism not cynicism
Scepticism is healthy; cynicism is not.
Good reporters should question what they are told. They should scratch beneath the surface. They should seek alternative points of view.
Everyone who talks to you has an ulterior motive for doing so. They want publicity. Some come seeking celebrity. Others have a cause to promote, a political message to impart, an image to protect or just a product to sell.
The sceptic will properly question them. The cynic will dismiss them as having nothing of value to say.
The sceptic might seek another opinion. The cynic will assume they are lying.
The sceptic will start from the healthy position that most people are trying to do and say the right thing most of the time. The cynic has a savage view of human nature.
Consider the infamous case of Chris Jefferies, who was arrested over the murder of landscape architect Joanna Yeates in Bristol in 2010. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing and a sex-obsessed neighbour was convicted of strangling her.
After Jefferies’ arrest, the media piled in with a string of background pieces which all but convicted the former schoolmaster, based, seemingly, on the absurd prejudice that he had wild hair, spoke poshly and seemed a bit odd. News outlets ignored his legal representatives’ requests to be careful. It was cynical and brutal.
After Jefferies was exonerated, he won an apology from the police and damages from eight newspapers. Two publications were fined for contempt.
It was a high price to pay for cynicism. Maybe what was required was more scepticism over why an innocent man was being put in the frame.
Forexample
Listen carefully
The interview still lies at the heart of the best newsgathering. Nothing is more complete than when people tell their stories in their own words. It outstrips any other source for its authenticity and its humanity.
There is an art to a news interview, an art which requires training and practice and, even in experienced hands, can still go horribly wrong.
More than anything, however, a successful interview depends on one thing. A reporter who listens to the answers. Actually listens. Not nodding when it seems appropriate while thinking of how to turn this into good copy or wondering what to have for dinner that night.
You are there to tease out information, preferably a first-hand and personal account of, or response to, an important event. If you listen, you start a conversation, which will be far more revealing.
In 2002 a disappointed Kelly Holmes walked off the track at the European athletics championships after being beaten into third place and was interviewed for the BBC by Sally Gunnell.
When Holmes, later to win two Olympic gold medals and become a Dame, said at least she was running clean, Gunnell wasn’t paying attention, didn’t ask her what she meant or who she was apparently accusing of taking drugs.
Instead, Gunnell, a world-beating hurdler but a novice journalist, crashed on with her irrelevant platitudes. She committed the first sin of interviewing – she didn’t listen to the answer. Wiser journalistic heads outside the BBC were listening and piled in.
The lesson was crystal clear. If, like Gunnell, you don’t listen, you will spectacularly run straight past the story of the day.
Forexample
Fifty shades of grey … and then some
You have an idea of the story you would like to write. Your editor may also have an idea of what story he or she would like you to write.
The pressure may be on gathering quotes and information that support your preconception of what the story is about.
There may be a tone of voice or a political viewpoint your publication adopts which your stories are expected to sustain.
You may have already cast your ‘hero’ and ‘villain’ of the piece.
The biggest fear is that you will hear something that means the story is not justified – worse still, that there is no ‘story’ and you are wasting your time when you are expected to produce some...
