Background Reading |
As newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer wrote, "Our republic and its press will rise or fall together." Society relies on journalism to provide a flow of reliable, impartial and fair news reporting. Citizens in a democracy use that news to make informed decisions.
It all begins with local reporting about the goings-on in every community. One of the basic stories involves covering a fire. Not all fires are newsworthy, even in a relatively small town, much less in a large metropolitan area. News or editorial judgment is applied to test the newsworthiness of any event. In the case of a fire, assessments include the amount of damage, loss of life and injuries, whether any celebrities or public figures are involved and the historical and cultural value of the structure. Reporters on the police beat (a beat is a term used in the news business to indicate an area of reporting or coverage specialization) often listen to a police radio scanner (now available via the Internet) and depending on the dispatcher's description, will, in consultation with their editor, decide whether a fire is worth covering, and if so, whether it's worth going to the scene of the fire. The number of alarms (up to five) indicates the likely severity of the fire, and is a first indicator of the newsworthiness of a story. Reporters also note the address.
Should the reporter decide to cover the fire, the first of a series of decisions is made: What's the best (fastest, most reliable) route to the fire? S/he might check a map for directions. What reporting tools should s/he take along? The basics include a pen or pencil and a reporter's notebook. Fire officials generally will go mum if a tape recorder is used. Most experienced police reporters would not shove a tape recorder at a fire official as that would antagonize him or her. In fact, most police reporters would not use a tape recorder when interviewing anyone on the beat other than an inexperienced private source. If, however, the reporter knows the official and has used a tape recorder in interviewing him/her I the past, then it is OK. The point is that the tape recorder should NOT be used until and unless the official grants permission. In other words, interview first to get relevant material, then ask if it's OK to use the tape recorder. Depending on the nature of the medium of news delivery (e.g., if a reporter works for an online publication) an editor may ask a reporter to take a digital camera. Since a big fire is compelling visually, images or video may be useful on the news organization's Web site. A big or even moderately sized newspaper would send a photographer to the scene. If your news organization is not sending a photographer, it might be a good idea for the reporter to take a camera. A reporter may also want to take along a cell phone and a portable email pager to stay in touch with editors and reach important sources who might not be on the scene.
On the scene the reporter must make several decisions, which usually are made quickly to meet the deadline. The faster the reporter works, the faster the story can be used. Who should be interviewed and what questions should the sources be asked? Clearly, a reporter needs to locate sources with answers to the key questions about deaths, injuries, cause, damage. (See other background readings in this simulation for more information on selecting sources.) After covering the fire, a reporter checks the morgue or news library for fires in the same location or area.
In this simulation, an editor will assign you the spot news story; your instructor may give you other writing assignments based on the simulation (such as the day two story). Look in other background readings for more details on what facts you should be ferreting out and where to look for them (i.e., sources). To learn how fires are covered, students can examine fire stories by making a Nexis search or a search of other online news databases. You should also keep in mind source documents that will come in handy, such as fire codes and violations that may have been a factor in the fire. Check elsewhere in the background readings for more on this.
See "The Reporter's Checklist and Notebook" section Note-Taking Tips.
Take good notes and organize them. Note the best quote, anecdote, statistic, for possible use for the lead or for a place high in the story. Log a source directory organized by topic. When conducting an interview, use your notepad and audio recorder (where appropriate). A recorder may fail. Batteries may die. Always have a backup. Never assume anything. Double check numbers. Although in many stories you should check important facts with more than one source, in this case (a fire story), only the fire marshal or chief can supply information about the fire. You should also interview several of those persons affected by the fire. This helps "humanize" the story. Always keep a written record of each interview, the name and title, if any, of each person interviewed. Ask each interviewee how to spell her or his name. Don't assume the spelling of common-sounding names, such as "Smith"; it might be spelled "Smythe." Get contact information such as a phone number and address (should you have to follow up). Note the day and time of each interview. Keeping detailed records is part of making sure you work in a serious professional manner. It will improve the accuracy of your reporting. It can also be protection in a libel suit, where part of a defense can be whether you made a serious effort to gain the news in a reliable fashion.
If a source says something is "off the record," you may not use it in the story, but you should ask if you may use the information as the basis to ask others for comment. If the information is not to be used in any way, you have to decide whether you want to hear it. If you agree to not use it in any way, you have to stick to your agreement. To do otherwise is an ethical breach, or could pose a legal problem. You may also have trouble ever getting that source to talk to you or others at your news organization again. For further details on interviewing and other news gathering techniques, see Prof. Melvin Mencher's classic text, News Writing and Reporting. If someone you're not interviewing offers information, be careful. It may be s/he is not an authority, and may be offering information that could get you trouble. On the other hand, it might be a tip worth following up. Authorities provide most information, but residents and neighbors can also be interviewed for human-interest details. Be wary of assertions from non-authorities about the cause of the fire, damages and casualties. Once you've completed your newsgathering, check in with your editor, who may tell you how much space or time is available for your story. Call or send an instant message; you need an immediate response.
By the time you are ready to write, the most important elements of the story will have occurred to you. Some or all of these elements usually constitute the lead, which you've probably already constructed at the scene and in talking to your editor. If you have time, return to your newsroom and start working on the story. If you're against the deadline, you'll have to write the lead in the field, along with a few paragraphs, and send them in via instant messaging, email or over the phone. The lead is the most important part of the story in a spot news report and begins the story. (It's sometimes also written as "lede.") The lead captures the most important elements of the story. Consider the five W's: who, what, when, where, why and how. Few leads will contain all these elements, so you'll have to exercise editorial judgment as to which to include. Get right to the point in your lead. Don't "back" into the lead with secondary elements such as the time or day of the fire, unless there's an extraordinary reason to do so. Get to the most important aspect of the first at once--casualties, damages, heroic rescue, difficulty in extinguishing. Attribute factual claims to the proper authorities or sources. Use a high quality quote or statistic high up in the story. Further details on news writing are provided elsewhere in the background readings for this simulation. See also Mencher's News Writing and Reporting, chapter 6. See also the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook. All reporters should have their own copy.
Always keep in mind the role of the journalist. You are serving the public by providing an accurate, fair and complete account of an event. Journalism is a public trust. You need to be more than a conduit for individuals or groups who would use you to reach the public. You need to act as gatekeeper. That means gathering the news systematically and then synthesizing it and presenting it in a clear, concise and coherent manner. It means being ethical-following a moral code that keeps journalism a form of intelligence that the public can trust and rely upon. The journalist's moral code requires a respect for privacy, strict adherence to the facts, the verification of opinions and judgments and an avoidance of exaggeration. Prof. Mencher notes there are two major types of errors journalists sometimes commit. The first is simple and relatively easy to correct: errors of commission. These are errors of fact. For example, you get an address wrong, you misspell a name or you unnecessarily invade a person's privacy. The more vexing problem is errors of omission. These are the elements reporters ignore or leave out of their stories. Errors of this sort represent a fundamental ethical challenge to journalists in the information age. Today we are flooded by information and awash in data. We as news producers and consumers are often under intense time pressures. We often don't have time to dig to the deeper reality. We skim the surface. Reporters oftentimes fail to get past this "level one" reporting. They report the surface facts of the fire, who was killed, how much damage, the cause of the fire. But reporters often fail to dig through the records of a building to see if it has a history of fire code violations. This digging takes time but can pay off in terms of a story. It is this "level two" reporting that can transform basic reporting into responsible journalism.