Reporting for Journalists

Chris Frost

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780415553193
• eBook ISBN: 9781135277840
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Media Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Reporting for Journalists explains the key skills needed by the twenty-first century news reporter. From the process of finding a story and tracing sources, to interviewing contacts, gathering information and filing the finished report, it is an essential handbook for students of journalism and a useful guide for working professionals.

Reporting for Journalists explores the role of the reporter in the world of modern journalism and emphasises the importance of learning to report across all media – radio, television, online, newspapers and periodicals. Using case studies, and examples of print, online and broadcast news stories, the second edition of Reporting for Journalists includes:

• information on using wikis, blogs, social networks and online maps
• finding a story and how to develop ideas
• researching the story and building the contacts book including crowd sourcing and using chat rooms
• interactivity with readers and viewers and user generated content
• making best use of computer aided reporting (CAR), news groups and search engines
• covering courts, councils and press conferences
• reporting using video, audio and text
• preparing reports for broadcasting or publication
• consideration of ethical practice, and cultural expectations and problems
• an annotated guide to further reading, a glossary of key terms and a list of journalism websites and organisations.

1
Introduction

Some people want to become reporters for the glamour; some want to change the world. But I’ve always thought the best reporters do the job because they’re just plain nosy. Wanting to know what people are up to, and to be the first to tell others about it, is what drives many reporters. Holding up a mirror to society in order to present the truth is a laudable aim, but it is not always top priority when trying to satisfy a newsdesk with limited resources and seemingly endless space to fill. The daily grind of filling pages is not always glamorous. But finding out what your community is up to because you can’t stand not knowing, and then passing that knowledge on to help others manage their daily lives a little bit better, is rewarding – and can be fun.

This is the second edition of this book, and it’s amazing to see how much has changed in the reporter’s life since the first edition. When I was writing the first edition in 2001, websites were useful research tools, e-mail was a major form of communication and social networking was just getting started. Now all news outlets have an associated website, which means reporters must now consider how best to communicate their story; e-mail is now the most common means of communication; and social networking is becoming a clear alternative to the traditional media. In 2001, satellite navigation (satnav) was for the very rich, and wi-fi was yet to be a significant carrier. Broadband, wi-fi and satnav are now terms with which we are very familiar, and for most of us they are an integral part of our lives.

These changes have led many to believe that citizen journalism and blogging mean we are all journalists now, and that the professional journalist will eventually become a thing of the past – but that seems unlikely to me. We have always been able to share our writing, yet we have continued to queue to snap up the latest writings from our favourite authors. Similarly, while wider access to democracy will become available with blogs and network sites offering unusual and differing viewpoints, we will still want to access good quality, trustworthy news about our social and geographical communities – and that will need to be collated by professional journalists, people who gather news from all sources (including bloggers) and present it in a way that is easily digestible, but also informative. This may require fewer journalists than in the past, although I doubt it, but it will also require even higher professional standards. It also involves a change in the perception of journalism. This developing collaboration in journalism has meant a seismic and probably permanent shift in approach. No longer do journalists pass down the word ‘from on high’, accessing information that only journalists can reach and offering the distillation of this wisdom to others. All can now access the information, and all can take part in the debate. Interactivity and the involvement of readers and viewers is now all-important. From responses to articles in blogs or comments and e-mails sent to TV and radio news programmes, to web statistics on who is reading what, journalists now have a much closer link to readers and viewers than ever before. It’s an exciting challenge, and brings methods of working that are different from those of journalists 20 years ago, but it should result in a better service to, and a better relationship with, the readers and viewers.

Writing this second edition has been a welcome opportunity to revisit basic skills. I’d like to thank those reviewers who looked at the first edition, offering praise when they thought I’d got it right and making valuable suggestions for improvement when times had changed or the text needed a different emphasis.

Journalism is the ‘exercise by occupation of the right to free expression available to every citizen’ (Robertson 1983: 3). There is nothing to stop anyone being a journalist, but in order to be paid for it, you need to be able to do it better than most. Citizen journalism, blogs and social networking allow anyone to publish stories and opinion, but as the world becomes awash with websites riding the publisher’s favourite hobbyhorse, being a good journalist means finding stories people want to read, researching them as fully as possible, gathering information, views and opinions, and then getting the finished result back to the newsroom accurately and without delay. It’s a tough brief, but an exciting one.

There can be few work-day thrills to match chasing the emergency sirens to a major fire or terrorist attack, gathering the story and then seeing your work broadcast or published in print or on the web, complete with your byline. The job satisfaction to be gained from spending days building a case against a corrupt politician, with all the careful meetings and research that involves, must also be hard to match in other careers.

For someone who needs to know what is going on – who is endlessly fascinated by the doings of fellow humans – being a reporter is the perfect job. You are actually paid to gossip in pubs with shady characters, meet the rich and famous in an effort to find out how they got to be like that with only a little discernible talent, or expose the dirty doings of lowlifes and criminals. It means that days are rarely the same, and many lead to anecdotes that can keep veteran colleagues talking for hours in a cosy pub with the help of a few beers.

Of course, not all reporters start as, or want to be, general news reporters, and there are a number of specialists who get the same thrill from reporting on sport or cars or fashion, or whatever it is that gets them excited.

Nearly every reporter in the UK these days starts his or her career on a journalism course. This will either be a one-year diploma course straight from school, or more likely a journalism degree or a postgraduate course following a degree in almost any subject. English, politics and history are popular and appropriate choices. There are advantages to each type of course and every college varies in what it has to offer.

Those with a particular desire to be a political reporter, for instance, might be better off studying politics and then taking a postgraduate course in either broadcast or newspaper journalism. Those who are less certain where their future lies might prefer a journalism degree that will allow them to learn the business inside out.

Journalism is often thought of as being both a glamorous and a well paid job. While there are certainly some journalists who are extremely well paid, who inhabit a very glamorous world, for the majority the pay is low and the work is not always glamorous. However, the work is usually interesting, and promotion to an executive position or as a correspondent for a major network can mean good money. And the training journalists receive, both at college and on the job, can lead to other, more lucrative careers both within and outside the media, so training as a journalist can be a sound starting point to an interesting and varied working life.

It is probable that if you are reading this book, you are already on some sort of journalism course, so it is not my intention to explain in detail what is available. If you want to know more, the National Council for the Training of Journalists, the Broadcast Journalism Training Council, the National Union of Journalists and the Association for Journalism Education all offer sound advice. Their contact details, together with web addresses for some of the key courses in the UK, are at the back of this book.

I do think I should explain the range of jobs available within journalism. Most journalists start as reporters for local newspapers, radio stations, news websites or magazines. They cover general news, which means everything from police calls and chasing fire engines through to local sport, politics, business and crime. After a couple of years, a reporter usually will either start to specialise in a certain type of reporting, or will seek a news job on a larger paper or broadcast station, or both. It is also possible to move into production or management and become a content manager, news editor or producer. Promotion or career development usually involves moving to another paper or station, often in a major city where a large number of the better paid and more prestigious jobs are on offer.

This book is intended to guide student journalists towards good practice as they take their early steps towards becoming reporters. I have tended to assume that your first job is, or will be, working for a local newspaper and its associated news website or a radio station, so the advice is tailored to a local approach, although most of it applies to reporting at any level.

The chapters follow each other in much the same way as the various stages of a reporter’s job. I deal with the key practicalities and ethical issues of each stage in the appropriate chapter, so that, for instance, alongside discussion about finding and fostering contacts sits ethical advice about how to deal with such sources, the problems the reporter often faces, and how to overcome them. I have also identified a number of terms that you might need to check. These are identified in bold italic, and you can find their meaning in the glossary in Chapter 12.

Chapter 2 starts by looking at what a reporter is and what his or her role should be. It tries to explain what news is, and the distinction that is made between news and feature material. Chapter 3 begins the process of finding a story and examines where reporters get stories from.

Chapter 4 gives advice on how to research the story. It looks at the sources reporters rely on and how to get in touch with them. It also considers ways to use the web and other computer tools to aid reporting. In Chapter 5, the would-be reporter is shown how to work in a modern newsroom, while Chapter 6 considers how best to cope out on the road in an environment where self-reliance and initiative are the key to doing a great job. Going out on the road is a waste of time unless you are contacting people, so Chapter 7 is all about who to see and how to deal with them. Chapter 8 takes us inside the door to get the story, whether in court, council or press conferences; dealing with a wide range of contacts and considering who to see, where to go and what to do.

Having arranged your interview, you need to question your source, and Chapter 9 covers the important points of carrying out a good interview for news reporting. Chapter 10 looks at producing the story. This includes filing copy but also producing a news package. For broadcast reporters and a growing number of newspaper and magazine reporters, the performance interview is a vital part of this process. Whether on video or audio, this public interview of a source, either live or as part of a prerecorded package, is a central part of the story, and its special problems need particular consideration. Chapter 10 examines this process and explains how best to use sound and pictures, actuality and interviews, and how to think about location/studio links and pieces to camera. Chapter 11 adds additional information about useful addresses, codes of conduct and ethics, and a glossary; and Chapter 12 provides a bibliography, reading references, and information on how to contact useful journalism organisations.

I hope you enjoy the book, and that it helps you to go on to work at something that you will find to be worthwhile, lots of fun, and that offers much career satisfaction.

2
The role of the reporter

What is a reporter, and how does a good reporter relate to the world? A good reporter is unavoidably linked with what society sees as important about journalism. Many claims are made about the importance of journalism in a modern democracy. That great Times editor Delane believed:

The duty of the journalist is the same as that of the historian – to seek out the truth, above all things, and to present to his readers not the truth as statecraft would wish them to know, but the truth as near as he can attain it.

(cited in Williams 1957: 8)

Without good reporters to investigate and point the spotlight of truth into the dark recesses of business corruption, political double dealing or government incompetence, ordinary citizens would find it much more difficult to influence their world, and would have limited opportunities to understand and make decisions on such important issues as how to vote, where to live, what career path to follow, how to invest their life savings, and how to bring up their children. We need good quality, up-to-date information if we are going to be well enough informed to make the best of our opportunities, and we rely on journalism to get us that information.

Randall sums it up by saying that good journalists, wherever they are, will be attempting the same thing: ‘intelligent fact-based journalism, honest in intent and effect, serving no cause but the discernible truth, and written clearly for its readers whoever they may be’ (Randall 1996: 2).

But we need to understand that the perfect reporter, as identified by Randall, is as much fantasy as mild-mannered Clark Kent with his alter-ego Superman. The modern reporter lives in a world of 24-hour news, incessant deadlines and profit-hungry employers, making it difficult to live up to the ideal identified by Randall, and most observers see a very different reality, summed up by Professor Bob Franklin in a dismissive critique: ‘These are giddy claims which will doubtless trigger incredulity among many readers of the contemporary British press’ (Franklin 1997: 29). Franklin believes that the view of journalists as fearless crusaders and journalism as an investigative activity requires qualification. He also points out that, willingly or not, journalists do occasionally print untruths or half-truths.

This is the reporter’s dilemma. We know that much is expected of us in terms of gathering the truth and presenting it to a public that supports the ideals of individual liberty and democratic government, but we also know that the reality is usually driven by circulation, ratings or profit. A journalist who wants to keep on working is constantly balancing the search for truth with the search for a story that will have readers or viewers queuing up to learn more.

It’s like confusing politicians with politics. Politics is about power, and in the west we control that through democracy, giving people the right to have their views considered by those in power. Most politicians support this view – they probably even believe it – but when it comes to actually putting it into practice, things ar...

Table of contents

• Media Skills
• Contents
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The role of the reporter
• 3 Finding a story
• 4 Researching the story
• 5 Office procedures
• 6 On the road
• 7 Making contact
• 8 Getting the story
• 9 Interviewing
• 10 Production
• 11 And finally …
• Glossary and acronyms
• Further reading
• Internet sites of interest
• Bibliography
• Index